lady jane stanfield

Entry # 29 A – First week with the Penguins

Monday, September 25 – A Public Holiday but my first day at the center

I was pretty excited to start and kept waking up to look at the clock. I was out the door by 7:45 and at the center at 8:00. Volunteers were already moving around and working. As it was a holiday, there were only 2 of the 10 staff and only 3 other volunteers around.

The SANCCOB – South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds center is on a lake that is only separated from the ocean by a small strip of land. Established in 1968, the centers primary concern is to rehabilitate oiled penguins and assist with the rehabilitation of any other sea bird that come to them. It appears well organized and as I climbed into my green oilskins and overly large boots, I could tell that they seemed to have sufficient equipment in working order to make the tasks much easier.

Buckets, brushes, bleach cleaner, disinfectant, ample water supply, industrial sized washers and dryers, a separate education center, kitchen, bathrooms with lockers and ICU unit were all things that I saw within the first 10 minutes of being there. Apparently, I will get my proper tour and orientation tomorrow.

There had been an oil spill recently and almost all of the birds in the center are still recovering from that. All the penguins that I will work with are South African penguins, called the jackass penguins, based on the braying sound they make. The adults are about as tall as my knee and have pink skin exposed around their beaks close to their eyes. The young look a lot like blue penguins in that they don’t have the distinctive black and white markings or the pink area.

I was asked to assist two volunteers, Marlene and Ditte, who have been with the center for some time. We were assigned to pen 2, with about 32 penguins. The first task was to catch each one, administer Darrows if needed, (not sure what this was but it is in a syringe and is injected into the birds stomach with the aid of a tube), determine if it was in the 20 minute swim group or not and then either put them over the edge into the pool or put then over the fence in the other half of the pen. I was on clipboard reading out what each numbered bird was to receive.

In order to catch the birds, the ladies would don, in addition to their oilskins and boots, neoprene sleeves that went from wrist to armpit and one neoprene glove with Velcro. The technique seems to be that you try and approach the bird from the rear and grab it with one hand by the scruff of the neck and then try and scoop it up with your other hand while avoiding their beak. Then you carry them over to a little stool with a step on it and you sit on the higher seat and put the bird between your legs and hold it with one hand and clamp the flippers down with your thighs. (I am going to have amazing legs after the hill at the baboons and thighareorbics with the penguins.)
With your gloved hand, you open the birds’ mouth. With your free hand, you take the tube attached to a 60cc syringe and send it down the gullet into the stomach. Then you put the base of the plunger against your breastbone and send the liquid into the bird. If it is a juvenile, it only receives one syringe and adults receive two.

From the clipboard, I could see that there are some of the penguins that receive either Darrows or water every even hour. There are others that only receive it one, twice or three times a day. In addition to fluids, they are fed fish (VERY LARGE SARDINES) twice daily. At each feeding, I got to record the fish count per bird. Some of the birds received medications in pill or liquid form 1-3 times a day and two were on nebulizer 3 times a day. At the end of the day, a small number of them were also to receive some type of formula. What all of this means is that some birds are handled at least 8 times within 9 hours.

After we had the group divided into swimmers and not, we began to clean the unoccupied portion of the pen. This involved removing the four large carpet pieces and the 9 plastic mats underneath. Hose down the plastic mats and take them to the mat cleaning area. Hose down the floor and make up a bucket with two packets of white stuff (bleach) and with your scrub brush with long handle, scrub the floor and walls of the pen. Rinse the pen with fresh water. Make up a bucket with a ½ scoop of pink stuff (disinfectant that looks like red Kool-Aid) and scrub with brush the walls and floor of the pen. Rinse with fresh water. Bring in 9 clean plastic mats and then cover them with 4 green carpet pieces that remind me of indoor/outdoor carpeting.

Let the herd back in from the pool. At this point, Nola, the staff vet, was evaluating the swimmers group to see who was ready to move off to another pen. She was checking to see their hydration level and if they retained the water repellent status after their swim. If they did, they moved into the pen that is closer to being released. If not, they stayed in pen 2 for more treatments and a longer stay. During this procedure, I was cleaning the other half of the pen that had not been cleaned earlier.

Then it was time to get the food ready. We went to work at three large tubs with blocks of frozen sardines floating in water. We would separate the ones off the blocks that were thawed and put them in large plastic bowls. As we had around 30 penguins, Ditte took 30 of the fish and put a vitamin down their throat. Each day the pens of penguins receive a rotating type of vitamin. In addition to getting fish ready of our pen, Marlene and I cut fish in half for others pens. There is one pen full of recovering sea gulls that received fish tails and chopped up fish, a pen of cormorants that received two platters of fish tails and the sanctuary pen (called home pen) that is full of an assortment of penguins, cormorants and gulls that will never be able to be released that receives a platter of tails and cut up fish.

Back to our pen for more penguin catching and stuffing fish down their throats. I was fish counter and recorder. After eating, everybody was released for free swim time.

I spent the swim time washing down crates, plastic crates with lids about the size of a footlocker only taller. These are the temporary housing for newly received birds, or birds that must be held separately until they are strong enough to go into a pen. With my two buckets, one with white stuff and one with pink stuff and my handy brush with a handle, off I went. Again the technique is to hose it down to try and loosen the guano, scrub, rinse and let dry. It was very difficult to get into some of the crevices so I asked for a smaller brush. 9 crates done.

At this point, everybody was having a swim and it was time for lunch. I decided to walk home to get the boots that a previous volunteer had left and were considerably smaller than the ones that I was wearing, and a pair of sock to help fill the gaps and keep my feet warmer. Just as I arrived at elements, Remo and Esther were speeding off in the car. The garage was locked, so I ate my lunch and went back with my socks and the quest for smaller boots for the afternoon. Success! Everything looks brighter when your boots are snug!

One of the volunteers I had seen this am must have been a local as she left at lunchtime. This left only four of us to do all the feeding. We were joined by Satoshi (Japanese young man) who was handling pen 10 with 40 penguins by himself. The three experienced volunteer fed fish in pen 2 first with me recording and then we moved on the pen 10.

The rest of the afternoon for me was filled with folding towels, scrubbing the green mats, cleaning pieces of equipment and watching how things are done.

Tomorrow I should receive my orientation and Ditte said that with my experience today, I will most likely be put on bird catching and feeding tomorrow.

I better get home and rest up. I am pooped!

Tuesday, September 26

I am finding the guesthouse a little noisy, mainly because the rest of the guests are on holiday and not working. May need to investigate other alternatives. Or as I become more tired, I am sure sleeping will not be an issue.

Much warmer last night and today promises to be hot. I guess I can stop looking for sweat shirts and long sleeve shirts.

Today will be my first day with all the staff around and I will receive my orientation which I am sure will help to answer all those unanswered questions that I have not even thought of yet.

As I arrived, with my borrowed boots in hand, I waited to for the 8:00 am meeting to be told where I would work today.

I am paired with Lunel, one of the bird rehabilitators in ICU. I am delayed going with Lunel as I received my orientation with Carole, (pronounced Carol – A) volunteer coordinator. Staff of about 12, but only 6 of them work fulltime with the birds, the rest are administrative or fundraising. Authorized by the government since 1968 to do their work, SANCCOB receives not government funding. They rely on grants and donations and many of their items are sponsored by large corporations or individual donors.

Once I had been oriented, I was asked to keep up with laundry all day, in addition to my tasks of removing the crates from ICU, mopping the floor, cleaning crates (much easier today and my plan of attack for cleaning the crates worked much better this time), sorting fish, cutting up fish and chicken for some of the ICU gulls, rinsing down the pool for pen 10, helping to scrub green mats, scrubbing down pen 2 and with Lunel’s help - inserting stomach tubes into the ICU birds and giving them fluids. Lunel did the hard part – catching and holding the bird, and then she coached me on how to insert the tube into the stomach, not the lungs, and then administer the fluids.

I found out what Darrows solution is – it is Gatorade for penguins.

My goal is to make sure that all the laundry is done before I go home every day. Today, I left with two loads to do. The dilemma is that the two washers take 2 hours each to run their cycles. The dryer only 45 minutes. With the backlog from the previous day, it is almost impossible to keep ahead. There will be times when I am scheduled in the office when I will be able to achieve my goal. I plan to get two loads going as I arrive each day to try and make headway. I love having a mission!

To date this year only 413 penguins have arrived at the center. 68 of them came within the last month due oil contamination from some mysterious source. This is a considerably smaller number than from previous years. There will be a beach release tomorrow, and possible as many as 30 birds from pen 10 will go out. YAAh! Many say this is the highlight of their time with the guys in tuxedos. Before they go out, the birds must meet the criteria before they are eligible – They must weigh at least 2.5 kilos, they must be able to swim for at least one hour, their blood samples must show no sign of avian malaria, babesia or any other infection. If any of these three things are not present, they remain at the center for additional care. The birds are evaluated at least twice weekly and are upgraded into the pen 10 as they approach health to be released.

