Test of the Safari

The Test of the Safari

Demonstration / opening of the test

• 21 Male Rabbits
• 21 Female Rabbits

Demonstrated by merek in Saqqarah on 2009-02-02.

Description

According to the official in-game information from the University of Body:

In the Test of the Safari you will learn to track and capture seven species of Egyptian fauna. Each species has unique behaviors and tracking methods, and each must be accomplished four times. More information about each species can be found here.

Achieving principles

To complete the principles of this test, and gaining a level, do the following:

• Build a Fennec trap
• See a Gazelle
• Force an Otter to move to another hole
• Capture an Ibis
• Drop a Rabbit for a hungry Falcon
• Detect the signs of a Fennec

Start the test

To accept/start the test, go to any University of Body and go to the Tests menu.

The minimum level to accept this test is: 12

Complete the test

Capture/tap 4 of each kind of Egypt's animals (listed below).

Keeping track of progress

To review which animals you have captured/tagged:

1. click on yourself (or press Esc)
2. select Tests menu
3. select Test of the Safari
4. select Read my Log Book

A popup will appear, stating your finds and captures, and how many remain.

Strength bonus

You will get a +1 permanent strength bonus for every 4 animals that you capture/tap/find (maximum 4 per type). So if you find 2 falcons and 2 fennecs, you should get a strength bonus. There are 7 animals, times 4, meaning that you can get a maximum bonus of +7 in this way. Strength bonus increases the ability to carry 500 more weight (not bulk) per 1 bonus point.

Further reading

Info from previous tales:

• Tale 1 - Test of the Safari
• Tale 2 - Test of the Safari
• Tale 3 - Test of the Safari

The animals of Egypt

Bullfrogs

Official game info from University of Body:

Bullfrogs exhibit almost perfect camouflage, but their distinctive sound gives them away. High Dexterity helps capture these creatures.

• T3 info: only from 6pm through 6am (evening/night, Egyptian time).
• Bullfrogs always live on the edge of water. This can be any type of water, like a pond, a lake, a river or a sea shore.
• To search for bullfrogs more effectively, try searching near a sea shore instead of river bank or small lake/pond. If you search at a river bank, consider the possibility that the bullfrog could be on the other side of the river. In both cases be aware that bullfrogs might be located on small islands in the river or off the coast that are within the hearing range but outside of your reach (even with a Ferry Boat).
• It helps to use stereo audio equipment (stereo headset/speakers) to pinpoint where the sound comes from (left/right) and determine the loudness of the sound better.
• There are a number of different sounds, but they usually lead to the same bullfrog. Sounds usually play at least once per minute, sometimes more frequent.
• Go to the exact location where the sound is loudest and where a specific direction cannot be distinguished. You should be on top of the location of the bullfrog.
• Click on yourself (or press Esc key), go to Tests menu, select Test of the Safari, and click on "Capture a bullfrog."
• When the bullfrog is not captured, move around 1 or 2 coordinates and try again.
• Failing to catch a bullfrog uses the endurance timer. There is no timer if you are successful in a capture attempt.

Desert Rats

Official game info from University of Body:

Fast-moving Desert Rats blend perfectly with Egypt's terrain, but their distinctive tracks will lead to them every time. Be aware that the wind will cover up tracks over time.

• 

  footprints

• 

  footprints F7 default view

• It seems they are viewable at the default F7 camera; a little more visible than last tale.

You need 1 canvas and 4 boards to set up a Desert Rat Trap. These are not normal buildings: they don't appear on the ground and they don't last more than an instant. Either they catch the rat immediately, or they don't. The materials are NOT consumed if you fail to catch the rat.

Materials are ONLY consumed when you catch the rat. You can try as often as you want with the materials for one cage. It will give a short End timer. - Taemon

To catch a rat in your trap, you first need to follow the tracks in the direction of travel. Look closely at a track and you'll see rough toe prints on one end of the track. Using a very close-up single F8 camera view and lowering your texture resolution (click yourself/Utility/Options: Video) can be very helpful in seeing the details of the tracks. Once you know which way the rat is traveling, continue to follow the tracks until they end. There can be fairly large gaps between tracks, so scan a good-sized area for further tracks. Once you think you've found the forward-most track, set your trap in front of it. If that was the most recently made track, you should catch a rat. If you don't catch one, scan further ahead for more tracks while your END timer runs down.

