july 20 updated

July 20, 2016

This afternoon we left for Matopos to check traps that are set for leopards and hyena. It was about an hour and a half trip to get there.  And we are camping!  

After we set up the tent and got everything settled we set out to start checking and rebaiting some of the traps.  We had to put new meat in two of the traps and change SD cards in a bunch of the cameras.  Tomorrow we will rebait the rest of the traps.  The daughter of the owners of one of the properties that the traps are set on is a veteran of the British Army and she was a canine handler.  She was able to adopt one of her dogs who was a patrol and IED dog because he was afraid of gun fire.  She is in the process of training him as well as several other dogs for the anti poaching task force.  So the animals are trained to sniff out snares as well as track animal spor.  Some of them are trained in apprehension as well.  It was interesting to talk to her because there are not ENOUGH homes for retired military dogs here.  Hard to imagine when there is an 18 month waiting list at home.  She also said they are not careful at all about when one is adopted out. They do not spend the time evaluating the animal to decide how suitable it is for adoption like it is done in the U.S.  Nor do they give them any disclosures about what the dog has done and any possible triggers.  They basically shove them out the kennel door and say “Here you go!”.

It does get cold here at night as soon as the sun goes down!  Matopos is known for its Rock formations.  There are rocks that look like they are going to come rolling down on top of you any minute- they are balanced so carefully.  Other ones look like a child piled them on top of each other like building blocks.