The day starts slowly and very early for one of the shyest and sweetest inhabitants in the wilderness of Southern Africa. It is the first day of a project that no one knows how it will end and for which there is no manual. We want to habituate a meerkat family. So we get up early, it is still dark and quite cold at this time of year. In the open jeep we sit about 50 meters away from the den. We know that meerkats live there, but since these small predators are very shy (they belong to the "Shy 5" along with aardvark, porcupine, bat-eared fox and aardwolf), we usually see them only very briefly and have no opportunity to observe them longer and learn about and from them. 

The sun rises and in the first rays of the sun, the first head appears. We are immediately identified as a foreign body and are continuously eyed. Little by little the rest of the group comes out into the open, stands sunbathing on their hind feet, but does not let us out of their sight. After a good hour the little ones become restless and after the signal to leave comes, they set off to hunt and feed. In the process, the group stays pretty close together and they run away at full speed until we can't see them anymore. I am sure that the reason for this behaviour is due to our presence alone, but the reason will become clearer as time moves on and there is, even more, we should learn from the little ones over the next months.

In the coming days the picture is quite unchanged. We still do not notice any change towards us and so we decide that it is time to leave the car to see if this does not work better. Sitting on the floor, we wait for the little ones. Every morning. In all kinds of weather. And in the process, we learn our first lesson - patience. They don't come to the surface at the same time every morning and are rarely not in the den at all, but spend the night in another den. But we are lucky and the group uses this burrow almost exclusively, with a few exceptions. Every few days we move a few meters closer and indeed they relax more and more. We are being watched, but more and more there’s a feeling that they also ignore and even accept our presence. And that is probably another lesson to learn - tolerance.

As we sit in the open space in front of a meerkat den, so much more around us happens. Of course, since we are in a Big 5 National Park, a lot of other animals roam the grassy areas not far from the lodge in the morning. Many are coming from nocturnal forays, others are emerging from their burrow where they spent the night in safety like warthogs, and others are on their way to the waterhole for a first drink in the morning. So I observe fighting rhinos from a safe distance, jackals and zebras watch us and suddenly a hyena stands in front of me that we didn't see coming. I think we were equally startled and so she retreated quite quickly. I had a very close solo encounter with a bull elephant whose path was only a few meters from where I was sitting. It was an unforgettable image of him walking towards me in the rising sun and as he walked around me my shadow was silhouetted on his body. Another important lesson learnt – trust situations even when you are not in charge that seem frighting, trust your gut feeling and enjoy sharing the same space with a wild elephant.

After almost 5 months, we seem to have reached our destination. We sit less than two meters from the entrance. And then I hear new sounds of communication that we have never heard before. My heart leaps as we suddenly get to see our first baby meerkat. In the end, there are three little meerkats that see daylight for the first time after spending the first 3 weeks of their lives in the den. The first days were even blind and deaf. That life for meerkats can be hard and cruel in the wilderness of Africa what we learn painfully the next days. It is very dry when the babies came out, too dry. And when I saw see the babies for the first time we could not judge if they are big and strong enough to survive due to lack of experience. Unfortunately, the drought meant that the adults, especially the mother of the babies, could not find enough food (insects, scorpions, snakes) and therefore the mother could not produce enough milk. Thus, our first litter of meerkats did not survive the first month. Life in the wild can be cruel and hard. Especially when you only weigh around 800 grams and your enemies are eagles, jackals and cobras.

After this first negative experience, however, we have enjoyed four more litters and from each litter, a few cubs survived. However, the group has not grown continuously, on the contrary, there have been great fluctuations in terms of membership. A meerkat group is unfortunately not as stable as for example a herd of elephants. Meerkats have to endure harsh conditions and so only one alpha female and male is allowed to produce offspring. The rest of the group must help with the rearing, such as babysitting. A time in which he or she cannot feed themselves. So getting a litter through is very exhausting for all members. If a member of the group is unhappy and wants to father offspring themselves, they must leave the group and either join another group or start their own family. Another lesson we can learn from meerkats - is adaptability.

After almost 5 months, we seem to have reached our destination. We sit less than two meters from the entrance. And then I hear new sounds of communication that we have never heard before. My heart leaps as we suddenly get to see our first baby meerkat. In the end, there are three little meerkats that see daylight for the first time after spending the first 3 weeks of their lives in the den. The first days were even blind and deaf. That life for meerkats can be hard and cruel in the wilderness of Africa what we learn painfully the next days. It is very dry when the babies came out, too dry. And when I saw see the babies for the first time we could not judge if they are big and strong enough to survive due to lack of experience. Unfortunately, the drought meant that the adults, especially the mother of the babies, could not find enough food (insects, scorpions, snakes) and therefore the mother could not produce enough milk. Thus, our first litter of meerkats did not survive the first month. Life in the wild can be cruel and hard. Especially when you only weigh around 800 grams and your enemies are eagles, jackals and cobras.

After this first negative experience, however, we have enjoyed four more litters and from each litter, a few cubs survived. However, the group has not grown continuously, on the contrary, there have been great fluctuations in terms of membership. A meerkat group is unfortunately not as stable as for example a herd of elephants. Meerkats have to endure harsh conditions and so only one alpha female and male is allowed to produce offspring. The rest of the group must help with the rearing, such as babysitting. A time in which he or she cannot feed themselves. So getting a litter through is very exhausting for all members. If a member of the group is unhappy and wants to father offspring themselves, they must leave the group and either join another group or start their own family. Another lesson we can learn from meerkats - is adaptability.

After almost 5 months, we seem to have reached our destination. We sit less than two meters from the entrance. And then I hear new sounds of communication that we have never heard before. My heart leaps as we suddenly get to see our first baby meerkat. In the end, there are three little meerkats that see daylight for the first time after spending the first 3 weeks of their lives in the den. The first days were even blind and deaf. That life for meerkats can be hard and cruel in the wilderness of Africa what we learn painfully the next days. It is very dry when the babies came out, too dry. And when I saw see the babies for the first time we could not judge if they are big and strong enough to survive due to lack of experience. Unfortunately, the drought meant that the adults, especially the mother of the babies, could not find enough food (insects, scorpions, snakes) and therefore the mother could not produce enough milk. Thus, our first litter of meerkats did not survive the first month. Life in the wild can be cruel and hard. Especially when you only weigh around 800 grams and your enemies are eagles, jackals and cobras.

After this first negative experience, however, we have enjoyed four more litters and from each litter, a few cubs survived. However, the group has not grown continuously, on the contrary, there have been great fluctuations in terms of membership. A meerkat group is unfortunately not as stable as for example a herd of elephants. Meerkats have to endure harsh conditions and so only one alpha female and male is allowed to produce offspring. The rest of the group must help with the rearing, such as babysitting. A time in which he or she cannot feed themselves. So getting a litter through is very exhausting for all members. If a member of the group is unhappy and wants to father offspring themselves, they must leave the group and either join another group or start their own family. Another lesson we can learn from meerkats - is adaptability.