There will also most likely be boat releases once a week while I am here where they load the birds on to boats and take them closer to Robben Island and release them there. Then the birds make their way independently to there nesting beach.

I received my schedule for my entire time and I have 10 entire days off! I am thrilled and now will be able to plan some side trips. Ditte and I will compare schedules tomorrow to see if there are any days that we have off together. We may take the township tour together.

I left work today feeling much more productive and happy and with the warmer weather, went out into the back yard and read on the wonderful double bed with big pillows in the garden.

Wednesday, September 27 – Beach Release

Arrived at work ready to get some laundry done before the 8am meeting and found that the night guard had done all the laundry. My goal is the same, no dirty laundry in the basket when I leave if I can help. It.

Today I was assigned to help in Pen 2 with Jennie and Julie. We all worked hard to make sure that our work was on schedule so that we were able to go on the release. One of the new jobs that I had was to clean the large gray mats in the pen. These are heavy, rubber backed, thick pile mats that were very difficult to clean. I finally was advised to take them over to the high-pressure machine (similar to the landa machine from TMAC) and blast the crap out of them. Once I had finished my mats, I figured I should also clean some of the bottom mats to keep up with the job. I had not gotten very far when they needed me back in pen 2.

Finally it was time to go to the release. The team had put 40 penguins into 25 cardboard carrying boxes and loaded them into 3 SUV’s that are called bakkies in South Africa. I went with Julie and Jennie and two others about 10 minutes away from the center, up the western coast. From where we were, you could see Robben Island in the distance.

Once all the bakkies had arrived, we picked up the boxes and put them in a semi-circle facing the water. All the boxes were opened and on the leaders count, we tipped the boxes over in the sand and allowed the penguins to climb out. All the penguins being released have a bright fuchsia spot on their chest. Quickly they all ran together into the center of the half circle and formed a little unit. They finally sighted or smelled the sea and they were off to get into the water. With camera’s clicking, they kept going faster and faster and finally they there in the water and diving through the swells that kept rolling in. The water was really rather calm and soon, they were this little pod of heads getting gradually farther and farther from shore. As we watched, we noticed that there were also two seals close to the beach to the left of the penguins. Normally a predator of penguins, these two seemed more interested in playing, so the little pod of penguins was safe for a short time. We did a few shots for the press of us in a line waving good-bye to the penguins and then it was back to the center and work.

Photos - boxes, pink spots, in the group, in the water

There weren’t that many spectators and I kept looking for Remo and Esther who had wanted to come.

As soon as we got back, Nola the vet, wanted to grade the penguins in pen 2 to see if any that could be moved to pen 10. She asked if I wanted to help carry them. So I donned neoprene sleeves and a glove on my left hand and was shown how to hold there head in my left hand and support their body with my right hand. Unfortunately, when you graduate from pen 2, it means that you are big and strong so I did not get to start with the easiest of the lot, but I managed to transport everyone without a bite or a drop.

During the afternoon feeds, I got more practice catching penguins. As predators are normally gulls that arrive from above, you crouch down and try and get them into a corner. Then, you try and get hold of one flipper that should cause them to pull away and show you the back of their head. At which point, you other hand comes from behind and try’s to find the grove in their skull to hold them steady and their beak away from you and your arms. Once you have the head, you let go of the flipper and cradle the body next to you with your hand on their belly. Their belly feathers are very soft. I didn’t mind catching most of the little blues, but the adults were on to me. Of the afternoon, I really liked and will watch carefully little blue #305 who is small and a little depressed and big guy #402 who has a considerable beak and the ability to spot me a mile away.

As I was passing Lunel earlier today, she told me the #414 who I saw in ICU yesterday did not make it through the night. He had come in so depleted that he could not even stand. She would tube or feed him yesterday and they lay him in his crate with a V made out of towels to support him.

At the end of the day, while the others were doing other things, I was to monitor the group during their 20-minute swim and I got to watch them and their interactions. Also in the group is a huge Gannet, a bird about the size of a swan with buff colored head, long beak and the most amazingly blue outlined eyes, white iris with a very tiny pupil. You don’t get to see them often as they are usually at sea, so to have a chance to watch is truly a gift. He had an injury that does not allow him to fly, but he tests his wings daily as he sails proudly around the pool with the penguins.

I am Pooped! The work is strenuous and the day is long. I am very much looking forward to two days off!

Thursday, September 28

There was coverage of the release yesterday on the news last night (that I missed) and in the papers this morning. All the papers that were in the Center were in Afrikaans, so I will look for some in English at the shops tonight. The only picture of the event was taken from the angle where you see all the penguins and the 4 bathing beauties that were standing to our left on the beach watching the event. I guess that sells papers.

Today I was back in ICU with Priscilla, the only black South African on staff. As before, ICU involved mopping and crate cleaning, but new today was also cleaning two of the 6 chest freezers. On the inside of the freezer were all these little translucent shiny disks that looked like plastic but turned out to be fish scales. I think you could say that there is probably at least one or two fish scales left in each freezer. They were all but impossible to get off the bottom, but I did what I could. Priscilla had begun to straighten the towels that are stored in ICU. The shelves she had completed were amazingly neat and the towels folded to take up as little space as possible. I spent the better part of the day trying to fold my towels like Priscilla.

Gay, a long term volunteer, is lovely and came by and asked if I wanted more experience with the birds. She was very helpful telling me why we do things to help me remember. I did a little bit more catching and tubing with fluids and formula, lots of scrubbing. I am still very cautious with the tubing because if you get it into the lungs, the bird will not make it. I am still apprehensive catching some of the birds, but it will only ease with more practice and lots of guidance from above. I don’t like that you have to hold them so tightly, but they are wild and very strong and very stressed to be with us. In pen 2, some of the birds have to be caught up to 6-8 times during our shifts to give them fluids, medications or meals. Luckily by pen 10, they are only caught twice and each time, it is for fish. Just as well as this pen have the largest and strongest birds. I haven’t had the pleasure of working in that pen yet. Maybe next week.

After work, Gay gave me a ride to the mall. I had to buy some necessities (baby powder for my work boots) and I treated myself to a new book and my first real dinner since I arrived, Salmon salad for $6. Yes, sports fans, the grocery stores in South Africa already have the Xmas decorations and wrapping paper on the shelves. Buy it now to get the best selection.
On the way home, Remo and Esther with Tequila in tow, offered me a ride to the hostel. YAAH!

Got a recommendation for a massage therapist and may treat myself to weekly massages to try and straighten out my cramped muscles. Between carrying the backpack and pulling luggage, the baboons and now scrubbing the pens for the penguins, I have one or two knots that need to be kneaded.

During lunch at the center, I came across a Time Magazine from 2005 that was talking about ending poverty and the Millennium project to reduce poverty in Africa by 2025. Got me thinking about where I might want to put my energy when I go back to work.

Menu for me for the week.

Breakfast – apple cranberry muesli, low fat yoghurt of FF milk, rooibos tea with milk, fruit

Lunch - peanut butter sandwich on toast, fruit, sometimes a hboiled egg and cheese, buckwheat biscotti and a mini size of smarties (M&M look alikes)

Dinner – Varied – instant soup, crackers and cheese or chips or pretzel, fruit leather – GUAVA!!!!, crackers with peanut butter.

I plan to achieve more nutritious dinners for next week and must plan ahead as I have to buy it and then heft it home on my back.

Trying to decide what I will do on Saturday and Sunday. Probably a bus ride into the main part of town to the waterfront, a possibly a cable car ride up to the top of Table Mountain. I will also investigate the theatre options in Cape Town as there was one listed in the magazine on the plane that sounded good.

Friday, September 29

Today was my fifth day on the job and my third time in pen 2. I must admit that one of the hardest things about pen 2 is you spend alternate hours working physically hard cleaning and scrubbing, followed by a challenging hour catching birds and either stuffing fluid or fish down them. Physically challenging followed by mentally challenging at least 4 cycles during the day.

This was also Satoshi’s last day and Ditte asked if I wanted to go out with them for pizza to celebrate after work. I told her that I would like to, but it would depend on how exhausted I was at the end of the day. This was also the day when any oiled or still dirty bird would be washed. This is a process that takes up to one-hour per bird as they must be thoroughly cleaned and then totally rinsed. Most of the staff and volunteers were pulled from other duties today and they called in experienced local volunteers to help.

Before 9:00am, I had received my first bite on my upper right arm from #398 as I moved him from the nebulizer to the pool. I need to improve my technique and hold the head more firmly and closer to me to avoid this in the future. By the end of the day, I also had other nips on my right hand (the ungloved one) while I was feeding fish and tubing while I was holding the birds. I was told that I was not holding them properly because legs are so long. So many things to remember when you are feeding or tubing.

