by Twan Slagter
I came to NVT for an internship for my undergrad studies. Finally, I was going to do real fieldwork, something that I had always thought to be what I wanted to do with my life. Doing the actual work was so much fun. It really was something that I enjoyed a lot. Then school came crashing in… I had to make all these reports about literally everything. That was, where I had enough. This was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I decided to stop with my course at home. I could have gone back home because I no longer had any obligations from school. I did stay though, because my plane ticket was already booked and I really didn’t mind working another few months on the South African beaches, while at home it was horizontally raining all the time, due to the massive winds.
In my time with NVT, I have learned an epic amount about conservation and research. I have learned about shorebirds, how to handle them and why they do things the way they do. My primary job was to sit on the beach and watch a nest for 2 hours straight. If the bird was disturbed by something I would write down by what and for how long. Watching an animal for a long time really lets you understand the animal’s behaviour.
Another thing that really kept the work fun is that we didn’t just do plover work. I also participated in things like bird ringing, fish sampling and some awesome things in the holiday programme. The team really tries to keep your time at NVT fun by showing everyone around the area and doing as many things as possible. I feel like I know the area inside out, after having been there for 5 months.
What I enjoyed the most was the fun we had with everyone. Working for NVT, you feel like you are really part of what is going on, always. Everyone is friends and we really had so much fun, while working. Sometimes there were some irritations, but that is normal. We just talked about it and then everything was good again. Nobody is perfect, right? (Except for Mark, of course. Mark is perfect in every way!)
Thank you so much, NVT! I had the best time of my 18 years of life! Keep doing what you are doing, because you really are doing an amazing job.
Twan captured a lovely sunset from the point.