After 3 weeks of volunteering at N/a'ankuse, part of me was sorry to leave so soon, but another part of me was anxious to explore the country of Namibia. I will miss all the animals I had to take care of, the staff and all the volunteers from around the world. The night I left, they were getting 2 baby cheetah kittens but I've since heard that both of them didn't make it so I'm sure there were a few tears with the volunteers and staff members. I guess they also had a baby baboon brought in that had to have one of his legs amputated and that little guy didn't make it as well.
One Thur Feb 14th, I spent time at N/a'ankuse Guesthouse in Windhoek for a couple of days. It's a great B&B and close to the shopping mall and downtown for sightseeing. My 1st tour was 7 days in southern Namibia start Sat. morning. Dirk was our driver/guide and he is from Namibia. I was joined with Margaret, Robert, Susan, Peter and Sue all from the U.K. and Martin & Karin from Germany. Unfortunately, we ended up with an very old minicoach. Dirk said the regular one broke down and this was substituted but it was well past it's prime. Over 600,000 clicks on it with faulty a/c and lots of noise on the mainly dirt roads we took. I may have hated the vehicle but I loved most of the tour.
Leaving Windhoek on a paved road it was very pretty mountain scenery against a beautiful blue sky with only a few wispy clouds. Much appreciated after the week of rain prior to the tour. We stopped in a town called Rehoboth which is a town for colored (mixed race people known as Basters) set up during the apartied times years ago. Seems they still perfer to live there even though there is no restriction now. As we head south, we lose mountains for flater, drier looking climate. We stay at the edge of the Kalahari Desert at Auob Lodge. That evening we enjoyed a sunset drive in an open vehicle in their own game park. Their fenced in game park had giraffe, wildebeast, waterbuck, eland, springbok, kudu, oryx, steenbok. Half of their animals are not found in the area but it was still nice to see the different species and enjoy a drink watching the sunset on the west with a lightening storm approaching from the east.
Woke up with lots of red dots covering my legs this morning but they aren't itchy like mosquito bites. I slept under a net so I'm assuming that I got them during dinner or the game drive. Will have to be a bit more conscience of putting on my bug lotion even if I don't see bugs around. Sunday morning we left the Kalahari area. It's more of a semi-desert area and with the recent rains it's much greener than I thought it would be. Heading south and east we pass by an extinct volcano and the landscape starts to change as you see more volcanic looking black/brown rock in the area. Some areas look very barren with very little trees while others are lush with long grasses. Near Keetmanstoop we stop to look at the Quiver Trees, a member of the Aloe family. Called Quiver Trees since the Bushman would use the fiborous insides to make their quivers for their hunting arrows. These trees are hundreds of years old and surrounded by dolerite boulders. Saw a blue headed lizard that made my day. A fenced in area had 2 cheetahs that we could go in and take pics of. Heading south to Fish River Canyon, the landscape changed once again. Great bolder formation maining in red/orange/brown reminded me of parts of Utah and Arizona. Was looking forward to staying in Canyon Lodge that is built right into the rocks but ended up in Canyon Village. Still a very nice place with thatched roof and rock bungalows surrounded by these rocky formations. Great place for climbing. Had a quick dip in the pool before joining a large group of hotel guest to climb one of these formations. What better way to enjoy a drink and watch the sunset. Saw a stork, goshawks, springbok, oryk and to my surprise, moutain zebras for the 1st time.
Woke up early to climb up to the top of the rocks behind my cottage to watch the sunrise. I really enjoyed listening to all the bird songs but the sunrise was not as colorful as the previous sunset. Monday morning we headed to the rim of Fish River Canyon to a few of the viewpoints. It's the 2nd largest canyon after the Grand Canyon in the U.S. It may not be as colorful but is still beautiful. Due to the rains, it had water flowing way down in the canyon floor. It was fairly early around 8am so the sun was still low so there was quite a bit of shadow on the one side when taking pictures. On the walk back to the minicoach, Robert and I were talking when I said stop, SNAKE. It was there only inches in front of us on the trail. Not very big about 1 foot long but it was in the adder family and is poisonous. It went under some rocks before we could check one of the books for what type of adder. On the way to the coastal town of Luderitz we saw ostriches, more zebra, springbok and oryx. Around Aus we saw wildhorses. They are decendants of horses that escaped from a german army camp back over 50 years ago. They say there are over 200 now and this area is really barren at the start of the sand dunes of the Namib Desert so I'm amazed they have been able to survive. Close to Luderitz it resembles a Lunar landscape. Miles of dull looking blackish/brown rock and sand dunes. Not that scenic but very interesting because it's the Diamond Mining area. Lots of the roads have Do Not Enter signs for anyone thinking they can go looking for a few sparklers for their own. Luderitz still has lots of the old German colonial style buildings and is right along the Atlantic Ocean. Our Nest Hotel is situated on the water and I explored the tide pools during low tide. We took a late afternoon drive out to Diaz Point. Hunderds of years ago, the Spanish Explorer stopped here, erected a cross but decided it wasn't liveable and left. The nearby rocks have fur seals but it's so windy it's hard to stand up so we didn't stay long.