As you may remember, we were watching #305, the little blue who seemed depressed. He was the first one that I tried to feed, and I only managed to get one down him and them he threw it up within 10 minutes. (In penguins, you cannot pull things out of their mouth, they have to do it themselves. They have little barbs on their tongue and on the roof their mouth, similar those grills that you can only drive over in one direction. If you back up, your tires are toast!) They eventually took him to ICU and gave him an injection. His blood is fine, but he is not right. We will continue to watch him.

On Thursday, an arrested molter bird was brought into the center. As the penguins become an adult, they normally over eat and bulk up and then completely molt over 4 weeks. During that time they do not eat and live off their body fat. If they are in arrested molt, it means that something is not right with them as they get stuck between the two and sort of look a little moth-eaten. Such was #415 who was in pen 2.

During the day, three of staff came into pen 2 to grade the birds for the second time this week to see who was ready to move into pen 10 and therefore, closer to release. They had to catch every bird and check their hydration and feathers for water repellent status. I was recording. I watched a times how the staff would grab a bird quickly and then would struggle with them to get them into a position so that could check them. Sometimes, they would miss, but not usually. 8 birds get to move to pen 10 after we feed them this afternoon.

Late in the afternoon, I was administering Darrows to the two birds that required it and Satoshi and Laure were moving birds to pen 10. I was working with #415 (arrested molter) who had been agitated earlier today and I had to keep the tube in him as I changed syringes. As I fumbled with changing the syringes, he really got a hold of my fingers that made me shout. Satoshi was about to leave the pen, but I asked him to stay with me as I had only been doing this for today. I managed to get the second syringe in the bird and lifted him over the half wall into the other side of pen. As I put him down, he flipped on his back, gasped and struggled and could not get up. I called Satoshi and he and I watched as the bird was still on the ground. I called for Laure and she came back and lifted him up and tried to shake the fluid out of him and patted his back. At this point, I figured I had managed to get the tube into his lungs instead of his stomach and that I had done serious damage to him. Laure took him to ICU and asked us to continue moving birds. I felt absolutely awful. All the birds had been taken so Satoshi and I moved the two from the nebulizer to the pool and then I went into the ICU to return the syringe back to the lab.

I came into the room to find the necropsy in process on #415 who had just died. I began to cry. Vanessa, the manager of the rehabilitation department, said that as she opened him up that she knew something was seriously wrong with him. She said he had died of heart attack from congestive heart failure. His muscle color was very dark, his heart was very enlarged and flabby and his lungs were poorly developed and had some fluid in them. His trachea was clenched shut and as she continued to work on him, she said that the Darrows was in his stomach and not his lungs. The three staff that were at the necropsy were very kind and kept telling me that he was already compromised and would never had lasted the two months it would have taken for him to molt and then recover. I still felt awful, not just for the death (even though they said that I was not responsible), but because his final interaction with me was not gentle and calm. While my brain can grasp that any animal in the hospital is not 100% well and not all of them make it, my ego was working on my big time to make me wrong and doubt myself.

Laure asked me if I wanted to go home and I said no that I wanted to finish my shift, but that I wasn’t up for tubing the final birds with formula that day. As we were finishing up the
final jobs for pen 2, I caught Laure and said that I would like to do the tubing of the formula if she would be with me. I knew that I could not leave the center and not be back for two days without going back in and working with the birds. Laure held and let me insert and the fluids went fine. It is easy to make sure that all is right when someone else is holding. It is not so easy to verify where the tube is when you are holding and trying to insert the tube, and not get nipped or your fingers crushed.

As I look back on it, I realized that I was feeling a little pressured to come up to speed on working with the birds earlier than I felt prepared. While I felt ready to begin to learn the new tasks, I know now that I was not ready to not be supervised for a while. I didn’t realize how stressed and tired I was until the final hours of work today. I also realize how challenging it is for me to move from physical work to mentally challenging work changing between one to the other every other hour. (It reminded me of when I was doing The Women and had to keep switching hats on a daily basis because I was also trying to work at PERA as close to full time as possible).

The thing that keeps coming up for me is do I have a true perspective on today? What is my lesson? Why don’t I acknowledge how stressed I am until it gets bad? Why is it so hard for me to tell people this is not working for me? Am I seeing the situation clearly, am I being too hard or too light on myself?

Bottom line, I always aim to be a calm and balanced presence around animals and when I am not, drama is created and I get down on myself for loosing balance. Right after it happened, I checked my muscle testing to see if I could have done anything else and I was told no. I felt partially relieved but still bad and it was definitely not my preferred way to end my first week with the little guys.

I went home for a shower and then I took a cab and met Ditte, Satoshi and Chanene, the lovely woman who owns the backpackers where Ditte is staying for pizza at Castellos. Chanene has given me a reference for a massage and I may book at least once a week, if not more often. They offered me a ride home, which was very generous and saved me the taxi fare. I made it an early night and planned to sleep in, if possible.

Saturday, September 30 – DAY OFF!

Ended up being a doodle day, as I did not even get out of the hostel until noon. Spent the am on the computer.

Had some insights about yesterday from dreams and reading. 1. Take care of Jane first, if I am uncomfortable, it is my job to speak up and do what I need to make me comfortable with the situation. 2. VIBES CARD – See the Solution – Find positive alternatives and attract them to me to find the best one that fits the situation.

Thoughts for Monday at the Center

Request – all conversations in the pens in English. Helps foreign volunteers to understand what is going on and to ask more questions if we don’t understand

Thought – it may be hard for the staff to remember how physically challenging this work is to a new comer, alternating with anxiety provoking work with the birds.

Request – bird handling lessons earlier in the day instead of later in the day.

Request – staff to be on hand to offer assistance to newbie’s for at least two days before they are left on their own.

Thought – Written procedures for pen 2 and how to keep on schedule – three times in the pen and each day, jobs at the end of the day are rushed to get them all accomplished. NOT THE BEST TIME FOR A NEWBY TO BE LEFT ALONE

Sunday, October 1 – DAY OFF!

Another doodle day with lots of internetting, plane reservations for my trip to Romania, talking to Annie on the phone, blogging and just resting.

Entry # 28D – Last Days with baboons

Monday, September 18

7:00 Bottles
8:00 Monitor
9:00 Crates
11:00-1:00 Small Babies
3:00-5:00 Nursery Babies

Lee caught me early this morning and asked if I would accompany her to the vet to take two baboons in for blood samples. The Center has seen several cases of cataracts in recent years and they suspect they are from a single male. Therefore, they are blood testing any cases that they see. I had to leave crates early to accompany Lee with Huckleberry and Valentine. Huckleberry is in the Big Babies Hok and Valentine is in the Small Babies. I was honored to be asked and to have a little time with Lee whom I respect tremendously for her caring and dedication to CARE and the baboons.

At 9:45 off we went with Huckleberry with 2 mls of ketamine in a cage and Valentine in a diaper on my lap. It was a 45-minute drive in the opposite direction of Phalaborwa toward Hyedspritz. The town is becoming quite a tourist destination and has a lovely mountain in the distance. In the car before we entered the vet, Lee asked me to administer .5 of ketamine IM to Valentine. Within 1 minute she was asleep in my arms as I carried her into the vet. The vet took all of 10 minutes to take the samples and we were off again to Wimpies for a burger to go as we drove back to CARE.

As I monitored today, a juvenile from Sindle kindly showed me that there was a perfect hole for him to enter the next cage belonging to another troop. In addition, Hart in the neighboring troop with the arm lesion was no moving his elbow at all and moving his arm from his shoulder. I called Sarah and she said the hole would be repaired before I returned from the vet and that Hart’s injury still needs to be watched, but that she has seen worse heal themselves in time. I have three more days to see Hart and to monitor how he is. I asked Sarah if someone will be assigned my troops immediately as I leave so that there is not interruption in monitoring. She was not aware that I was leaving in three days.

As I missed my Small Babies shift, I added an hour in the nursery instead. Poor Tortilla screamed for her mom for 50 minutes but finally a regular mommy appeared so she calmed down. A rather nice afternoon with both Elle and Koyoshi sleeping on me. At one point, the volunteers in the Small Babies crooned and said that the dying rat was back. Pam looked out and said that he needed to be euthanized. As there were now 5 people in the nursery, I went and again, euthanized the rat. Hopefully that is the last one before I leave.

As I entered the nursery pen, we could hear elephants trumpeting. Lee said that they were chasing up and down the far riverbank. I had heard two near the house last night during the lighting and thunder. I wished I had been able to see them, but the trees are coming into leaf and therefore, the view is becoming more and more obscured.

