South Africa Part 3

My apologies for the delay in posting this. We have been without internet for a little while. But it has meant that I have been more focused on being here and being in the moment. Being in Africa really teaches me that there is more to life than behind a computer screen or looking at my iphone for hours on end. We really need to be more in the moment and live our lives with the people around us. Being in Africa also teaches me that it is only just the beginning of my adventures, particularly with animals. I only started this journey 2.5 years ago and I have a long way to go. I am fascinated by the African animals. Don’t get me wrong, I love Australian native animals as well (I mean seriously how cute are quokkas and koalas!) but there is just something about the African animals and nature of the big big animals that draws me to them. I have so much to learn though so this is why it is the very beginning.

Monday was an extremely hot day. Actually the whole week has been hot. It’s been in the 30s all week (Celsius) and I will definitely be coming home with a tan. (Don’t worry I am putting sunscreen on every day but we are outdoors working so it’s hard to avoid!)  

We started off with some animal checks and then I joined George to fix some electric fences. Hannah and another vollie joined us and we found some faults and George used his expertise to fix them. We then cleaned the north side of the big enclosure. We managed to pick up an entire otto bin full of bones. Skulls, ribs, pelvis, all of the body parts. This is leftover from when we feed the lions. As the big enclosure has no night den, the food is thrown over the fence and the lions are free to take it wherever they like in the enclosure. Therefore a big job to get through it all.

We only got through half of the big enclosure before heading back to the camp for lunch. The food has been absolutely delicious here. I’m bound to come back a few kilos heavier.

In the afternoon we did some enclosure maintenance and watered some trees. I didn’t take many pictures on this day.

Tuesday – another hot one. This morning in the morning animal checks we gave Vayetse and his girls Olivia and Virginia (Livvy and Ginny) a whole kudu carcass as part of enrichment. It was dragged into their enclosure and then the lions released to enjoy. The girls first who played with it trying to kill it (even though it was already dead) and then finally settling down for a bite before we released Vayetse. Some very satisfied lions.

In the afternoon, Hannah and I joined Lozanne in the North to move some rocks and do some enclosure maintenance and general tidy up and clean. Before we headed to do another load of rocks for the blood pit we also headed to the dam for a swim. Well I didn’t swim but Hannah did and so did Bailey the pup.

In the evening we joined Daka, one of the workers here, and watched the Orlando Pirates play the Black Aces in the South African football league. Aces won unfortunately 2-1. Was good to get a bit of football in though. I’ve missed it.

Wednesday – FEED DAY! I love these days. I joined Lozanne and two vollies in the north enclosures (Meg and Amy, the four boys Icarus, Delta, Aslan and Unathi, and Gandalf, Sibindie and Khussasa along with the two black leopards Nikita and Coal and Geena’s hyena group) to feed and clean. It’s so thrilling to see how excited and worked up they get about food. 

In the afternoon we spent some time with Nicholas, the baby hyena and also watering plants and filling up water holes for the animals as well as the dirty horrible job of fly trap cleaning. Not everything is glamorous.

We spent a lovely evening watching a movie together and eating popcorn.

Thursday – This morning the decision was made to wake early and work from 6-10.30am and then 3.30-6pm. A much better idea and it made moving rocks a little more bearable as the heat had not hit yet. This morning after an animal check we did 4 loads of rocks for the blood pit. I finally feel like we are getting somewhere with it. It was so good relaxing during the middle of the day and then we went on a game census drive and wild lion tracking just beating the storm back to the camp before we got caught in the middle of it. Was kind of scary driving into it. But we made it out.

On the game census we spotted Kudu, Wildebeest, Zebra, Giraffe, Waterbuck, Blesbuck, Thebessa antelope, guineafowl, Jackal, plenty of birds and warthog. Unfortunately for us no elephants and no lions again. Even with the aid of the telemetry it was still difficult to find the wild lions… so I guess that still remains on my bucket list. There is always next time. A lovely dinner and birthday celebration for one of the vollies before going to bed. We have two more days here and then we are off to Madagascar. I won’t be able to blog from there as there won’t be any internet but stay tuned for the blog upon my return from Africa.

South Africa Part 2

Friday 17 October – As I woke with anticipation for the events that would follow on Friday, I paused to pray and really take in the moment of spending time in South Africa and the majesty and beauty that comes with that. The air was fresh and clean and with the knowledge that the day was going to be a good day without even knowing what was to happen exactly I was excited to be alive and living my dream.

After a quick animal check to make sure everyone was where they were supposed to be, we met up with Kevin and loaded Icarus into the truck. We drove for a bit and then let Icarus out of the truck and Kevin walked with him while we sat safely in the game truck behind him. Icarus had his own ideas about this walk so unfortunately we didn’t get much viewing but that’s ok, as a lion will go with his instincts and his instincts were to follow the calls of the other lions back to the sanctuary. I managed to get a couple of photos. J

We then headed back to the camp where Mandy and Kevin and their daughter joined us for lunch. It was a lovely afternoon of chatting and asking questions and playing with the hyena cub. Was a great opportunity to enjoy the company of people that I greatly admire and I am so blessed that we were able to do this.

In the afternoon we headed back to the enclosures to give the cats some enrichment by throwing elephant dung into their enclosures. What this does is stimulate their senses like it would be in the wild and provide them with different smells and keeps them active. When you have an animal in captivity, it is your responsible to ensure that they have the best life possible and that sometimes means replicating things from the wild and this is what we did. As one of the vollies, Leanne, was throwing the wet dung into Vayetse’s enclosure I turned at the wrong time and got spashed with dung in the face. Smack bang on the forehead and almost in my eye. I laughed so hard. As did all the volunteers. It was rather amusing and we are still laughing about it now. I only wish someone had caught it on camera.