Tues morning we have to backtrack along the same road to leave Luderitz. We stop at Kolmanskop to have a tour of the abandoned diamond mining town. Entering we saw a black backed jackel. Slowly over the years, the buildings have been getting covered from the moving sand dunes. People have also taken out some of the metal, lumber, fixtures etc to build their own homes so some of them are ready to collapse. We had an interesting walking tour of the area and were told which homes we could enter. I loved wadering around the sand dunes and looking in the old abandoned houses but we didn't have enough time to explore the area or look for the resident brown hyena that is sometimes seen sitting outside one of the homes near a leaking water tap. Smart animal knows where to get water in the dry area. They also mine for other minerals in the area so I bought a piece of watermelon tourmaline. The wild horses and ostriches were closer to the road on the drive back easteward. We then headed north to the Maltahohe area to stay at Hammerstien Rest Camp situated in the mountains. Took a walking tour to see their cheetahs, leopard, caracals before dinner. Also saw a baby puff adder near my room. It's a deadly snake.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Saturday, February 23, 2008
I guess it really is the rainy season
For the first 2 weeks I only saw one short 5 minute shower one afternoon and a bit of drizzle one evening. I've been fascinated by the sunsets each night and most evenings had the camera out to capture a few photos. It's been sunny and hot so I had been using lots of sunscreen (factor 45-50) to protect my delicate skin that likes to burn and peel. I have a bit of a farmers tan with very dark arms and neck area but not much sun anywhere else.
The 3rd week the whole weather system changed. Many of the books say that Nambia is very much a desert country and some years get almost no rain during the rainy season unless you are up in the Caprivi Strip along the Angola border that typically gets most of the rain for the country. Well the skies opened up and boy did we get some rain. I think it rained everyday of the last week and sometimes torrential rain. We all went into town one Sunday for lunch and drinks at Joe's Beerhouse and on the way back to the farm, the roads were flooded. We were in a minivan and we had to go back into town to get the 4X4 trucks. One night we were just sitting down for dinner and watching the skies when a big storm hit. All of a sudden it was raining sideways into the Lapa area and we all huddled in one corner to try to stay drive and there was lots of thunder and lightening. The water rose around the lapa but luckily didn't get over the patio stones to flood our eating area. Due to all the rain it did limit the types of things we could do outside but we did manage to build a shelter for pig that was waterproof and put another layer on the sleeping box for the baboons to help them keep dry since they were all crying in the corner closest to the volunteers the night of the storm. Surprisingly, it cooled down a bit and most evenings I had to put on long sleeves or a light jacket. A few times during the storms the power went out, once when I was the last one to heat up dinner in the microwave so i had to wait about 1/2 hour before it came back on so I could eat. Periodically through the night the power would go off so I was reading by flashlight in my room. The only good thing about the rain was that it transformed the area. It became greener and all types of seasonal flowers started to bloom and in some areas carpeted the ground especially the yell morning start plant. I guess they haven't had good rains for a few years so most of the locals were happy with the rain we were receiving.
The 3rd week the whole weather system changed. Many of the books say that Nambia is very much a desert country and some years get almost no rain during the rainy season unless you are up in the Caprivi Strip along the Angola border that typically gets most of the rain for the country. Well the skies opened up and boy did we get some rain. I think it rained everyday of the last week and sometimes torrential rain. We all went into town one Sunday for lunch and drinks at Joe's Beerhouse and on the way back to the farm, the roads were flooded. We were in a minivan and we had to go back into town to get the 4X4 trucks. One night we were just sitting down for dinner and watching the skies when a big storm hit. All of a sudden it was raining sideways into the Lapa area and we all huddled in one corner to try to stay drive and there was lots of thunder and lightening. The water rose around the lapa but luckily didn't get over the patio stones to flood our eating area. Due to all the rain it did limit the types of things we could do outside but we did manage to build a shelter for pig that was waterproof and put another layer on the sleeping box for the baboons to help them keep dry since they were all crying in the corner closest to the volunteers the night of the storm. Surprisingly, it cooled down a bit and most evenings I had to put on long sleeves or a light jacket. A few times during the storms the power went out, once when I was the last one to heat up dinner in the microwave so i had to wait about 1/2 hour before it came back on so I could eat. Periodically through the night the power would go off so I was reading by flashlight in my room. The only good thing about the rain was that it transformed the area. It became greener and all types of seasonal flowers started to bloom and in some areas carpeted the ground especially the yell morning start plant. I guess they haven't had good rains for a few years so most of the locals were happy with the rain we were receiving.