As we carried the babies in, it appears that pink eye is running through the Small Babies pens, so in addition to Star’s elbow; there were two to receive eye drops. We had also had one volunteer with eye problems, not sure if it was pink eye or not. Lee and Sarah had indicated recently that it is not uncommon with volunteers in contacts to have eye infections. Coincidence? I suggested that they maybe not bring up illnesses of former volunteers, as some within the group are highly suggestible.

Tuesday, September 19

7:00 Bottles
7:45m- 9:00 Small Babies
9:00 Crates
10:00 Monitor
3:00-4:00 Dogs
4:00 Bottles

4 hours off in the middle of the day found Verene and I walking to the bat cave and spending some time at the beach. What started out as a cold day with me in two fleeces, found me in short sleeves by 8:00 am and the mid-day at the beach was hot indeed.

I only have one more full day of work with the baboons and I will miss their little faces and expressions. So human like at times, you really can tell what they are thinking from their eyes. They have the most amazing capacity to watch what you do and know exactly where you put something in your pockets. They are tenacious when it comes to trying to open a pocket or your hand if you have something to conceal. They are also incredibly jealous if you give something to one, you better have enough for all, or more than enough. The dominant animals always get the lion’s share and the only way the low pecking orders get any is if the dominants are busy with excess.

We have many of the small babies with pink eye and they will be receiving tetanus vaccinations tomorrow if they are well enough to receive the shot. Little Oros Lemos sprang a 42degree temp, when it should have been 38. He peed on Lynn and she said it was like fire due to the fever he was carrying. Lee said that they have incredible pain tolerance and only spring symptoms when it is really serious. Lee says the pink eye will run through the herd but that ointment will clear it up quickly. The one concern is that it can be passed to the volunteers, so we must be vigilant with hand washing and good hygiene. Luckily, it was shopping day so there is more hand soap at all the sinks.

Kirsten and I cooked tonight and following Kirsten’s recipe, it was cottage pie and my recipe for Mexican brownies. Well received by all and very filling.

I have an 8am start tomorrow, but lots to do, so I may chose to rise early and get some of the word processing on the procedures done before I start my first shift. We will see how the night goes.
Wednesday, September 20

8:00 Mediums
9:00 Crates
11:00-1:00 Small Babies
1:00 Bottles
3:00-4:00 Monitor
4:00 Bottles

I tried to take this day as slow as possible to savor every minute. The Mediums were in rare form and I had my typical lap mates, Violet and Caley, but also Basil and his tasting my fingers as I groomed him, and also little Pickle and Paris. The group had decimated their food that had arrived at 7:30 and would need more at 11:00 am bottles.

Crates were much the same except I took pictures of the process, a crate, and the group. Pam asked if I didn’t want a picture of me with my favorite machete.

PHOTO - Machete

Verene and I had smalls together and we ended up each having an hour in the nursery and then one hour in the smalls. Most of the smalls are coming down with a cold that may very well move into the volunteers. Little Oros Lemos has quite a fever and cough and is back with Sarah is foster mom for 24/7 duty. Along with the cold, is an outbreak of pinkeye, that one volunteer has already had. I will take care that I don’t arrive at the penguins dripping.

I took picture of Verene with the smalls and she did the same for me. My favorite pictures from the entire trip are included for you to see. I think I am in love.

Photo – Nigelrobics

Photo – Nigel and I

Photo – Valentine and I

1:00 pm bottles got off to a rocky start, as my co-volunteer was 15 minutes delayed in arriving. Leilani is still having jet lag difficulty. It ended fine and she did the clean up.

My last day of monitoring, I had hoped for new babies in the Sindle troop, and I wanted to make sure that Hart was doing better with his arm. No babies and Harts arm appears to be improving, but his movement is still restricted. I cannot get over that they day after I saw the injury, Hart came over to sit by the fence as if to show it to me. I assured him that we would look into it and keep track of it for him. I had had the same experience with Star in the smalls when she opened up her elbow. She would come over and sit on my lap and show me her elbow. I would groom around it for her and again, assured her that we would keep an eye on her elbow. It was much improved by the time I left.

4:00 Bottles went without a hitch and I helped Sarah get the cage out for Icarus and Tortilla, so that she can focus on Oros during the night. As we were getting the cage, Rita was sitting on the bank looking at the river. I went to sit with her and suddenly, a large Kudu male with spiraling antlers walked across the sandbar. It was the first time I had seen a Kudu male. At the same time, a large monitor lizard was going in the opposite direction on the sand bar. Rita remarked how wonderful and accepting nature can be with multiple species sharing the same territory without any fights. The only animal that does not seem to be able to do that is man. HMMMM.

The final dinner was Pam and her wonderful stir-fry. Fabulous.

I ended the day exhausted and happy and feeling complete, sad but complete, for this visit at least.

Thursday, September 21 – Annie’s Birthday – Happy Birthday!

This morning was filled with packing and finishing the documents on procedures for CARE to be put on DVD for their files.

As I went to down to drop off the presents for Lee and Rita, I said goodbye to the baboons along the way. Rita and staff were discussing the situation of a baboon that had been hand raised until he reached 5, his sexual maturity, and who is now too much a handful for the man and his private zoo. They want Rita to take him, but as he has reached his maturity, the chances of having him accepted by a troop are slim. Add to that, CARE already has 14 troops, over 500 baboons and at least 20 adult males in the cue to go. He would have to join the end of the line of priority and the choices for him are either life in an individual cage surrounded by other males in the same boat, or possibly, try to find a troop to take him. It is not an easy decision because if they don’t take him, who will? The current owner has a history of looking for his profit in the long run. As he was hand raised, he had no capacity to care for himself in the wild right now and the only hope would be if he came to CARE and learned from watching the long tits troop outside his pen. Lee wanted to evaluate other options before taking him as cage space is not available, Davi said it would be a jail sentence, Sarah said take him and try to get him in the troop, Rita was of two minds; take him but also ask for the juvenile the owner also has to avoid this problem in 4 years time or, not take him and tell the owner that due to the delay, the chances for this baboon are not good for release. Had he come prior to his sexual maturity, his chances would have been far greater. Final decision – Take him and have the administrator at CARE have a discussion with the owner about the effects of the delay and the chances of the baboon for any future life in the wild.

A tradition of leaving is to receive a CARE T-shirt. Lee had told Rita how I seemed to manage to get the teenagers off their butts and on to their feet and had done much to clean up the house. Rita said that deserved something special so he disappeared upstairs and returned with a lovely woodcarving of a baboon. It made me cry.

I went out to say goodbye to Charlie and the troops, in hopes that there might be a new baby waiting for me in the Sindle pen. Charlie came over and gave me a good by grunt and stuck his hand through the cage at me. I told him that I hoped not to see him the next time I was there. (Rita had told me that when they finally put Charlie with the two considerably smaller females, they terrorized him so bad that he tried to escape through the roof and ended up falling at least 20 feet to the ground and breaking his leg). Rita had said that his only chance would be if the troop is to be released in an area where there are other Samango, that Charlie goes with them and if the troop females chase him away, at least he will have unlimited area to run and a greater possibility of finding others of his kind. I hope so.

I said good-bye to the troops, but no new babies were seen. Hart’s leg appears better, but the hole is still very deep and I wonder if he hasn’t severed the tendons that allow him to pull his forearm to his elbow. My hope for him is that he develops other muscles that will allow him that movement.

I took one last turn in the nursery and peaked at the smalls and mediums without going in. One last good bye to my little Nigel, who lip smacked me and made me smile. I will miss that little tyke!

Soon, Rita, Lynn, Kim and I were off to the airport, me to fly and Lynn and Kim to change their tickets. Before we got to the main road, Rita called our attention to the three giraffes that were right next to the road. Absolutely magnificent! If I had known how the baboons would have affected me, I would have stayed longer had I not had the penguins locked in behind them. (Next time, at least 8 weeks).

SUMMARY OF THIS PLACEMENT

This placement, as with all of them, needs funds to keep their work going. While they have been fortunate enough to have wonderful volunteers who generously send needed provisions such a bottles, nipples, hand tools, or items that ease the volunteers or staff’s days. If I had unlimited resources, what would I send? Lee says pick something that was difficult or a nuisance for me
and figure out what would make a difference to the program.

My personal mission is to come up with a clip, carabineer, bull snap or something of the like that will make the cages secure from the ingenuity of those little baboon minds and hand, but is not very complicated for the volunteers to use as they go through the gates multiple times each day.

I plan to contact Playtex and Pampers to see about the donations of useable seconds of their items that would help the baboons.

As with so many of my other animal placements, we are far from civilization, internet and a break from the world and company.

Of the things that I will remember from this placement will be the sounds of Will and Grace from next door. One of the American college students has brought her computer and collection of DVD’s, thereby the American TV shows. I will remember the sound of little rat feet above my head. I will remember the sound and the feel of the Baboon Alarm at 6:15 every morning as the entire house shakes as the troop leaps around on the tin roof. How can I explain the absolute silence that happens when the troops have spotted something interesting out side the pens? Or the ear splitting shrieks when one of the troop is either being beat up from within, or is threatened from the outside.