Smelling like elephant dung, we went into the striped hyena enclosure and spent some time with the two boys Sparkey and Dhuba. It must have been the smell of the dung that made me attractive to the boys and become what we call the ‘chosen one.’ As we split up in the enclosure and just sit down and allow them to come to us, I was frequently visited by both of the boys. They have the calmest nature. And this is a type of enrichment too, our visits. Hannah got some photos of me and I got some of her. I thoroughly enjoy this bonding time with the animals.

Hannah collecting elephant dung

The boys in a bit of a scuffle

Vayetse

Livvy giving the big yawn

Sparkey

Secrets from a hyena

Sundowner Hill

Jade and I. 

After we watched the sun go down at Sundowner Hill we headed back for Potjie dinner. Dinner was laid back and great fellowship with the fellow vollies.

Saturday was clean and feed day again. Unfortunately we were a little pressed for time as Lozanne needed to go fetch a dead cow for the lions and therefore we didn’t have a truck to take food to the lions early. When we did, we split into two groups, north and south to get things done faster but unfortunately still ran out of time for cleaning but everyone got fed. I didn’t take much photos today as I like to have ‘live in the moment’ days. But I did get a couple of photos with the mongoose.

Sunday – GAME DRIVE DAY!! One of my favourite days. We just got back from this actually. This morning we did a quick animal check and then headed out to Mongena. Mongena had a lot of expectations to live up to as the game drive last year was amazing. And it didn’t disappoint. Lunch was delicious and very well priced, zebras were roaming in the grounds and we got to see some wonderful animals on our drive. Including a cheetah and her 3 cubs. Mind you the cubs are almost fully grown at 16 months old but it was still wonderful to see. Let me tell you the story in pictures.

Tonight we are going to have a bonfire with marshmallows before we say goodbye to some of the vollies that leave tomorrow. One week down. It went so fast. I’m so glad we are here for another week. More adventures to come!

Alison

SOUTH AFRICA

The Lion Sanctuary

Monday – Buzzing with anticipation we awoke early to go out to the airport. After a short flight from Kampala to Johannesburg we were greeted by Jade who picked us up from the airport along with two other volunteers. Food stop and then on our way to the camp. Memories came flooding back as we drove into the valley and out to the Welgedacht Old Trading Post. I thought of Daniel and Christian, the two volunteers I was here with last year, I thought of Dee, Zako, Wiann, Wayne, Lozanne, Marta, Lynne, Gerald, and Kevin and many others. Then I thought of the lions, the hyenas, the black leopards and all of the experiences I had with them and I wondered how much this would be the same and how different it would be at the same time.

On the car trip we found out that the Spanish cubs, of which I have been speaking about on Facebook and Instagram, will be arriving on October 27… Hannah and I leave on the 25^th… which means no Spanish cubs for me… I honestly can’t tell you how this makes me feel. I think I may have gotten my hopes up too high and now I am very disappointed. I’m contemplating a few options and there is still the chance that we will get to see them… I’ll keep you posted when I hear more.

We arrived at the camp and dropped our bags off and had a brief orientation before heading to the north and south enclosures to say hello to the animals and have a walk around. It felt like coming home. Like this is where I belong. I was excited to see Bobcat and Gabby (photos to come) again and to be reintroduced to the lions and other animals. Here are some photos for you.

 

Icarus

Baby G

Ishca

Dinner was delicious and gave us a chance to get to know the other volunteers that are here for the week with us. An early night after watching the documentary Dangerous Companions with another vollie and Hannah.

Tuesday – In the morning I woke early and it was a little chilly so I popped on my jumper and I headed down to the mongoose to say hello. I sat down with Monster and Aqua. Monster was quite interested in me and was trying to dig a hole in my pockets and then Aqua came up behind me and gave me a nice little nip under the arm. So glad I was wearing my jumper otherwise that could have hurt twice as much! Kind of funny though.

So now it’s off to work we go… After a slight change of plans in the morning we headed off to do an animal check and then to get our hands dirty by filling in a pit with rocks. The afternoon was fairly quiet so I got to meet the little hyena cub and then in the evening after dinner had a chance to have a chat with Kevin.

 

Aqua the Mongoose… aka the culprit...

Meg the Lioness

African sunsets

Toula the Jackal

Wednesday – Feed Day! I like these days. They are hard work but worthwhile. Heading down to the fridge we packed the trailer with the south side food and cleaning gear.

To give you an idea of a typical clean/feed – we lock the lions out of the night enclosures, put the meat in the night pens, lock the lions in the night pens and repeat for all in the south enclosure. We then return to the first one, clean the enclosure by collecting faeces and bones and then lock the enclosure and release the lions, locking the night pen after them so that we can clean the night pen. We repeat for all enclosures.

We did an enrichment feed for the leopards and put their food up high in trees. If you have a look on my facebook, I will post a short video of them jumping for their food.

Unfortunately for me, after lunch and the south enclosures, I spent the rest of the day in bed nursing a very bad headache. I didn’t get out of bed until the next morning.

Enrichment for the leopards… vollies for lunch...

The crew working...

Gandalf the White Lion

Nyeba

Thursday – Feeling much better and well rested I was ready for a day of work. We headed out to do the not so glamorous jobs… fly traps and water filling.  Fly traps involve emptying out water and old meat that are used to trap flies and then cleaning and refilling. It was pretty disgusting but all part of the experience! In the afternoon we finished filling waters and some cleaning and headed back to the camp for a well deserved beer.

Bongani

Tsar

Suja

Fly trap cleaning

Bobcat and Gabby

Suja nudging Tsar

Duke in a tree

Duke

On the field

Tomorrow will be an adventure… a walk with Kevin and his lion (in front of the game truck, while we are safe in the game truck) and then hopefully some time with the striped hyenas.