Food in Namibia - not losing any weight
I think most people know that I'm a very picky eater and have some very strange ideas about food. If I don't like the smell or texture, I probably won't even try it. Here I thought that I would lose weight during my trip but the food for the most part has been very, very good. I've amazed myself with some of the things I've been eating. Now, I won't go as far as trying the grubs that are suppost to be a delicacy. Namibia is very much a meat loving country. At the volunteer lodge, they have a veggie meal on Mon/Wed & Fri but all other nights are meat nights. The don't use beef too much. Here I though I was eating ground beef in the shepherds pie or lasagne only to find out it was wild meat. I've had Kudu, Oryx, Springbox and Zebra. Didn't care for the Zebra (a bit fatty) but loved the other 3. They usually have a rice or pasta dish but one night it was melipot which is ground up corn and it looks a bit like mashed potatos. Unfortunately most of the salads were tomatoes & cucumbers. Tomatos are still one of the veggies that I will only eat cooked. Where's the lettuce? By the 3rd week I was saying I die to have a hunk of iceberg lettuce. Mom would be proud that I was even eating most of the cooked veggies. My one disappointment was not having a nightly dessert. Dessert is my favorite part of the meal. Luckily they sold chocolate bars and I picked up a few boxes of cookies when I was in town so I could have a bit for my sweet tooth. I'm hoping that any weight I may have gained will be lost during my time in East Africa. Volunteer breakfast was just coffee/tea and cereal (Corn Flakes or All Bran). The toaster was broken for the 1st 2 weeks. Charlie was so nice to pick me up a bag of granola and a carton of o.j. for me when he went to town so I could have my daily glass of o.j. Lunch was usually sandwiches, a pasta salad or soup with great homemade bread/buns. Since the volunteer numbers were constantly changing, so times we had loads left over and othe times I don't think we all got a full plate so I picked up some chips and pretzels in town. Braai's are very popular for Namibians. They are BBQs and they usually do up a shishkabob of meat, fat, onions, peppers. I was asked one night why I didn't eat the fat cubes since I guess the locals think that's the best part. I think that's gross and think that most of use figured it was just for the flavouring during the cooking process. My family knows I cut off every little bit of fat off of any meat including bacon.
more on N/a'ankuse
Just down the road from the volunteer accomodation is the Bushman Camp. N/a'ankuse is run by Marlice & her husband Rudy (a medical doctor who also operates the Bushman Clinic). Marlice who grew up at Harnas (the original wildlife sanctuary near the Botswana border) is one of the few white people who can speak the Bushman's language (Bushman are also called the San people). When they talk, there are clicking noises that they make. It's fascinating to listen to since it is so different to other languages. The Bushman are considered the outcasts of Namibia so Marlice & Rudy hire Bushman to help operate the farm. The Bushman are small in stature and have light brown skin with almost an oriental look to them. Most Bushman are uneducated and still live like they did thousands of years ago. They say that a Bushman can look at a footprint left behind from an animal and tell you how long it's been there, almost to the minute. The Bushman's houses at the farm are not traditional. They live in small wooden cabins about the size of a small bedroom in the average N.A. home and that's for the entire family. They cook over a fire outside and just have a tap from a well for water. I find it funny though that some of the workers have cell phones, so they do enjoy some modern conveniences. There are about 7 children and sometimes a few of the volunteers would spend a few hours playing games, singing, drawing with the children. I think in the future they would like to see a school set up for the kids.
