Ah yes, day 4 of my Gosa gang adventure in the Kalahari. I have my toothbrush, I have my camera, and I have my new Gosa gang family. Yesterday another WildEarth crew member joined us in the form of Garth; a slender and pleasant chap hailing from the coastal metropolis of Cape Town. After his arrival, Garth and I set out to find the Gosa gang and introduce him to the furry-family that will dominate our lives in the following months.
Before Garth arrived, we had a very interesting event which has still got me pondering what exactly went on. Picture the scene; it’s late afternoon on Sunday, the sun is setting, and the Gosa gang are below ground and settling in for the night. Or so we thought. Suddenly, and without warning, Cleopatra’s head pops up from their burrow and scans the surroundings. Then the entire Gosa gang, as if spurred on by some unknown event, all come running out of the burrow and head directly North to one of the family’s other burrows. Now, moving burrows is not uncommon among meerkats and most families will have up to 6 different burrows in their territory, but changing burrows all of a sudden makes we wonder what their reason was. In any case, the Gosa gang reached their Northern burrow and immediately went to bed leaving the WildEarth crew perplexed and a little bit lost…we didn’t know the Gosa gang had a Northern burrow! But wait, there is more. On Monday morning we met the Gosa gang at dawn whilst they went about their morning chores of brushing their teeth and cleaning out their burrow. After a brief sun-tan session in the golden African sunlight, the group started to forage and moved directly South again – straight back in the direction of their main burrow, and spent the night there. Now, I have no explanation whatsoever for this, however it is making our story more and more interesting and my curiosity is constantly growing about their lives and family dynamics!
Apart from the antics of my meerkat brethren, all is well. I’m settling in very quickly here as my heart relaxes back into the rhythmic beat of my home continent and the kalahari dust slowly saturates my blood again. But tomorrow, my world will be rocked with the arrival of THE GANDA.
Rob
