Guiding In High Grass

So the season has started, and we all know that this time of the year especially up in Kogatende the Grass is very high, which can make guiding a little bit harder and more challenging.

Remember the high grass months are part of the cycle of the bush and it is there for a reason, not just to make guides and managers lives difficult. When briefing guests before a walk or a game drive and remember this also applies to managers, its always to easy to say, “Well we will try and see what we can see”, or “don’t really know what we are going to see as the grass is to high”. This kind of briefing immediately makes guests feel disappointed and kills any expectation they had of maybe seeing a sighting of a lifetime or the animals they were hoping to see on their safari that they just paid a fortune for. Guests immediately think that they made a mistake coming on safari at this time of the year, and they then quiz their agents as to “why did you send us to these camps if the grass is high and our guides tell us that we wont see much” this then causes all kinds of problems for you and the company.

There are many thinks that are positive with high grass conditions and driving/walking around the bush at this time of the year, and this needs to be put across to the guests in a positive manner, and they need to understand and feel that they are still going to have a awesome safari and game experience, and it is up to you as the guide to make this possible.

The only thing that has to happen is you have to change your guiding approach and tactics and skills a little bit and you can still see and find wonderful things, and this is how to do it!

When briefing your guests before a walk or drive do not make the grass a negative thing but rather say “yes the grass is high, but we can still see amazing stuff and there are things you can see now that you will not see any other time of the year” and through your drive you can explain and look for the following”…..

High grass conditions typically happen and are the result of a very good rainy season, this is crucial for the survival of all things as everything depends on water, esp. for food in the case of grazers. The reason the grass is so high is also because they are “flowering” which is actually making seeds, which feed many seed eating birds, and also insures that the specie of grass continues to survive.

Coming back to birds and high grass, I can remember a few weeks ago in the Lemai plains we saw birds and bird behavior in the tall grass, which you will not see any other time of the year. We saw a lot of Jackson’s Widowbirds (Euplectes jacksoni) especially the males in full breeding plumage jumping up and down above the high grass in a breeding display. This was indeed very interesting to watch and you guests will think the same it will also be a great challenge to photograph. Driving around we also saw sightings of Black Coucal (Centropus grillii) flying low over the tops of the grass, something we don’t see in short grass conditions.

Together and in between the tall grass is also a wealth of flowering plant species attracting all kind of insects and especially butterflies, again an interesting topic to discuss and identify.

With mammals there are also things to remember and again just changing technique can still produce memorable sightings. When looking at the cat family they just like us don’t really enjoy walking through long wet grass especially in the early mornings so in one way they should be easier to find and you just have to look in the right places. Roads, rocky koppies, trees and areas with shorter grass is where to look for them, also many grazers do not like eating the high grass so they will also be in the shorter grass areas, and where there is prey there are predators. In these areas you will find from a gazelle to an elephant and somewhere not far will be a toothy critter.

With walking things are a little bit different and you don’t really want to walk through very tall grass as it is uncomfortable for your guests plus there is a danger risk involved as it is difficult to see what might be hiding in the tall grass. Again what is needed is a different approach to the walking safaris and something that works well is to do a combination activity, half drive and half walk. The plan here is to sell a walk to a client saying that for tomorrows walk we are going to drive out first see what we can see in the early morning (which will give you time for the grass to dry from the morning dew) and sell it as a opportunity to maybe photograph something nice in the morning light. Then we will proceed and have a awesome walk along the river after leaving the car somewhere and doing a walk back to the car (Olivers…for you guys I think the grass is in any case getting shorter as it is much dryer.) and look at river ecology on foot, don’t mention anything about the grass, if you do it this way your guests will feel special as you really gave it some thought as to how to make their morning special, rather than just saying we cant walk anywhere because the grass is to high and combine this with a great picnik breakfast and you will really have a top morning.

So there you have it, with a bit more imagination you can still make your guests very happy this time of the year with high grass conditions, so get out there and get exited!!!!