Near the bushman houses, there is a pile of old broken up concrete. Under the pile lives 3 meerkats. They are smaller then what I thought from watching Meerkat Manor on t.v. These 3 are semi tame. Twice a day someone walks down with bits of meat and apple to feed the meerkats. They have very sharp teeth so you try to just hang the food and let them grab it. Once one of them has had a few bites, they seem to stand on guard watching the sky for any predator birds that would like them for dinner. On the last week, a new baby meerkat was brought to us and he's only about 5 inches long. He would eat raw chicken bits and was staying in the enclosure that housed a few bunnies. Sometimes you would find him sleeping on the backs of the bunnies. Most of the time he's found tucked in someone's sleeve, keeping warm and sleeping since meerkats are use to living in dark tunnels under the ground cuddling warm tunnel-mates. Meerkats are territorial and one day the new meerkat was brought down to be introducted to the existing 3. They were very inquisative about the new one, but luckily the little guy was in a box so they couldn't get to him. They sometimes kill ones from other groups but we are hoping that he can eventually be accepted into this small group. Just before I left, a scorpion was found near the volunteer rooms. We brought it down for the meerkats to eat since they love bugs, spiders, etc. As I'm filming the smallest of the 3 eating the scorpion, one of the bigger ones came over and bit my ankle. It hurt more than the baboon bite and I had 2 very small puncture wounds.
The Caracal kittens are so cute. They are a bit bigger than house cats but the main difference is that they have long hairs sticking up at the points of their ears. If we took the Caracals out for some exercise, usually Smartie the baboon baby and Spotty one of the Jack Russels ran around and played with the caracals. They would pounce on each other and playbite, but even at their young age, you see their instinct to stalk. It's amazing to think that different species like a dog, a baboon and a caracal can all get along. I think people really need to take a good look at the animal kingdom sometimes. Johannes one of the workers is also taking the caracals for car rides since they will also be in the movie and will need to be brought out to the sand dunes when filming starts in March.
One section of the farm is a new lodge that opened up a few months ago. It only has 6 rooms and a restaurant/bar but it's situated along a river canyon. For Karen's B'Day they let us go up there for lunch. The round restaurant is glass enclosed with a thatched roof. It has a beautiful view of the area. I climbed around the rock and saw a Rock Hyrax (about the size of a guinea pig), turtles and beautifully multi-colored lizards. I came upon a snake skin with lots of bones in the area so I wonder if the snake died after eating something too big. Lots of swallows and other birds in the area. At one time a troop of baboons came to the other side of the canyon. Boy, the adult ones are big. Luckily they are on the other side so no chance of them getting close to me. There were a few moms carrying babies in the group. It sure was a nice change to spend the afternoon there. They give volunteers a discounted rate at the lodge so I think before I leave Namibia, I may spend my last night there. The rooms are a mix of modern and rustic and have the wall of windows facing the river bed for a nice view.
To get around the farm we had an old landrover. Most of the time, I would sit up on top of the roof in a luggage rack area. That way you have a great view of the rolling hills and distant mountains. It also gave you a great chance to see the wildlife that live on the farm. Over the 3 weeks, I say Oryx (aka gemsbok), Springbok, Steenbok, Kudu, Hartebeest, Warthogs, Springhare, Blesbok, Chacma Baboons, Ostrich, Meerkats along with all kinds of facinating bugs, bettles, spiders, butterflies, moths and birds.
A couple of mornings, Dave (one of the baboons) showed up at breakfast. He has either figured out a way out of the enclosure without hitting the electric fence or has squeezed though a hole under the fence. Luckily the others didn't follow him to create mayham. He just cuddled up to one of us until feeding time and then we put him back with the others. One day I went around the enclosure with a shovel and added piles of dirt and rock to any suspect escape areas.
Near the bushman houses, there is a pile of old broken up concrete. Under the pile lives 3 meerkats. They are smaller then what I thought from watching Meerkat Manor on t.v. These 3 are semi tame. Twice a day someone walks down with bits of meat and apple to feed the meerkats. They have very sharp teeth so you try to just hang the food and let them grab it. Once one of them has had a few bites, they seem to stand on guard watching the sky for any predator birds that would like them for dinner. On the last week, a new baby meerkat was brought to us and he's only about 5 inches long. He would eat raw chicken bits and was staying in the enclosure that housed a few bunnies. Sometimes you would find him sleeping on the backs of the bunnies. Most of the time he's found tucked in someone's sleeve, keeping warm and sleeping since meerkats are use to living in dark tunnels under the ground cuddling warm tunnel-mates. Meerkats are territorial and one day the new meerkat was brought down to be introducted to the existing 3. They were very inquisative about the new one, but luckily the little guy was in a box so they couldn't get to him. They sometimes kill ones from other groups but we are hoping that he can eventually be accepted into this small group. Just before I left, a scorpion was found near the volunteer rooms. We brought it down for the meerkats to eat since they love bugs, spiders, etc. As I'm filming the smallest of the 3 eating the scorpion, one of the bigger ones came over and bit my ankle. It hurt more than the baboon bite and I had 2 very small puncture wounds.