I will remember the smell of the baboons (rather like diluted bleach).

I will remember the fleabites from the straw thatch that used to cover the ceiling of my bedroom. I hope to forget the bites and bruises received by their teeth and worse, from their long fingernails. Maybe I should arrange for monthly manicures for all the baby hoks?

I will remember how lovely the river looks from the house and the amazing sightings of warthogs and baboons on a daily basis. I will remember how cute the faces are when they are sleeping while sitting up, either sucking on a teat or toy. I will remember how they look as they sleep suspended on a sling with each of the four appendages hanging down. I will remember Cricket from Casey Hok who thrilled to have stolen a wrap and then ran through her hok with it streaming behind her like a pennant or her wearing it like a shawl or a mantilla. How will I ever be able to forget the sweet look in the eyes of the baboons as they are being groomed and their eyes so trusting and calm, just before they are landed upon by a troop member and then rocket off my lap to go play?

Who will I miss most? Roxie? Nigel? Star? Basil? Caley? Violet? Or the tinies – Corey, Mica, Elle, Tortilla, Icarus or Koyoshi? The next time I will see any of them, they will be big and may be too large to cuddle or pet.

The volunteers on this project were primarily from Britain and North America. The ages were spread between 18 and 50. Many of the US volunteers, this was their first time in Africa, and some of them, their first time out of the US. Work ethic was uneven amongst the group that was frustrating at times and the slackers were not always from the same age group.

There was again the misinterpretation of what was really to be expected of the volunteers with this placement. This placement really makes use of their volunteers well and gets lots of work accomplished. For the first time during this year, I really feel that I worked to my capacity and feel very proud and pretty fit. One volunteer was heard to say, ”I didn’t come here to work, but to volunteer”. I am not sure what they were expecting. Working with animals is 95% hard, dirty, tiring, necessary work and 5% glamour, public adoration and accolades. Bottle-feeding the babies was 10% of our time and all the rest of our time was doing necessary work to assist in the running of the operation. Animals need to be fed even when the weather is hot, cold, dry, humid, even if you are well, ill with diarrhea, sleep deprived with your tiny baboon baby who kept you up all night, frustrated or feeling incredibly balanced and healthy. Luckily there were very wonderful women who made this experience very positive and fun.

Who will I keep in touch with? Aletheia? Lee? Pam? Gemma? Kim? Verene? Alice? Vanessa?

Thank you CARE, Rita, Lee, Sarah, Bennet and the marvelous Josephine. I will return.

OFF TO JOHANNESBURG

No dramas on the flight or arrival, except I misread the signs to baggage claim and had to be let back in to the area to take the elevator down to the baggage area. I then went to the postnet for some WIFI time and 64 emails that awaited me. I also had to print out my hostel reservation sheet so that I could show the cab driver where I needed to go. I went to retrieve my luggage that I had left at the airport and realized that I will take my bag to Cape Town even if it means paying excess baggage. (It will probably work out to the be the same cost, if it leave it or take it with me)

My cab was more that I needed to pay, but the driver was nice and considering the distance and the traffic he would face going back to town, it was worth it. I am in the Northern suburbs of JoBurg at a YHA on a horse farm on Inchanga Road.

I arrived exhausted at about 4:30 pm, but my room was not ready. So I went to the bar and had a cider and read and wrote post cards. At 5:30, the room was still not ready and they were very anxious that I wasn’t angry. I told them, not angry, just exhausted and wanting to go to my room. They suggested I have dinner and then the room and the keys would be ready for me. During dinner of a wonderful warm chicken salad, the keys had arrived. As it was dark, the guard walked me over the hill towards a shed. (In my not balanced and very tired mind, I decided if I was to live in the shed, I had overpaid.) We passed the shed and ducked under two fences before angry, growling dogs greeted us.

My room is part of a large house and is a lovely room with a double bed that had not been made up yet. The room has three large windows without curtains and lots of neighbors. They helped me make the bed and told me that the woman was coming with the curtains. She finally arrived with two curtains in the contrasting fabric. That left one window without a curtain and the fabric that was left would not cover the distance without modification. I suggested we use the two towels that just fit over the opening, but I needed clothespins to fix them to the rod. They stood around talking about how the curtains did not match and how smart I was to think of the towels. I finally waved them off and got into bed and turned out the light at 8:oo pm. Thank heavens I had my fuzzy pink pillow. It was nice to have something familiar.

Good Night!

Friday, September 22

I did not sleep well, bed was not very comfortable and it was too quiet, no croaking frogs or baboon alarm calls during the night.

The staff was most apologetic about last night and told me that I had overpaid. They said for the cab ride back to the airport, I would only pay 100R instead of 200R. Great breakfast and more postcards and then I caught a cab ride to the local mall. I had lots of shopping to do on basic necessities that were running low after 4 weeks away and I needed to do some more internetting.

I also contacted I to I regarding my lion park placement in November. Lee had indicated that the park has not always done what was best for the animals and from what I see, it appears to be quite a tourist magnet, which does not sound like something I will be happy with. I am investigating other I to I options in Cape Town and will see what evolves.

Found some wonderful books to read including one from Sonia Choquette and another one called the White Masai. I had hoped to see the movie when I was in Sydney but never made it, so I am anxious to read the book that is based on a true story. Currently I am engrossed in a book by a South African writer called, Spud. It is a diary of a 13 year-old schoolboy going to boarding school. By the way that I am devouring it, I can tell that I have not been reading much lately.

Went back to the YHA for dinner, internetting and a shower. Up early tomorrow to get to Cape Town. I begin work on Monday, so I will have Sunday to get my feet on the ground.

Entry # 28C – Third full week with baboons

Monday, September 11

7:00 Bottles
8-9:00 Mediums
9:00 Crates
10:00 Monitor
11:00 – 1:00 Smalls
1:00 Bottles
2:00 Dogs
3:00 Mediums
4:30 Ship

Busy day including ship and then cooking dinner with Kim. We had planned to do Tuna Noodle Casserole and Brownies, so I made the pasta during my lunch break.

It was fun to get back to the babies and see them again. Not too many bite from them, but I got hit in the nose and eyebrows a lot today and was little grouchy by the time I was exiting mediums.

Crates took longer than expected and as I was sitting at monitoring, I heard rustling behind me. I had assumed it was a baboon, but when I looked, it was in fact, a medium size monitor lizard right behind me and heading around to my right toward the water drain. Twice the size of the ones that I had worked on Kangaroo Island, not quite as colorful but still very impressive.

Today we were down 4 volunteers, 2 newbie’s and 2 sick with dehydration. I must admit, I am a little weary of having the under 25’s not taking care of themselves to the point that the rest of the volunteers have to take on extra duties. I told Sarah that I would bring up the topic of respect at dinner, respect for self and for the team.

Star is much improved in temperament and today when I was with the smalls, she only had one minor altercation with the mediums and was quickly diverted away from the ledge. New for today, Flash was put into the biggest babies, as he was rather a bully in the mediums. There was very little drama surrounding his visit today and when I looked over in the middle of the afternoon, he was being groomed by one of the females, something that never happened in mediums, as he was also being big and running around scaring all the little guys. When we picked him up this afternoon to put him back in his pen, he looked very sleepy and was very calm. No bites from him today, which was a rare occurrence when he was in mediums. Not sure where he will end up tomorrow.

The tuna noodle casserole and brownies were a huge hit, even with the two that had been sick. Lee came for dessert and helped us discover how to turn the light on in the shower. NO MORE TAKING THE TORCH TO THE SHOWER WITH YOU.

I found out when I went to look at the schedule for tomorrow that I had 7 am monitoring (Great! I get to document how they sleep!) and that she had changed my laundry day to Wednesday instead of my usual Tuesday. CRAP! I am out of tops as I had planned my attire to end exactly on laundry day. I am feeling very tired after my safari yesterday and am probably not dealing with life’s little bumps as easily as I should. Well, tomorrow is another day and another opportunity to excel!

We watched a DVD about the release that is currently in the field that was filmed by a professional film company. It was lovely and I think we were all happy to see the results of so much work and care. The only hope is that the process can speed up so that more troops can be released in a timely basis. It will mean more staff or permanent or long-term volunteers to go to multiple sites, but with 14 troops waiting and permits pending, there will be a permanent backlog if the current system stays in place.

Tuesday, September 12 – Alethea’s last workday.

7:00 Monitoring with Pam
8:00 Clean Up
9:00-11:00 Small Babies
12:00 Mediums
2:00 Lounge
3:00 Dogs
4:00 Bottles

I woke at 4am and had a hard time getting back to sleep but did not really feel like I was sleep deprived all day. I had a wonderful realization about waltzing through life as my metaphor for the proper balance of give and take, leading and following, giving and taking, accepting and receiving within a structure and framework that works for me. WONDERFUL!

