This is part 2 of my travel in South Africa posts.
My travel to ZA was mostly for work. I am working on several rivers and wetlands there for a research project through a university in Wales. Travelling for vacation or holiday is really unlike other types of travel. Vacation travel gives you a different sense of place than travel for other reasons. On vacation travel the objective is enjoyment. Most other types of travel involve some other kind of purpose and require that more specific objectives be met and tasks be accomplished.
My objective was to collect wetland sediment (really sticky mud) and rock samples from my study rivers: The Klip, Schoonspruit, Mooi, Blood, Pienaars, and Vaal and mail them back to t
he UK to analyze at labs there. I also hoped to make some new contacts to work with in the future. I met several people working in the fantastic geology department at The University of the Witswatersrand (Wits, pronounced “vits,” for short). Through connections with a colleague from the UK who was traveling and working with me, we were able to borrow tools to use in the field and rent a research vehicle at little expense. The Toyota had a straight front axle and leaf springs that combined with miles of bumpy dirt roads would be the source of a lot of back aches during the four weeks of research.
Getting access to the private property along rivers is a challenge in a lot of places. In ZA, many landowners don’t live on-site and have resident operators that don’t always feel comfortable giving permission to trespass. Many are Afrikaans and don’t speak English well. Fortunately, I 
gained access to most the sites I needed with a little friendly conversation. One site I failed to get access to involved dealing with a local chief, Moratele. Gaining access to the site would involve going through his gate. The advice given by colleagues at Wits was to buy scotch, tea, and cigarettes and tell him how wonderful he would be for granting my group access through his gate. I was looking forward to this cultural experience more than some others in my group and we decided to drive some extra distance to go around the gate.
Sampling in wetlands is never ideal, but particular environmental challenges were burned reed swamps and high winds. At the Blood River site, I sank up past my knees in mud while trying to avoid being stabbed by sharp burned reed ends and keep 
my equipment in the dry. We augured at least 20 feet down before giving up on reaching bedrock below the wetland. At the Mooi River we stayed at a farm adjacent to the Kamberg KZN wildlife nature reserve. A fire at an adjacent farm spread to the one where we stayed and obscured the valley in smoke, making us wait to perform some measurements. Extremely high winds kept us in another day. All in all, we were lucky not to have more setbacks due to Mother Nature. Another setback was a flat tire that occurred on a Saturday afternoon in the rural town of Vrede. Nothing is open on the weekends in Vrede (and most other rural towns). We took the opportunity to watch South Africa play rugby on television and relax on Sunday. We got the flat fixed relatively quickly on Monday morning.
The final feat was 
mailing the samples back to the UK. It took about half a day to organize shipment through a courier (I’ve been advised not to use the South African postal service). The forms were numerous and lengthy and I was still charged VAT in the UK for my rocks and dirt. Shipping from ZA is quite expensive, but all arrived on time and intact. The key to being successful and happy working in international locations is to remember that things don’t operate on the same schedule or in the same way as in the States. Patience and a laid back attitude are your best defense against aggravation. Scheduling some extra time for mishaps and uncooperative weather helps too. I plan to post more detailed physiographic and geologic information on my research blog and will link to this post when I do. Click here for more photos from field work.
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