The Caracal kittens are so cute. They are a bit bigger than house cats but the main difference is that they have long hairs sticking up at the points of their ears. If we took the Caracals out for some exercise, usually Smartie the baboon baby and Spotty one of the Jack Russels ran around and played with the caracals. They would pounce on each other and playbite, but even at their young age, you see their instinct to stalk. It's amazing to think that different species like a dog, a baboon and a caracal can all get along. I think people really need to take a good look at the animal kingdom sometimes. Johannes one of the workers is also taking the caracals for car rides since they will also be in the movie and will need to be brought out to the sand dunes when filming starts in March.
One section of the farm is a new lodge that opened up a few months ago. It only has 6 rooms and a restaurant/bar but it's situated along a river canyon. For Karen's B'Day they let us go up there for lunch. The round restaurant is glass enclosed with a thatched roof. It has a beautiful view of the area. I climbed around the rock and saw a Rock Hyrax (about the size of a guinea pig), turtles and beautifully multi-colored lizards. I came upon a snake skin with lots of bones in the area so I wonder if the snake died after eating something too big. Lots of swallows and other birds in the area. At one time a troop of baboons came to the other side of the canyon. Boy, the adult ones are big. Luckily they are on the other side so no chance of them getting close to me. There were a few moms carrying babies in the group. It sure was a nice change to spend the afternoon there. They give volunteers a discounted rate at the lodge so I think before I leave Namibia, I may spend my last night there. The rooms are a mix of modern and rustic and have the wall of windows facing the river bed for a nice view.
To get around the farm we had an old landrover. Most of the time, I would sit up on top of the roof in a luggage rack area. That way you have a great view of the rolling hills and distant mountains. It also gave you a great chance to see the wildlife that live on the farm. Over the 3 weeks, I say Oryx (aka gemsbok), Springbok, Steenbok, Kudu, Hartebeest, Warthogs, Springhare, Blesbok, Chacma Baboons, Ostrich, Meerkats along with all kinds of facinating bugs, bettles, spiders, butterflies, moths and birds.
A couple of mornings, Dave (one of the baboons) showed up at breakfast. He has either figured out a way out of the enclosure without hitting the electric fence or has squeezed though a hole under the fence. Luckily the others didn't follow him to create mayham. He just cuddled up to one of us until feeding time and then we put him back with the others. One day I went around the enclosure with a shovel and added piles of dirt and rock to any suspect escape areas.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Adventures at N/a'ankuse Jan 24-Feb 14
This has been my 3rd trip into Windhoek, Namibia and finally I have found a computer at an internet cafe that is working long enough for me to post an update. Sorry but this one will be a long one and I don't have my disk from my camera so no pictures yet. I've got some great shots and I've already filled up a 1GB card in 2 weeks and have started into a new 2GB card.
The flight from Toronto, Washington, Johannesburg to Windhoek arrived on time but my luggage did not. Seems that everyone that travels via Johannesburg has a good chance at not receiving their luggage.
It was just turning dark when I landed but just before landing all you could see was the Kalahari Desert in shades of red, orange and brown. It was fairly flat but every once in a while you could see a hill and the closer we got to Windhoek the mountains appeared. The airport is east of the city and I would be heading to N/a'ankuse (Nan ku say) Wildlife Sanctuary for a 3 week volunteer placement. Jaco picked me up at the airport and it was about a 20-30 minute drive the the wildlife centre. Within miles of the airport there was a warthog, a jackel and a kudu along the road so I was impressed to see wildlife so soon. Check out http://www.volunteersnamibia.com/ for more info on Naankuse.
On arrival I was met by Christine from Ireland, Charlie,Luke,Karen, & Lucy from the UK and Thomas for Holland. They had all been there for a few weeks already and were staying anywhere from 3 weeks to 2 1/2 months. Some were strictly on the animal program like I was and others were on the animal/bushman medical clinic program. That night it was hard to get to sleep with a strange bed and all the strange noises, especially the lions roaring a few times in the night. In the coming weeks we had Taz, Afi, Chris, Kate, Frankie, Hayley, Dan, Amanda, Graham from the U.K., 5 girls from Sweden, Sarah from the U.S., Kelsey from Australia and the day I left Matt from Kingston Ontario showed up. Most of the volunteers were in their 20's, many on a gap year between highschool and university. The rest were usually in their 30's but Amanda, Dan & I were the oldies of the group. The first 2 weeks the groups were small and the weather was great so we usually sat up late around a campfire. The last week it rained everyday so most of us were early to bed to escape the wet, damp outdoor thatched roof common area.
