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Day 7: Pilanesberg National Park

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  Baby Rhino at Pilanesberg National Park Leopard at Pilanesberg National Park Scanning the Terrain for Wildlife from our Safari Truck Group Photo on the Jeep Truck                     Rhinos, elephants, and leopards! Oh my! Boy, we had an exciting day yesterday. We started the day off early by packing everything up and heading to Pilanesberg National Park. It was a two-and-a-half-hour drive to the park from our hotel in Centurion. We arrived early so we had time to browse the little shops at the front of the park. At 10 am we loaded up in the open-air jeeps to start our safari. To say that Pilanesberg was incredible is an understatement. The park was stunning. The rolling mountains, red rock, lush grass, and abundance of wildlife made this safari one of the highlights of the entire trip. Our tour guide Ernest explained that the park was located inside a crater, which helped to keep the animals in the park. We were informe...
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Return Flight to USA: All is well!!

 Our students and staff are all checked in for their flight to Atlanta!  They are doing well.  Our flight leaves at 9:55 PM local time (2:55 PM CST).  We will arrive in Atlanta on Sunday morning.  We had an excellent day at Pilanesberg National Park and our students will update the blog while in Atlanta.  You won't want to miss this blog entry! Dr. Gonda
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Day 6: Last Day of Farm Visits

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  Nguni Bull Facilities for the Nguni Herd Storing insects in drawers at the ARC laboratory Group photo at the horse stud One of the beautiful horses shown at the stud                We began day six with a visit to the South African National Collection of Insects - Entomology Research Group. They have been collecting insects for over 100 years and have over 3 million specimens on file. Each room is cooled to 18 degrees Celsius (64 degrees Fahrenheit) to prevent museum bugs from eating the dried insects. Most of the collections were dry, minus the soft-bodied (termites/ants) who have wet collections in alcohol (96% alc). There are 31 orders of insects that are in the world and 27 are found in South Africa. We also learned that insects become bigger the closer they get to the equator!                  For lunch, we traveled to Rooigra SA Boerperd Stud, a horse breeding facility that had ov...
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Day 5: Farm Visits on the Way Back to Centurion

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  Showing off pelts bought as souvenirs Bonsmara Cattle Mobile abattoir (slaughter facility) Group photo at the Ankole Breeder Ankole Cattle Sam and Alexis in front of Ankole Cattle                We started our morning visiting an Ankole cattle breeder in Limpopo province. While there, we learned a lot about the Ankole breed and the farmers' management practices for maintaining their herd. These commercialized farmers had impressive handling facilities and used reproductive technologies to expand their herd. Some practices they used included In Vitro Fertilization and Embryo Transfer. We found it very interesting that they used Jersey cattle cross as the recipient cattle. There are only about 200 registered stud cattle (as they are an indigenous breed) and the cattle are commonly a status symbol with the president of South Africa having a herd as well!                For lunch today we sto...
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Day 4: Trekpad Safaris

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  Tracking sable and nyala at Trekpad Safaris Sunflower field at Trekpad Old tractor at the Trekpad Safari Museum Sable darted by the veterinarian and immobilized Students demonstrating to our gracious hosts how to dance like an American at Trekpad Safaris At the church built by the family who owns Trekpad Springbok at a game auction Afrikaner bull at Trekpad                We started the day early today by making our way to Trekpad. We darted two Sable bulls and a Nyala. We relocated them to different herds within the farm. After the darting we had an amazing breakfast provided by Trekpad. We then traveled into Thabazimbi and attended the wild game auction. Here we saw Eland, Springbok, Blazebok, Impala, Kudu, Wildebeest, and many more. It was a very unique experience to see how the game was held. We are the first class to have the opportunity to have this experience.                Then we...
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Day 3: Farm Visits on the Way to Inkanyezi Game Farm

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  Damara sheep Small ruminants Jersey cows Cotton Harvester Bonsmara Cattle British Alpine Goats South Africa: Day 3 March 11, 2025               Today was a busy day of farm visits, traveling, and lots of bathroom breaks. We packed up our things at the ANEW hotel in Centurion and headed towards the country. Our first stop was at a small mixed farm called the 7 Akkers Farm. They had a variety of different animals, and several small enterprises within the farm. Their main focus was their herd of Jersey and Jersey-Holstein cross cows. Typically, they have about 120 lactating cows at any given time. Most of their milk gets sent to a commercial facility, but they do keep some milk and make several in-house products that are sold on the farm, as well as in several small shops in the area. The cattle were kept in various housing types, and it was quite interesting to see how their production goals and methods differed b...
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Day 2: Agricultural Research Council-Animal Production Unit and Voortrekker Monument

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  Group photo in front of Afrikaner Cattle herd at the Agricultural Research Council. Listening to lectures from ARC scientists and students (and reciprocal lectures from SDSU scientists and students). Measuring hip height on a Braunvieh bull. Listening to our tour guide talk about the Voortrekkers story.                We started our day at 8:00 a.m. at the Agricultural Research Center (ARC) in a conference room. We shared some projects SDSU students are working on and learned about what research is going on there! We listened to presentations about pit bull dog aggressiveness in South Africa, genetic diversity in smallholder cattle systems, and penile defects in bulls. Us students also got a tour of some of the laboratories where they run 200-500 cattle DNA samples a week, testing for parentage verification.                Around noon, we visited the ARC's bull testing station, where pr...
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