Activity Title: Game Drive

Goals: The purpose of this activity is:

Guide Preparation:

1. Unless free admission to the park has been arranged in advance by the EEO (for "free program" schools only), procure entry fee cash from the EEO, or make sure the driver/guide has it.
2. At the end of the previous activity or meal, announce to your group where to meet you. Coordinate this meeting place with the other guides in advance, so no two groups are meeting at the same place. The bush camp entrance may be a good place to meet for this activity, since it is near to the vehicle, you will not be there long, and the conference room may be needed for other activity groups.
3. Be sure to have a pocket-knife with you to sharpen pencils as needed.

Student Orientation (Introduction):

1. Make sure all the students are present and that everyone has their logbook/pencil.
2. Before you head to the safari vehicle, ask the students what tourist do when they visit Hwange National Park. Ask them if they know why tourists are willing to fly half way around the world to come here from distant countries, and spend a substantial portion of their savings, to visit Hwange National Park. Tell them that Hwange National Park is a very special place on Earth. Ask them if they know why (few developed countries have such large wild places left in them, few developed countries have such large species of wildlife left in them, most other countries are so crowded with people that they killed off all their large wildlife and destroyed their habitats long ago).
3. Tell them that they are lucky that they are now going to visit Hwange National Park, without having to pay the millions of dollars that foreign tourists must pay to visit. Inform them that this is the only game drive they will go on during the visit to the bush camp.
4. "It is a half hour drive just to get to the park entrance. But we can see wildlife anywhere along the way, so keep looking for animals. Once we get to Main Camp, we will stop and have an opportunity to use the toilet, if anyone needs to."

1. Lead them to the game drive vehicle and introduce them to the driver. Tell them that he is also a qualified guide who can teach us a lot about wildlife. "He will help us find the wildlife, but we must all search for animals. Many pairs of eyes are better than just one. Sometimes, the animals are hard to find."
2. Invite them to sit in the vehicle. Try to arrange the students so that as many of them are sitting at the side of the vehicle as possible. Sit yourself in the middle of the vehicle.
3. As you begin your drive, tell them that the land to the right is a place called Sikumi Forest, run by the Zimbabwe Forestry Commission. "Sikumi Forest surrounds much of the border to Hwange National Park. It is also full of wildlife." Remind them to keep watching.
4. "We can see more wildlife from a vehicle than we can on foot. Does anyone know why? Wild animals do not recognize vehicles as a threat. It is illegal to hunt form a vehicle in Zimbabwe. The animals are used to seeing people walking or standing. If we sit still and quiet when we see animals, they will not even know that there are people in the vehicle."
5. When we see animals, do not talk loudly or move around. Sit still. This is very important for our safety.
6. Point out Hwange Safari Lodge entrance and tell them that this is one of the lodges that tourist stay at when they come to visit the park.
7. Point out the railway line and tell them that this marks the legal boundary of the national park. Point out that the speed limit is reduced to 60 kph here. Ask them if they can guess why that is.
8. At Main Camp, while the driver checks in at the tourist office, encourage them to use the toilets, as this will be their last opportunity for a while.
9. If it is an afternoon drive, check the closing time and plan your route and timing with the driver/guide to make sure you leave the game park by the required time. If it is a morning drive, consider the time you are due back in camp. However, this time is far more flexible. If the children are having a good time, it is okay for them to be late for tea.
10. With each new animal you see, ask the students if they know the name of the species and what they know about it. If they tell mythology about it, say something like: "Some people believe that, but it has never been proven by science." Then start asking them more specific questions about its natural history. Introduce the term species, if they do not already know it (a type of living thing.)
11. Eventually, when their excitement level has died down a bit, introduce the concept of adaptations. Ask them if they know what an ‘adaptation’ is (a physical trait or behaviour, shared by all members of that species, that helps the species survive in its habitat.) If this is not their first bush camp activity, they have probably already been introduced to the concept in the first teak forest activities in the exclosure. Pick a trait about the animal and ask them if they can figure out how that trait helps the animal survive. Then ask them to identify another adaptation of this species.
12. With the next animal, unless it is an elephant, ask them what kind of place in the park would you be most likely to see this species. (Elephants are not a good example to start with, as they belong to every natural community in the Hwange ecosystem.) Ask them if anyone can define the word ‘habitat’. Tell them that Hwange National Park is made up of many different kinds of natural communities. Give them some examples of how they have seen the vegetation change during the drive so far. Tell them that the kind of natural community where a species is found is called its habitat.
13. With the next animal, introduce the concept of ‘niche’ as the roles each species plays in its habitat. Ask them what kinds of roles this species may play. Give them examples of the niches of other animals they have seen so far.
14. Tell them that before the end of the game drive, they must choose one of the wildlife species that they have seen. Once you have chosen it, try to remember what it looks like, and what its adaptations, habitat and niche are. (You may chose to give them the option of working in pairs on this.)
15. On the way back to the Main Camp, ask each child (or pair) which species they have chosen. Test them to see if they can remember its appearance, some of its adaptations, its habitat and niche.

1. Upon your return to Main Camp, allow them the opportunity to use the toilets again. Then gather them together in a comfortable spot and ask them to sit. "Open your log books to page ________. Draw your chosen animal in the box the best you can. You do not have to show your drawing to anyone, unless you want to. Then answer the questions as well as you can. This page will not be graded by anyone, just do the best you can."
2. After you can see that most of the students are finished, ask for volunteer to share what they know about their animal’s adaptations, habitat and niche. Use the questions on the discovery sheet as a guide, but ask them if they noticed or figured out anything else about the animal species as well. If you are running short of time, this step could be done in the vehicle, if you sit everyone close together.
3. With each presentation, ask the rest of the group if they have anything to add about that animal species.
4. After a few volunteers have presented, gather the group and drive back to the bush camp.
5. On the way back, you might want to ask them if the different time of day will affect what species of wildlife they see now. "Why?" The answer may relate to the activity times of species, also a part of each species’ niche. You may want to introduce the concepts of nocturnal, diurnal and crepuscular.
6. When you get back to the bush camp, ask the children who knows when to meet for your next activity. Tell them where to meet.