Some like it hot

…but I’m not one of them! It was 112 degrees here yesterday (44 degrees centigrade).

It was actually the first time I’ve felt the effects of the heat. Despite drinking nearly 3 litres of water on the trip back from Gabs on Sunday (more on that in later posts) and another literal gallon yesterday morning in Shorobe, by mid-day I was feeling lethargic, achy, and all-out sick. A nap under the air conditioning unit my bedroom helped me feel better, but I realized how quickly one can go from perfectly healthy to under the weather, despite drinking plenty of fluids.

Luckily we’re at the tail end of this heat wave. Later this week the temperature will drop to only (!) 99 degrees for a few days straight, and I am looking forward to it. The best way to beat the heat is to stay out of it, but that is nearly impossible when I’m supposed to be in the field working with the guys and/or running errands in town. For now, I’m happily sitting at a desk at the BPCT office catching up on email.

The really exciting news is that the kraal is finally finished! I can’t even describe how exhilarating it is to type that sentence; there were times when I literally thought the kraal would never be done. But thanks to Olf and Stopper’s hard work (with some assistance from me), it is complete. We’re working on the goat kraal now, which is much smaller and should be finished by week’s end.

Stopper, me and Olf in front of the completed cattle kraal

Olf, me and Stopper - hooray for the human-wildlife conflict team!