When studying chacma baboons, vervet monkeys, and samango monkeys, you’ll be up before dawn to arrive at their sleeping trees before they stir and follow them all day before they retire in the evening. You may also go out before dawn to check camera traps (cameras that automatically take pictures of animals as they pass by) and in the evening to unload data from tracking collars of monkeys at their sleeping sites.
Sometimes you’ll ride in a vehicle, but much of the time you’ll be walking through this beautiful mountain country. To visit camera traps, you may walk 5 to 10 kilometers (3 to 6 miles) while carrying a day pack full of equipment. Following monkeys all day may involve a similar hike, although at a slower pace, sometimes over rugged terrain and through dense vegetation.
You’ll spend some mornings visiting camera traps and collecting scat (feces) of leopards and hyenas. In the afternoon you’ll go back to camp to download and analyze the pictures from the cameras or process scat samples to be analyzed to determine what the animals are eating. In addition to leopards, the cameras capture a wondrous array of spectral black-and-white images of exotic, seldom-seen nocturnal animals, including aardvarks, bushbabies, hyenas, porcupines, civets, genets, bushbuck, and warthogs.
Note: Field conditions and research needs can lead to changes in the itinerary and activities. We appreciate your cooperation and understanding.