Naankuse currently has 14 baboons under the age of 2years (youngest is about 2 months old), 5 lions, 2 leopards, 3 cheetahs, 4 meerkats, 2 Caracals, 2 African Wild Dogs, 11 tortoises, a huge pig, 6 horses and lots of dogs. A released Jackal and African Wild Cat come back periodically for food at night.
Our days are a mix of activities. Around 830am it's feeding time for all the animals around the volunteer accomodation. Mid morning we are either going on a bushwalk, doing a bit of construction or manual labour until 1pm. From 1pm-3pm is lunch and down time. Many of us have an afternoon siesta or read for a bit to keep out of the hot sun. At 3pm we could be taking the baboons or caracals for a walk through the bush or cleaning up the bones/poop and watering holes in the wild dog or cheetah enclosure, grooming and de-ticking the cheetahs or horses, feeding the big cats or going along to feed them during a tour or just playing with the baboons in their enclosure. Between 5-7pm it's animal feeding time once again then the rest of the evening is free time. I'm in the baboon group so I have to prepare the milk bottles and their food bowl (a mix of corn mush, apples, oranges, carrots, raisins, peanuts, and any other fruits/veggies they may have on hand.
I made a new best friend. Her name is Skoene (schooner aka Winky) a Jack Russel Terrier. She only has 1 eye since Tessa (a bull mastif), one of the other dogs bit her in the head during a fight. She's been my best buddy for 3 weeks, following me around all over, sitting on my lap anytime I'm sitting down and sleeping on my bed each night. After finding a tick on my belly one night I make sure to do a nightly tick check before she jumped on my bed. The volunteer coordinator said she would have to check my suitcase before I left to make sure Skoene didn't find her way inside.
My 1st day involved cleaning out the intestines of a horse that was being butchered for the big cats dinner. They buy old, sick horses that are heading to the slaughter house but it's cheaper for the farm to do the butchering. I figured I've gutted gophers at AWIC before so how bad can it be. Surprisingly, it wasn't that bad, you start out with mainly undigested grass and work your way down to the horse poop. Since I didn't get my luggage till later that day, unfortunately, I stained my good pair of pants with splatters. I guess the cleaned out intestines are a treat for the lions so later that day, as I hefted their treat over the fence I had blood and guts all down my arms.
The baboons are great and just like 2 year olds they are full of mischief. I've even learned to talk like a baboon. They are all orphans, and have lost their mothers who have been shot or hit by cars. The first day I just fed them through the fence enclosure wanting them to get to know me a bit before I venture into the enclosure. Just like feeding a baby, they make the cutest little noises when they feed. Some suck the milk back so quickly they sometimes throw up. Others bite at the nipple and a few are so content they close their eyes while nursing. Some of their names are Nemo, Dorie, Dave, Bobby, Spock, Apple, Figgo, Plascon, Saarkjie, Doinkevan, and Smartie. If they throw a tantrum they may bite you and if one starts to bite they send a signal to the others to join on in. We are told to stand still during the biting and it will end quickly. If you pull away you will get bit harder and more will come to join in. During my 1st baboon walk, two of them gave me light bits/scratches but since then Nemo and Dorie the alpha male and female seem to love the attention I give them so I've never received a hard bite. Some of the other volunteers have black & blue spots all over their legs from bite wounds. I never saw anyone bitten if they were sitting down so I always would sit down in the enclosure and advised others to do the same. Just my theory. A couple times a week we would walk them about 1km away to a couple of trees & the watering hole. A new film like Narnia will be using some of the animals in March so we are trying to get them use to playing in those trees. We would sit nearby and when they were tired of the trees they always had people to jump all over, pull your hair, try to take off your clothes, pick at your moles or try to pull off anything that wasn't attached to you. Most of the time Nemo would sit in my lap and just want to be groomed and massaged. On the walk to/from the trees you would sometimes have 1 baboon on top of your head, one in each arm and one or 2 hugging your legs if they got tired of walking themselves. The first walk a few of the baboons had diarrhea. Luckily I had my hat on but the back of my shirt was covered in shit so I had to hit the showers as soon as I came home. Unfortunately I never got to sleep with Smartie the baby baboon. I think he held it against me that I had to take him away from his surrogate mother Darna one afternoon. As soon as he saw someone else with long hair he jumped to her and wouldn't let me hold him. He would only let me touch him for a short time or give him quick kiss.
