We have safely arrived in South Africa! Dr. Gonda, Dr. Klein, and Dr. Walker got us through Atlanta and to Johannesburg without a hitch! At the airport we were greeted by Dr. Michael MacNeil, former Research Scientist for the USDA and SDSU Alumnus & Professor Michiel Scholtz, a Specialist Researcher with ARC- Animal Production and native South African. These two will serve as our primary guides throughout the trip.

Tonight we checked into the hotel and got settled in after a loooooong flight (14.75 hours.) It is sunny and 80 degrees and temperatures are expected to remain about the same all week! Tomorrow we are off bright and early to a cheetah preserve among other locations! Thanks to all who wished for our safe arrival.

Here are a few pictures from the OR Tambo International Airport, our hotel, and a few students grabbing a bite to eat to eat at the hotel restaurant! 

Tot siens! (Bye in Afrikaans)

Danika Gordon and Cara Teigum










Comments

  1. Malissa SchentzelMarch 13, 2022 at 7:35 AM

    Thanks for putting together this blog and sharing photos. Our family in Minnesota is excited to watch the travels unfold. Have a great time on your trip!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Michael GondaMarch 13, 2022 at 12:05 PM

      Thank you Malissa! Zoey is doing very well. Glad she had the opportunity to come with us.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
  Monday the 14 th – Today was another adventure packed, fun, and exciting day! We started the day with a visit to the ARC (Animal Research Council), Animal Production Center, Irene. There we met several South African students and learned about their research projects. After listening to presentations about their research, we toured the bull testing center, looked at the ARC’s research swine unit and an Afrikaner cattle herd. It was interesting to see their research feeders called GrowSafe system. These feeders are similar to those at SDSU’s, allowing the bulls to only eat from their designated bunk so that individual feed intake could be recorded. The three most popular breeds of cattle in South Africa are Afrikaner, Nguni, and Bonsmara.   These are Bos Indicus cattle which are more tolerant of heat and less susceptible to ticks and flies. Because of these different characteristics, these cattle eat throughout the day in South Africa (even during hot temperatures), whereas Bos Ta
Read more
Image
  Today we traveled around Trekpad and the Pronk Stud Farm to learn about Afrikaner Cattle and their irrigated crop production. We started the day bright and early at 6 AM. We loaded up in trucks and traveled down the road to find a  Nyala breeding bull so we could tranquilize it with a dart and move it to a new camp. Once the bull was loaded into the truck we transported it to the new camp. At that camp we tranquilized a breeding bull from that herd and transported it back the previous camp. Then we ate a delicious breakfast…with pancakes, fresh fruit, eggs and bacon just to name a few. Following breakfast we loaded up in the vans and traveled to see the onsite Afrikaner cattle. We learned about the longevity of the cattle breed, how they survive in this unique environment, and the weaning age of their calves at roughly 205 days. One of their cows was 19 years old and had a calf. After this we traveled down the road to see the crop production under irrigated pivot. The two crops w
Read more
  Welcome to our 2022 South Africa Ag Class Blog! We are excited to travel to South Africa!  We will be traveling March 11th and March 20th and posting daily updates to the blog while we are on our adventure.   Above is our class picture.  From left to right: Dr. Nicole Klein, Aubrina Melville, Harrison Wegener, Allison Bot-Steffl, Joseph Halbur, Zoey Schentzel, Cara Teigum, Kaitlin Lingbeek, Sophie Pepper, Samantha Thyen, Danika Gordon, and Dr. Michael Gonda.
Read more