Days 10 and 11 – Firstly just a note that this will be more
text than photos as I have limited availability on the internet. Sorry!
A new adventure awaited me on day 10. I didn’t know what to
expect and I didn’t know how different it would be.
Ian, who laughs at all my jokes (though not sure if he is
laughing with me or at me… LOL) and my South African husband Wayne dropped me
off at the airport after some melancholy goodbyes at Welgedacht. It quite
honestly was the best week I’ve had in a long time. Got photos with the boys
and said goodbye to my Italian, Berlin living husband, Daniele, (the other
volunteer) and Christian, the German Croc man as well. LOL. Was a fun week and
I’ve made some wonderful friends both human and animal.
Arriving in Port Elizabeth I immediately had to put a jumper
on. It was COLD. And windy but being a Port city I could understand that. Hopes
that it would be warmer on camp quickly faded when we arrived. I am now with 2
new volunteers, Koharu from Tokyo and Eline from Holland. The dynamics are
completely different with two girls rather than me and two boys. Growing up
with 5 brothers has made me more comfortable around boys most of the time so
this is good but different.
Gert met us at the airport and we went on the 2.5hour drive
out to Modgaji. Modgaji sits on 5000 hectares of land of which free roam vervet
monkeys (one of which I am sure is on the roof of my room as I write this),
impala, kudu, duiker, giraffe, aardvark, bush pig, baboons (which we saw on the
way in), other smaller antelope and many many springbok.
We settled in and had spag bol for dinner before getting an
early night ready for a full days work in the morning. Things are certainly
different here. We are very very separate from the main house, it’s all three
of us girls are sharing a house and by house I mean a building with a room and
three beds. The kitchen and bathroom are about 100 metres from the room and
it’s pitch black outside with monkeys and African wild cats roaming around! The
kitchen is open and very cold and we are cooking our own meals. Very different
than Welgedacht. It’s taking me some time to get used to.
Tuesday 10 Sep, Day 11. An early rise and I wasn’t feeling
well either. But nothing that a tablet couldn’t fix. Then on the hunt with
cheetahs!! We walked two cheetahs Jhabulani and Themba who are brothers to go
and hunt with them. We walked along side of them and let them do their thing.
Within 10 minutes they had taken down a rather large kudu. We walked up to
where they were and were able to even go right near them when they were eating.
They are used to humans doing this so they tolerate it.
Gert pulled the guts out and then William and Gert cut the
kudu into pieces so we could all drag it back to camp which was about a
kilometre away. The two brothers walked back with us, satisfied with their
kill. Buhle the female cheetah got a piece of the kudu. They suspect she is
carrying cubs and could deliver any day over the next week to two weeks. I hope
it’s this week! These cubs are then raised with the mother and then sold to
other game reserves to have as wild cheetahs. (Or at least I hope that is what
actually happens).
We gave fresh water to the other cats – caracals, servals
and the final cheetah Luka. She is only 13months old and is a beauty. We sat
with her for a bit and she came to me and licked my hands and play bit me and
then flopped down in front of me and purred so beautifully.
The afternoon was spent cutting up the rest of the carcass
of the kudu and avoiding the thousands of ticks that were on it. I escaped with
no ticks touching my skin thankfully. We then went for a bit of a drive before
coming back to feed the meat to the servals and caracals.
A very different day than with the lions.
Wednesday 11th Sept.
This morning we took Lukah out for a walk. We walked about 5
kms before turning back to come back to the camp. Unfortunately she was
unsuccessful in catching two duikers (small antelope). So hopefully we have
better luck tomorrow morning with her.
We spent the rest of the day cleaning and we went to
Jhabulani and Themba’s camp and Buhle’s camp to find their left over bones and
then feed them to the hyenas.
In the afternoon we spent some time with Lukah again. She is
so adorable and even affectionately rubbed her head up against mine. I’m in
love! J
We fed the caracals and servals again. It’s so funny how
their behaviour changes when food is available to them.
I’ll try to post again in a few days but don’t want to waste
too much of my money on the internet here. Hope all is well back home!
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