Except for getting up early, monitoring first thing in the am was great and the troops were doing lots of things. I took Alethea to see my babies as this was her last day. She also tried to get some shots of Charlie, but not sure if he posed for her.

I feel totally in the routine here and realized as I sat in Medium Babies for my hour that I really do know most of their names and have my little system them. As I went in with 4pm bottles, there were several melt downs that resulted in diarrhea on the back of my head and all down my left side. Poor Billie Bob was having a bit of a drama.

At one point, I was learning how to put the Meer Cats away with Sarah when Verena came running past looking for Sarah and saying that there was an emergency and an injury in the baby hok. She went flying out leaving me with the responsibility of getting the second Meer Cat caged, which was a little daunting as I had been told that they have a fierce bite. Luckily, she left me a blanket so I shooed the little guy into the cage. YAAH!

The kitchen is looking better and better and the rats have less and less to eat of our foodstuffs daily. The last two blue plastic containers have been washed and are ready to receive our supplies and maybe we will be able to get the milk out of the freezer so that we can use it, as we need it.

Dinner will be a wonderful stir-fry ala Pam and Alethea has made a pear, chocolate, marshmallow crisp? Should be interesting.

We have three new volunteers over the last three days - Alice from Toronto who was down for the count today, Leilani from Hawaii and more recently Boise, ID who will stay for 10 weeks and yesterdays addition, Jack (or Jacqueline) from Red Deer Alberta. All enthusiastic, and on their first trip to Africa and first major international trip.

Wednesday, September 13

7:00 Bottles
7:45-9:00 Small Babies
10:00 Medium Babies
12:00 Monitor
1:00 Medium Babies
3:00 Bathrooms
4:00-4:30 Mediums
4:30 Ship

I ended today with a star pattern of 5 scratches on my left cheek from someone’s fingernails in Small Babies first thing this am. Took a bite by one of the mediums when I was helping with ship, probably justified because I took the shovel away from him.

What does Bottles mean? Depending on what time of the day, when you are assigned bottles you are preparing somewhere between 10 – 45 bottles with up to three different milk concoctions. The largest bottle duties are 7am and 4pm, beginning and end of the day with every enclosure needing to be fed and bottled. Also included at 7 and 4 are two groups of adult animals that need extra nutrition and the Samango’s. Various groups get either their second or third bottle of the day during the mid-day bottles and if needed, more food is cut up.

What are in the food buckets? The daily selection varies widely but can include apples, pears, oranges, carrots, melon, squash, peanuts or other nuts, hard kernel corn, sweet potatoes, bread, assorted veggies such as broccoli, cauliflower, onions, green peppers, corn on the cob, cabbage and sometimes dried fruit such as bananas or apricots. Depending where I am with my meals, sometimes what comes out of the bucket looks pretty good.

WHO ARE THE SMALL BABIES?

The GIRLS
Paprika – Yellowish female who is rather obsessive about getting into the nursery enclosure and races around like a lunatic when she does.

Roxy – Gray female - really a Medium baby, but with her injury from her previous owner, she was having a hard time in Mediums. Now in the Smalls, she has taken two of the smaller ones under her wing and carries them around like infants.

Star – Ms. ADHD with a tendency to taste all new volunteers for several days before she accepts them. Grayish with a wild fringe of hair and sort of blank look until her eyes really focus on you.

Valentine – born 2/14/06, smooth yet fluffy coated petit little girl. She had cataracts and has already had the surgery. Very sweet, but is very particular who gets to hold her. Whinges a lot.

The BOYS

Nigel – Smooth coated with and equal mix of yellow and grey hair. Lovely profile, fragile ego and loves to play. Likes green peppers and broccoli. He loves me to groom him and he appears very preppy. I can see him in a letterman sweater and surrounded by adoring cheerleaders.

Goku – Grey coarse hair with sort of a permanent surprised look on his face. I also monitor his mom, who’s really name is Queen Louise. Sort of bumbly and lots of energy. Always looking for action and if it is not happening, makes it happen.

Mr. Stubbs – One of the small guys, grey and yellow. He was very friendly at first, but has pretty much ignored me except to race by on his circuits with the other guys playing.

Oros Lemos – One of the little guys, dark grey named after the lemon-flavored drink popular in South Africa. Very sweet and missing three of five digits on one of his front hands.

Zorro – Feisty and hugely particular on who gets him, dark grey with a yellow eyebrows and a very serious face and bare tail. Roxy’s special little charge.

Bowie (as in David) – Skinny, sparse haired of grey and yellow, sort of the underdog of the group.

Thursday, September 14 – ONLY ONE WEEK LEFT! WHERE DID THE TIME GO?

7:45 - 9:00 Small Babies
10:00 Medium Babies
11:00 Lower Deck
1:00 Bottles
2:00 Medium Babies
3:00 Monitoring
4:00 Bottles

During my breaks today, I took my camera and began to get some shots of the compound and the babies. I was in the nursery for a while trying to get shots of the mediums and the smalls and ended up with tiny babies approaching me. Lee took some photos of me and I am happy that they are finally coming to me.

I am determined to make my final week one of wonderful days and experiences. Sarah said at one point that they were thinking of expanding the minimum stay to maybe 8 weeks. I said that would be better for them and the volunteers, but it may limit who can volunteer as 8 weeks off for someone who works in the US is highly unlikely unless you are in the school system. Lee also said that she was ignoring that I was taking pictures because that is usually a sign that someone is leaving soon. I will be sorry to go in so many ways, but in other ways, I will be happy to be back in contact with civilization. This place can get under your skins and time just shoots past. I admit it is only in the 4th week that I am feeling totally integrated and effective. Week one, everything was so foreign, week two the tiredness sets in and the make wrong and anxiety of not knowing how exactly everything works was eating at me, week three was getting in the groove and now, week 4 I feel that I can be very effective.

As Sarah was doing the schedule, I saw that I had another early morning, my 5th in a row. I whinged to her and reminded her that I had not had a late start in a while. We will see what the next days schedule brings to me. My whinge left me in disrupted energy.

Friday, September 15

7:00 Bottles
9:00 Crates
10:00 Break but I ended up doing dogs
11:00 – 1:00 Nursery
1:00 Dogs, but I had traded with Verene
2:00 Mediums
3:00 Monitor
4:30 Ship

Very strange energy this morning (probably a result of my whinging last night) and as I descended the hill for my first shift, I had hip hit by a wild male. Proof positive that they are not all tame and that I must constantly be on my guard.

I took several bites from the mediums as I was carrying them into the pens this am, so it looked like the energy was weird for them too. As I had a break after my first shift, I decided to put on my Ipod, have a cup of tea, spend some time grounding and balancing, pull a vibes card and change my mind about how my day was going to go. I was approached my one of the workers to come to the river to see the lion tracks, but my intuition told me to follow through with my original plans. Vibes Card – Call on the Your Helper Guides! It was wonderful and really helped to change the outcome of my day.

As I ended crates, Verene indicated that she had not had orientation, so I offered to exchange my dog shift for hers so that she could be free at 10am. As we got into the mountain lodge, Pam said that the freezer was working and had begun to clean it out. I pitched in, as Pam had to leave to get her visa sorted out to extend her stay so that she can spend a little more time with her baby, Koyoshi. Sarah said that those type jobs can be assigned, but I told her that I didn’t mind doing it as to delay would mean a bigger, smellier mess tomorrow. As it turns out, the freezer is not working as Davi found that the switch was bad.

I had my second wonderful day with the tinies in the nursery, and Jack and I were covered in babies for two hours. Also pee and poo and spilt milk, but it was worth it to have littlies asleep on your lap or chest. We were without any of the mommies, that changed the energy and it was a very calm time, except for the mediums trying and succeed in pulling my hair through the wire fence.

During the pm dog shift, Mollie managed to catch but not quite kill a rat in the lower bedroom. I took the rat by the tail and put it outside, but it was obvious that it was not going to recover. I took it farther away from the house and euthanized it. I hate to have them in my bedroom, but I couldn’t stand to think of it suffering.

The Medium babies are having a trial run at being by themselves for several hours during the day. I was the first people to have them after 4 hours alone so they were very happy to see and jump on me. My usual lap attendants are Violet and Caley, sometimes Belle, Alice and Zoey, the screaming Jane with various fly bys from Pickle and Paris. The only boys that make regular appearances that I can recognize are Beau and Basil and recently, Hilton.

WHO ARE THE MEDIUM BABIES?

The GIRLS

Belle – Yellowish, slender dominant female. Has learned that I give good monkey massage and is content to sit next to me if the lap is too full

Caley – Miss pushy, blow-in-her-mouth all the time with a tendency to bite when she is happy, stressed, playing. Usually we have 35 minutes to leaping around and over me and finally after a confrontation, she will settle and begin her nap about 3 minutes before the end of my shift.