Also, rats can double back and go in circles. The toe prints can help you understand the path of travel when tracks criss-cross or do other confusing things. -- Ankh-EnDa

Tips for Catching that Rat:

  1. Rat tracks are spaced in proportion to their age, the older the tracks, the further apart they will be.
  2. Rat tracks do not immediate disappear once the rat is caught. The tracks stay and fade out in accordance with the same schedule as for above
  3. If you are following an active set of tracks, the next set of prints will show up within a few seconds in front of the last set. I have found is worth those few seconds to see the next set show up to make sure I am in the right spot
  4. Rat are know to be suicidal. They have been observed to jump off the cliffs at the edge of the world, drown themselves in bodies of water. Life is tough as a rat
  5. Rats despawn and move on by themselves, they do not wait around to be caught. Their tracks also won't immediately go away (well, that last bit is slightly conjecture, since I can't prove it despawned, but I was tracking a good rat and he “disappeared” leaving his tracks behind) 

- Telanoc

Build the trap using your menu: Projects | Tests | Tests of the Safari | Set up a Desert Rat Trap. It helps to pin the menu when you start tracking.

The rats can climb up 90 degree cliffs, catch them fast if they are near one.

Fennec

Official game info from University of Body:

Build a Fennec trap using boards and rope. Each night, traps on the outskirts of a pack will show signs of the creatures, and traps within 250 coordinates will capture one. At least four different subspecies of Fennecs must be captured and released.

• Building a Fennec trap takes 4 Boards and 1 Rope and can only be build on sandy soil (when sand icon is shown).
• Checking your traps once per Egyptian day should be sufficient, since the status might only change once per day, at 4:00am.
• There are at least 5 kinds of Fennecs. One each of 4 different sub-species must be captured. Sub-species include: Pygmy, Short-haired, Sharp-toothed, Ruddy, and Bushy-tailed.
• There are 3 possible messages:
  1. "The Trap is perfectly clean, not even a Fennec hair to be seen.", which means that there are no fennecs near.
  2. "Although the trap doesn't contain a live animal, you definitely see signs of Furry Fennecs!", which means that a fennec should be within 250 to 600 coordinates. Build more traps within that range (outside the 250 coords circle).
  3. "???", which means that you will have captured a fennec of a specific subspecies, as indicated.
• After you have captured all 4 subspecies of fennecs, it is a good custom to make your trap usable by anyone, to help others find good locations for capturing fennecs. Announcing locations to your friends, guild chat or even public chat might be helpful. Listing them here is also a good idea.

Fennec locations (Region, coordinates, type of find: near/capture, date):

• Caught Ruddy - Peret II-6 10pm - SW 200, 3000 - public traps
• Caught Bushy tailed - Peret II-9 700am - SA 2200, 950 - public trap now
• ...

Pro-tip: An easy way to catch fennecs is if someone announces a capture of a type you have not caught, build a trap 250 coordinates away in each cardinal direction from the announced capture point. This must be done before the fennecs move at 4:00am. After 4:00am, check your four traps and one will have a fennec!

Gazelle

Official game info from University of Body:

Gazelles run faster than humans. The key to tagging a Gazelle is to tire it out. Strong teamwork is a must.

• 

The method of tagging a gazelle described below is merely meant as a suggested way to do it. However, it has proven to be a very successful way to have as many people as possible benefit from it. If this method is used correctly, everyone in the group should have a chance to tag it. Because of this, and especially because it's very hard (if not impossible) to do this by yourself, the method described below is recommended.