They are starting a new Cheetah & Leopard Tracking program so on some days we would go on bush walks on the adjoing farm area and look for play/marking trees. We would spread out about 50 feet apart and cover grid areas. The 1st time was a bit nerve racking since it was only my 2nd day and I didn't know what to do if I came across any of the wild animals. Basically they said leopards and cheetahs prefer 4 legged animals so we should be safe (should, not would). Most of the time you would see the person on the left or right of you (about 50 metres apart)but once in a while you would be in heavy thorny bush area and think you were lost so we would shout to each other to keep in contact. During the last week I grew to love these bush walks in the mornings and we started to use GPS or a compass that helped. I came across warthogs, springhares, steenbok and on the last day had an oryx run right by me (about the size of a horse with a really long spiral horn like a unicorn). The rains have started to green everything up and the flowers were starting to carpet some of the areas.
Twice I got to go in to pet, and groom the 3 cheetahs. I loved to hear them purr (I have it on video) and they like to lick the salt from your hands and arms. If you think a housecat has a rough tongue, a cheetah's feels like course sandpaper. Like housecats, they don't like to be petted on their backs or feet so we would stroke them around the head and neck area.
This internet cafe is about to close for the night so I will end for now. I start my 2 weeks of touring around Nambia tomorrow morning and hopefully some of the hotels/lodges will have a computer so I can keep on posting.
The flight from Toronto, Washington, Johannesburg to Windhoek arrived on time but my luggage did not. Seems that everyone that travels via Johannesburg has a good chance at not receiving their luggage.
It was just turning dark when I landed but just before landing all you could see was the Kalahari Desert in shades of red, orange and brown. It was fairly flat but every once in a while you could see a hill and the closer we got to Windhoek the mountains appeared. The airport is east of the city and I would be heading to N/a'ankuse (Nan ku say) Wildlife Sanctuary for a 3 week volunteer placement. Jaco picked me up at the airport and it was about a 20-30 minute drive the the wildlife centre. Within miles of the airport there was a warthog, a jackel and a kudu along the road so I was impressed to see wildlife so soon. Check out http://www.volunteersnamibia.com/ for more info on Naankuse.
On arrival I was met by Christine from Ireland, Charlie,Luke,Karen, & Lucy from the UK and Thomas for Holland. They had all been there for a few weeks already and were staying anywhere from 3 weeks to 2 1/2 months. Some were strictly on the animal program like I was and others were on the animal/bushman medical clinic program. That night it was hard to get to sleep with a strange bed and all the strange noises, especially the lions roaring a few times in the night. In the coming weeks we had Taz, Afi, Chris, Kate, Frankie, Hayley, Dan, Amanda, Graham from the U.K., 5 girls from Sweden, Sarah from the U.S., Kelsey from Australia and the day I left Matt from Kingston Ontario showed up. Most of the volunteers were in their 20's, many on a gap year between highschool and university. The rest were usually in their 30's but Amanda, Dan & I were the oldies of the group. The first 2 weeks the groups were small and the weather was great so we usually sat up late around a campfire. The last week it rained everyday so most of us were early to bed to escape the wet, damp outdoor thatched roof common area.
Naankuse currently has 14 baboons under the age of 2years (youngest is about 2 months old), 5 lions, 2 leopards, 3 cheetahs, 4 meerkats, 2 Caracals, 2 African Wild Dogs, 11 tortoises, a huge pig, 6 horses and lots of dogs. A released Jackal and African Wild Cat come back periodically for food at night.
Our days are a mix of activities. Around 830am it's feeding time for all the animals around the volunteer accomodation. Mid morning we are either going on a bushwalk, doing a bit of construction or manual labour until 1pm. From 1pm-3pm is lunch and down time. Many of us have an afternoon siesta or read for a bit to keep out of the hot sun. At 3pm we could be taking the baboons or caracals for a walk through the bush or cleaning up the bones/poop and watering holes in the wild dog or cheetah enclosure, grooming and de-ticking the cheetahs or horses, feeding the big cats or going along to feed them during a tour or just playing with the baboons in their enclosure. Between 5-7pm it's animal feeding time once again then the rest of the evening is free time. I'm in the baboon group so I have to prepare the milk bottles and their food bowl (a mix of corn mush, apples, oranges, carrots, raisins, peanuts, and any other fruits/veggies they may have on hand.
