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.