• Gazelles appear randomly in Egypt. Could be anywhere, but mostly in less populated areas.
• Unless completely hyped with speed/dexterity bonuses, it's almost impossible to capture a Gazelle by yourself or even with only a few people.
• It is custom to announce a gazelle in an Egypt-wide channel like E! and form a large group. Let people come in, even if it takes half an hour.
• Everyone should position around the gazelle in a circle (like in the image above) and when the group is complete, one person should be appointed leader.
• If the circle around the gazelle is wide enough and nobody approaches the gazelle, the gazelle is almost guaranteed to just stand there.
• If the gazelle is close to an unpassable body of water, or steep cliff/mountain, it is easier to enclose it. Making a double lined half-circle around it can be considered.
• On command of the leader, the group decreases the size of the circle slowly, moving in on the gazelle step by step.
• The gazelle will panic and move around. Warping a few coordinates in any direction is also possible. The gazelle is likely to escape from the circle.
• From this moment on, the group should chase the gazelle, but keep a certain distance. If the gazelle stops running, form a new circle around it and start over.
• When a gazelle has become tired, this is visible because it will let it's head hang down. Up to this moment, it's head will be upright.
• When this happens (tiring it out), it will not move until it gathers new energy to run again. This status will remain for about 10-20 seconds.
• The leader of the group signals everyone to tag. At this point, everyone can run up to the gazelle and click it. After tagging it, a popup should appear for each individual who tags it.
• As soon as you've tagged it, it is important to move away from the gazelle again. If not everyone has had the chance to tag it, this might be a way to keep it in sight and repeat the process.
• After regaining energy, the gazelle will run away again. Everyone who has not tagged it by then, should say so. If this is a reasonable large percentage of the group, try chasing it again.

Falcons

Official game info from University of Body:

To identify a Falcon Roost, drop a Rabbit. A falcon will take it sometime within the next 5 minutes (but never within the first minute), and will fly off toward the nearest roost. Trees may be checked for roosts, but doing so is exhausting!

• Searching trees for falcon roosts seems to be triggering the endurance timer.
• Dropping a rabbit isn't completely necessary to find falcons. There's always a tiny chance of finding a falcon roost in any tree.
• When you drop a rabbit, wait for a few minutes till it disappears. When that happens, read in your Main chat screen in which direction (North, South, East, West, Northeast, Southeast, Northwest, Southwest) you can look. Please bear in mind that this includes any tree in a wide range (anywhere between 1 and 500 coords?). The directions don't always seem to be very precise; for example North could also be leaning towards Northeast or Northwest. Use the map (F3) or compass (F4) to determine the direction to search.
• A tool to triangulate falcons can be found at http://hem.bredband.net/titgar/FalconFinder2.html
• Especially in the first weeks after opening this test, it might be useful to look for the coordinates 0,0 on the map and search around in this area. Rumor has it that all falcons start here, and then spread out over Egypt slowly. Some people call this a bug or even an exploit, but that is debatable because in the game as a whole it is not uncommon for things to happen or appear in specific locations or areas (examples: sheep, mushrooms, herbs, metal ore veins). If this really was a bug or exploit, Teppy and/or the development team would have made changes to this.

Ibis

Official game info from University of Body:

Only one flock of Ibis inhabits Egypt. Tagging a single bird causes it to flee, but the rest of the flock is unfazed. The flock tends to move at night, and resettle in the morning.

• 

  Ibis

• The ibis flock consists of 21 birds and appears at a random spot on any coastline at 6:00am. Any ibis not tagged by 6:00pm will despawn.
• It is common courtesy to announce the flock of Ibis somewhere. Whether or not you want to inform your guild brothers and sisters first, or your close friends, or straight away post their location in the E! channel, is up to you. But if you want to see some fun havoc after you've spotted the flock, announce it in E! and see some people go into panic-mode.
• When you announce a flock's location, please mention the region, its coordinates and where it is close to (e.g. schools or universities, for example).
• It is common courtesy for someone to stay with the flock, and keep announcing how many there are left.
• It is also common courtesy for people on their way to the flock to announce that fact. Others coming from far can then estimate if there would be any left on their arrival, thus making a decision to go or not.
• It is considered poor sportsmanship to build obstructions to prevent an ibis from being visible, e.g. a mine or quarry. Likewise, ibis should not be "reserved"-- they are strictly first come, first serve.

Otters

Official game info from University of Body:

Otters build an underground network of tunnels. it is possible to put a stick (wood) down to block a portion of the network, but if too many holes are blocked, the Otter will get annoyed and eat a stick!

• While out and bout to trap otters carry a avg of 20 boards on you. It appears this tale the otters are fixed...not like last tale. This tale you must trap them between 3 holes now. Easy way to do this is to map out the hole locations, if more then 3 boards are placed wrong the otter will eat the boards.

• Sometimes otter's holes can be hidden by objects like mines, quarries.

• Can be found in grassland or desert.