I made a new best friend. Her name is Skoene (schooner aka Winky) a Jack Russel Terrier. She only has 1 eye since Tessa (a bull mastif), one of the other dogs bit her in the head during a fight. She's been my best buddy for 3 weeks, following me around all over, sitting on my lap anytime I'm sitting down and sleeping on my bed each night. After finding a tick on my belly one night I make sure to do a nightly tick check before she jumped on my bed. The volunteer coordinator said she would have to check my suitcase before I left to make sure Skoene didn't find her way inside.
My 1st day involved cleaning out the intestines of a horse that was being butchered for the big cats dinner. They buy old, sick horses that are heading to the slaughter house but it's cheaper for the farm to do the butchering. I figured I've gutted gophers at AWIC before so how bad can it be. Surprisingly, it wasn't that bad, you start out with mainly undigested grass and work your way down to the horse poop. Since I didn't get my luggage till later that day, unfortunately, I stained my good pair of pants with splatters. I guess the cleaned out intestines are a treat for the lions so later that day, as I hefted their treat over the fence I had blood and guts all down my arms.
The baboons are great and just like 2 year olds they are full of mischief. I've even learned to talk like a baboon. They are all orphans, and have lost their mothers who have been shot or hit by cars. The first day I just fed them through the fence enclosure wanting them to get to know me a bit before I venture into the enclosure. Just like feeding a baby, they make the cutest little noises when they feed. Some suck the milk back so quickly they sometimes throw up. Others bite at the nipple and a few are so content they close their eyes while nursing. Some of their names are Nemo, Dorie, Dave, Bobby, Spock, Apple, Figgo, Plascon, Saarkjie, Doinkevan, and Smartie. If they throw a tantrum they may bite you and if one starts to bite they send a signal to the others to join on in. We are told to stand still during the biting and it will end quickly. If you pull away you will get bit harder and more will come to join in. During my 1st baboon walk, two of them gave me light bits/scratches but since then Nemo and Dorie the alpha male and female seem to love the attention I give them so I've never received a hard bite. Some of the other volunteers have black & blue spots all over their legs from bite wounds. I never saw anyone bitten if they were sitting down so I always would sit down in the enclosure and advised others to do the same. Just my theory. A couple times a week we would walk them about 1km away to a couple of trees & the watering hole. A new film like Narnia will be using some of the animals in March so we are trying to get them use to playing in those trees. We would sit nearby and when they were tired of the trees they always had people to jump all over, pull your hair, try to take off your clothes, pick at your moles or try to pull off anything that wasn't attached to you. Most of the time Nemo would sit in my lap and just want to be groomed and massaged. On the walk to/from the trees you would sometimes have 1 baboon on top of your head, one in each arm and one or 2 hugging your legs if they got tired of walking themselves. The first walk a few of the baboons had diarrhea. Luckily I had my hat on but the back of my shirt was covered in shit so I had to hit the showers as soon as I came home. Unfortunately I never got to sleep with Smartie the baby baboon. I think he held it against me that I had to take him away from his surrogate mother Darna one afternoon. As soon as he saw someone else with long hair he jumped to her and wouldn't let me hold him. He would only let me touch him for a short time or give him quick kiss.
They are starting a new Cheetah & Leopard Tracking program so on some days we would go on bush walks on the adjoing farm area and look for play/marking trees. We would spread out about 50 feet apart and cover grid areas. The 1st time was a bit nerve racking since it was only my 2nd day and I didn't know what to do if I came across any of the wild animals. Basically they said leopards and cheetahs prefer 4 legged animals so we should be safe (should, not would). Most of the time you would see the person on the left or right of you (about 50 metres apart)but once in a while you would be in heavy thorny bush area and think you were lost so we would shout to each other to keep in contact. During the last week I grew to love these bush walks in the mornings and we started to use GPS or a compass that helped. I came across warthogs, springhares, steenbok and on the last day had an oryx run right by me (about the size of a horse with a really long spiral horn like a unicorn). The rains have started to green everything up and the flowers were starting to carpet some of the areas.
Twice I got to go in to pet, and groom the 3 cheetahs. I loved to hear them purr (I have it on video) and they like to lick the salt from your hands and arms. If you think a housecat has a rough tongue, a cheetah's feels like course sandpaper. Like housecats, they don't like to be petted on their backs or feet so we would stroke them around the head and neck area.
This internet cafe is about to close for the night so I will end for now. I start my 2 weeks of touring around Nambia tomorrow morning and hopefully some of the hotels/lodges will have a computer so I can keep on posting.
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