By: Ben Klunder
Camp manager blogs are written by our students who each get a chance to lead and manage a group (of their fellow students) for a period of one week.
Out on safari, we’re always talking about the adaptability of flora and fauna. And humans are no different. We Bushwise students start the semester fresh, after a quiet, lovely off-week, but as soon as that last week before the semester break comes around, we unintentionally wind down. Being camp manager around this time challenged me to adapt.
Photo by: Ben Klunder
Camp manager 101: Get up early
It’s an honour being camp manager and leading a team. Usually, in the last week of the semester I snooze my alarm several times and scrape into my lecture at 07:29 am. But as camp manager, I had more responsibilities, like taking temperatures and making sure all my “guests” had their breakfasts: snacks, rusks, cereal, sugar, soy milk, milk… This is good practise for what will happen in the lodges one day. With those chores done at 07:29 am, I got into lectures!
The weekly agenda
The last week of the semester was a good one. On Monday, we had lectures on amphibians, arthropods and fish, followed up by a morning trip to Tzaneen. On Wednesday, we went on two drives and saw a lion around 200 meters from camp, which was amazing.
Photo by: Ben Klunder
Almost off-week
On the Wednesday before our semester break, it was my turn to host the fun event and I enjoyed myself. We split up into two groups and did a quiz based on surprising facts about each other in the student group – I won’t go into the details!
Snake orientation
On Thursday, we had reptile orientation. By the end of the lecture, with a brilliant demonstration of snake behaviour, we learned that snakes don’t bite on purpose, out of aggression, or for fun. A snake won’t attack unless provoked.
Ready to learn how to adapt, and tackle new challenges like Ben did? Join a Bushwise Field Guides course.