Jane – The hysteric who is low on the pecking order and if anyone looks at her funny, screams loudly and races around the cage. She ends up in my lap for 3 seconds, tried to lodge under my right arm and them launches herself back into the troop for another cycle of chase, whinge, land and leap again. If she does settle for a minute, she obsessively grooms my hair rather painfully and then leaps off again.

Violet – Second dominant female, yellow and a little tubby. She and Caley are my two most common lap attendants but they know the rules, no fighting on the lap or you get ousted. Violet tends to take longer naps and how she can manage to sleep with Caley grooming her eyeballs I will never understand.

Pickle – One of the lower females who only gets lap time when new food has been introduced or everyone else is off somewhere else. I can only recognize her by a scar on her hind foot.

Paris – The smallest of the girls and well down on the list, she is very petit of the girls with a very narrow face. Her coat is the softest and I think she is the one who runs past and offers me her butt to scratch but hardly ever comes up on the lap.

Alice – Out pickpocket, Alice is very adept at getting every button or snap on your clothes off you and into her and someone else’s mouth. A lot weight challenged, Alice needs to cut down on how many bottles she steels from others or she will never fit into her clothes again.

Zoey – Miss Tubarina with a double chin. Similar to Alice in weight challenge and is pretty low on the dominance chart. She is pretty funny and knows her name very well and when called to come over, she sometimes does a little dance with her hind legs before she comes over.

The BOYS

Beau – The primary male, yellowish and slender. He only this week has been on my lap and loves his monkey massage and pushes everyone else off except Belle or Violet. He came my lap recently and was content to suck on my rain slicker and be held.

Basil – The larges, chunkiest, dark male, who was the first boy to come to the massage lap. He will usually try and take one of my fingers in his mouth and gently chew or lick the finger. I guess that is his attempt at grooming.

Flash – Was in with the mediums until this last week and is now in the Big Babies. He is the one with the scar on his head from when he was in the lab and they tried to surgically change his appearance so that he appeared to be permanently flashing, a sign of aggression. He had been fairly aggressive when he was in the mediums and stirred things up a lot. A constant reminder that none of these babies had anything close to a normal childhood and it is amazing that any of them come to us.

Womble – I have only gotten to know him this week, another yellowish male, and he is quite an instigator of play and therefore, bites.

Billie Bob – Dark and fairly quiet, he was the first medium I got to carry in as he is not that particular about who has him. Very sweet, but low in the order, so lap time with him is minimal.

Hilton – A Major instigator, sort of the Star of the Mediums, and very bitey.

I made it an early evening and I opted out of dinner. As it gets hotter, hot food at dinner sounds less and less appealing. I have decided if I cook again, I will do a cold pasta salad and Mexican brownies.

I got up early in the am and looked at the schedule and I had the gift of a 9:00 am start. I must remember to thank Sarah.

Saturday, September 16

9:00-11:00 Small Babies
11:00 Bottles
2:00 Monitor
3:00 Mediums
4:00 Bottles

Alice and Verene are going to Kruger today and I sent Verene with money to purchase the Big Tusker Book from the Elephant Museum and the Big Five Pins that I left behind and decided that I wanted.

It was lovely to get to sleep in, except that Josephine starts very early every day and Leilani and the dogs at 8 am were very loud.

I bought a DVD with the Animal Planet footage of CARE and a book written about CARE.

Very hot today and I am beginning to carry my water bottle with me when I can. It is impossible to have one with you in the nursery, smalls or mediums, as there is nowhere to put it where the babies cannot get it. I can only imagine how hot it will get and during the rainy season, the humidity.

PIZZA TONIGHT! I was put on pizza coordination to get orders and money rounded up by 2:30. At 1:10 Sarah appeared and said that Lee was going early, so I had to hurry up and get the last few orders. I put in more than I needed in order to speed things up, and I will reconcile the money after I see the final bill.

Hello new person – Vanessa from Seattle, New Jersey and recently Boise, ID

Sunday, September 17

7:00 Medium Babies with Leilani
11:00 – 1:00 Nursery
1:00 Bottles
2:00 Monitor
3:00 Small Babies
4:00 Bottles

Leilani had major problems with Hilton this am and took several bites. I am and think others are feeling hesitant to discipline any of the babies since the Star episode. I know in the past that if I put someone down, the rest of the troop would end up coming to their aid, so I ended up with more bites than I originally started with. Leilani will not be in medium babies at 7am for a while until they get more used to her and she used to the system.

Looking back on the hour, I now feel that I should have done more to assist her. I know that I have been hesitant to put down any of the babies recently and have had better results by avoiding their teeth and tolerating a few nips. I feel I should have supported her more and come to her aid. I will apologize to her later today.

There was still a lot of weird energy today, possible because the weather was preparing for our first rain storm and was overcast, still and muggy all day. Paprika in Smalls was going after Charlotte so Lynn went in to assist. Sarah went in within 30 minutes with Vanessa the new volunteers and Paprika went for her. Sarah coached her into putting her down to show your dominance, not as a punishment. That coaching has helped me to understand why we do what we do. It is simply a way to discipline and establish the hierarchy that will be important for them within their troop. I feel better able to cope with aggression when I see it again.

Right after Sarah assisted Vanessa with Paprika, she took Leilani into Mediums and sat with her. I am not sure if Hilton went for her again, but I think she ended the session feeling better about how to handle the mediums.

In my troop today, Hart had a new lesion on his right forearm. Sarah was watering the pens nearby and said it looked like a canine slash and they are common with young males who are sorting themselves into the troop. I also got a good video of Charlie the Samango who posed beautifully for the camera.

I had a lovely hour with Alice in small babies. She has a lovely energy and is very good with the animals. She will go home to Toronto and possible begin a pet sitting business to augment her illustrations. Just as we were bringing in the babies, the sky opened and it began to rain. There was also lots of thunder and lovely streaks of lighting across the sky.

As we were getting ready for dinner, there was a scream from the shower area and Jack announced that there was a snake near the shower room. Earlier in the day, Lee had said that they had found one in the lower bedroom and patched the hole. Rita and her gun were called in and after 4 shots, the snake was dead. It turned out to be a spitting cobra, very dangerous as they can propel their venom at you from 6 feet and they usually aim for your eyes. I was upstairs wrestling with my mosquito netting poles that keep changing positions on a daily basis. Sometimes the nets are taunt, sometimes very floppy. I figured they didn’t need another person on the scene so I stayed upstairs until dinner was called.

Three day of work and then I am off. Bittersweet.

Entry # 28 A – First full week with baboons

Monday, August 28

I went to bed feeling a little sorry for myself as I had misread my schedule and assumed I had 10 hours straight of work. I woke at 3am and could not get back to sleep. I think I will try and stay up a little longer tonight and take a pill in order to sleep until 6am at least.

I was determined to get more regular meals today and to get into my groove. I was also determined it would be a better day than yesterday.

Schedule

7:00 Bottles – This is a huge bottle and work start up session that also includes moving the troops outside. I took Beau out today and he made such a fuss, that I scuffed him and he bit me most of the way. Not an auspicious start to my animal communication for today.

7:45-9:00 Small Babies – Nigel is still my best friend, although Mr. Stubbs, Oros and Valentine all made an appearance. Even Star was okay today as I would acknowledge her and then ignore her, which seemed to work. At the end of the session, Nigel was being a poop and when I restrained him, he got really pissy with me and is no longer my friend (for today!). Sigh! Their egos are so fragile, any discipline upsets the apple cart and they hold a grudge. I miss my friend.

9:00 – Crates- I thought that crates would be a lot easier today as we did not have any more melons, but that just meant we had to cut up 3 times the number of cabbages. This is the second day of crates and we have had a hard time getting through the entire cutting and sorting within one hour. Extra people might help, but with only three machetes, there is only so much the extra people can do. Not mine to fix.

10:00 – Monitoring – Sindle troop much calmer today and very cute. The large sequestered male in Bip Bop still did not like my presence, but after he was fed, he was concentrating elsewhere.

11-12 – Bottles – I am the bottle queen.

12-1 Medium babies – It is getting hotter during the days, so sitting in the hoks in your hooded windbreaker is not always the most fun, but the only way to keep your arms out of teeth and your hair in your head. The troop was much calmer today, sort of sleepy in the midday sun.

I had an hour break during which I hand washed some clothes, heated up and ate soup with an apple and cheese and actually relaxed for a minute.

2:00 Lower deck – the lower level of our house with the kitchen has one side as our dining room that I needed to sweep and clean. With the thatch finally gone, I tried to get all the little remnants out. Just as I began, the three new girls from the UK arrived and I helped to settle them in. I also took my rag and attacked the rat terds in the shower room. More organization still needed in the shower as the floor is littered with bottles of shampoo, etc most likely from previous volunteers.

