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.