One of our favourite activities every year is the annual vulture tagging. We have been participating since 2016, at which point one child was two and the other five. The first time we joined this outing we hadn’t yet met everyone involved, but had made telephonic arrangements to meet the team at Sesriem. Of course, with small kids, we ended up running slightly late but eventually arrived and were told that the guys had gone ahead and we could probably catch up with them. We did manage to catch up just as the lead car (the one with the ladder and all the equipment) turned onto a private road, strictly closed to the public. The occupants of our car all gave a huge sigh of relief and the adrenaline rush ebbed away. We were the fourth vehicle in the convoy. Our relief and adrenaline break was short lived, however. Vehicle one stopped and a tall, lanky man unfolded himself from the car and stalked over to our vehicle. We realised he wasn’t sure who we were and assumed that we were tourists who had decided to tag along with them. After we had introduced ourselves it was official: We were part of the convoy and on our way!

The first attempt went smoothly by all accounts – as newbies we had no idea anyway. We simply knew we were with some of the greats of vulture tagging, some of them people who had seen me in my underwear at age 2 (it happens more often than I like that people I speak to tend to remember my lack of clothing and reluctance to wear any, my genuine hate of footwear and my white-blonde hair. Some of this may have changed.) A dear friend was with us. At that time we had not known each other for long – she was not a fan of two-legged small ones, and I wasn’t sure how we would all get on. But she had elements I enjoyed. Fortunately, our vulture tagging expedition cemented our relationship and was the first of many magical memories!

We watched as the pros unfolded a car mirror on an extendable pole and checked for action in the nest seven metres above. Once occupation of the nest was confirmed, the ladder was offloaded and a retriever sent up with a specially made bag (high tech stuff this, canvas cloth and leather handles) to protect the bird, the retriever and allow for climbing up and down the ladder safely. The birds being tagged are not yet able to fly, making it much easier. Once a bird was tagged, measured and recorded it was returned to its nest and our convoy continued on its way.