3-5 – Small babies – A rather hectic afternoon for this troop and with the additional visitors, at one point, Star was very anxious and kept attacking one of the new girls. I had to restrain her. Finally, Kim pulled two of the girls out and they rotated one at a time into each of the three pens. Things settled a little, but Star was still too aggressive and really went after Charlotte. Kim came in and intervened. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a calmer day.

I find that every time I intervene, I end up being bit. However, Sara says that we cannot allow bad behavior to continue or it can endanger others. I will continue to ask for support from Francis and Lillith and keep trying to be gentle yet firm with my little charges. As I watch them, they really are so childlike, a group of very athletic 2 years old with the world by the tail. Their expressions are priceless and their manual dexterity amazing. I feel this is great warm up training for my time with the orphans in Romania.

I spent some time blogging that caught me up and have made up my shopping list for the weekly shopping tomorrow.

Tuesday, August 29

Schedule

STRANGE ENERGY AGAIN – Anxiety!

7:30 – Dogs – This went better today in that I took all three of the dogs up the hill for the half hour, but it wasn’t enough time and I was anxious to get to my next task. I learned after the fact that most of the ladies take each dog for 10 minutes for the 7:30 shift and only bring him or her to the house when they have one of the hour shifts. Next time!

8:00 – Clean up with 2 of the new girls – I had dreamt about this the night before. I was anxious as I had only done parts of this before and here I was with 2 new people to work with. It worked out fine as Sarah was around, but we had some issues with the water and Colin! Kirsten was washing buckets and Colin; the large male baboon came up and pushed her with both his hands. They seem to know if you are new or weak and pick on you. His behavior is becoming more and more of a problem. He even pushed Rita down yesterday, which is almost unheard of as they usually respect her. More about Colin later. I was back in the milk kitchen doing something when Bennet, the head worker came and asked if we had seen the Oliphant! Sure enough, across the river from us was an African Elephant eating from the trees. YAAAAH! ANOTHER GOAL! I can go home now! I wasn’t really close enough get a good look or to see how large he was, but I am sure I will have another opportunity.

9:00–11:00 – Medium babies - This group is very self sufficient for the most part and plays amongst themselves. You may be a pedestal or a launching pad or landing strip for some of the games, but with 15, there is usually at least one on your lap. It is hard for them to really cuddle and sleep as this group has tons of energy.

At one point, I was looking over into Biggest babies pen and there was one laying with all four appendages dangling down and her stomach was support by a canvas strap, similar to a narrow hammock. Very cute. Another time, one of them had stolen a nipple from one of the baby bottles and was sucking on it, with her eyes closed and her head tilted. I asked Kim if there were some “special” individuals in the group. She said yes!

As I exited the pen for my break, Pam asked if anyone could take her place for shopping as she had an unremembered guest arriving. I ended up going which was interesting and easier for me to buy some things that I needed. I missed monitoring today, but I would have anyway as Pam and I have to go together as it is in section 3.

On the way back. Aletheia spotted more elephants in the bush so we stopped to watch, 5 including a smallish baby. We also saw one of the native antelopes, a bush buck, with huge v shaped horns. ABSOUTELY AMAZING!

We got back with all the stuff (16-5 liter jugs of water to name a few of the items) and then sorted them by person. We will sort the money later. I sprang for bottles of hand soap for each of the bathrooms and kitchen.

3:00-4:30 – Small babies – I am beginning realize how fragile their egos are. Nigel is still irritated at me and won’t give me the time of day. When he shoots past in the circuit of play, he is as likely to bite me as to say hello. It sort of hurts my feelings, but it also offers me time to get to know others like Goku and Oros. I have decided to play it cool with Nigel and let him approach me.

Outside of our cage were two female gazelles. I will have to get a book of African wildlife so I can determine the proper names of everything I will see!

4:30 – Ship – This is where a team of three cleans the three hoks for the tinies, smalls and medium babies. With rake, broom and shovel and hose, we take out all the left over food and straw and then wash down the 2 enclosures that have drains. The tinies does not have a drain so we just sweep and shovel in there. All this is being done with the occupants racing around and leaping on your from above. After we have all the stuff gathered, we carry it in buckets around the corner and down and spread it on the ground for the wild troops to pick through.

In the Tinies enclosure there is a gap in the roof cover and the medium pen has a platform above our heads. It is not uncommon to be walking underneath the space and be peed, pooped or barfed on, or have your hair pulled. Some times it is only milk being spilled from one of the bottles. That is when you are lucky.

It was a weird energy day for me again. LET GO LET GO LET GO keeps being my lesson.

THANK YOU UNIVERSE FOR THIS TRIP AND FOR THE WILDLIFE VIEWING OPPORTUNITIES TODAY! I LOOK FORWARD TO WHAT I WILL SEE TOMORROW.

Wednesday, August 30

VIBES Card – Take your time.

My laundry day – YAAH! And just in the nick of time. I had rinsed out my pants for the last three days, but they were beginning to have a life of their own.

Schedule
7:00 Medium Babies – This also includes moving the troop outside and most are very anxious to get out. I was gnawed on by all of them and I have many new scrapes and bites before the morning was out. Today my special friends were Violet, Jane and Basil, a very handsome male. Star from the smalls was being such a pistol to the new girls, that Sara put her in the with mediums. She did one circuit screaming and then launched into my lap and hide under my right arm under my jacket. Occasionally, Kim would call her and she would go to the fence, finish the circuit and then scramble back into my jacket. My understanding is when she was returned to her pen, she was much calmer and nicer to everyone else.

9:00 Crates – Not too bad today, as the crates would have cabbage, carrots, bread, potatoes, apples. My machete technique is getting quite good, but I am still amazed where the blade falls considering where I am focusing.

10:00 Monitoring – We stopped by to see the samango’s again and my goodness, Charlie is handsome.

Their pen is right next to my biggest troop and I properly introduced myself to the sequestered male who had been agitated to see me before. He was friendly and kept showing me his butt. I told him it was a lovely butt and he seemed happy with that. During our time with the troops, Pam pointed out a hole in her pen that would allow the babies to entered one of the sequestered male’s pens. During our time, the workers went in to make the repair.

11-12:00 – Medium Babies – Sara gave them gummy treats! IS SHE HIGH? Why would you give pure sugar to a bunch of ADHD 2 year olds? It was funny to see them grab the treats and stick them in their cheek pouches and then grab more. The little girl I was holding, Jane, is very skittish and keeps getting chased, so she didn’t get any. Sara gave me some to hold back for her. I was pleased that she finally came to me and settled down enough to have her treats. Needless to say, after all that sugar, there was lots of energy and a fair amount of barfing going on. I really feel sorry for the ship people today.

1:00 - Bottles – No dramas here today.

2:00-4:00 – Small Babies – I am making friends with Roxie. She is a medium baby who had been a pet and had been abandoned by her human parents. She had been left chained around the waist and you can still see the band where the chain was. One of her back legs does not work well and she is very anxious and wants to be held a lot. She loves the tinies and is a great Auntie. She has not really have much to do with me, but today came over and finally sat next to me and rested her head on my shoulder. She was very unhappy with me when I had to leave. She has been carrying around little Zorro who is another special baby who does not bond with people especially well. When he does bond, he becomes absolutely hysterical when they leave. Roxie steps in and comforts them. But with her bad back leg and the weight of the baby, she labors around. Finally, I asked her to just settle next to me and keep still and rest, which she did for a while.

4:00 – Bottles – This is very similar to the 7am bottles with extras made for all the outlying cages. The added complication today was that in one of the outlying pens, a baby had managed to get through a hole in the fence and into another troops enclosure. Both troops were going crazy. Sara finally managed to get the baby back to the right troop. As all this is going on, Colin had been sighted and they have two pens rigged to capture him. They don’t want to dart him because once darted he will run and then they may not be able to find him. They will not euthanize him, but want to catch him and then determine if they will relocate him into the wild or keep him in an enclosure.

One of the new groups I came in contact with this afternoon is in the pen that is attached to the medium babies, called the Biggest babies. This troop is considerably bigger, heavier and livelier. 18 of the them and a high platform that they can hide in. By the end of our time, we had 16 bottles and the other two were up in the box on the platform. I was beginning to climb up and get them, but luckily, Pam lured them out and encouraged them to give up their bottles.

5:15 – Carry in the babies – remember all the gummy treats they all got? Did I forget to mention that the troops diet changes daily due to the availability of certain foods? Did I mention that today we began feeding red peppers? Can you guess what ended up all of my left leg as I was carrying Violet inside? Correct in one, diarrhea all down my left leg. Thank God I was cooking tonight because it means that I get the shower first!

Cook Dinner – Chili and chips – We have a cabinet full of flavored powdered soya products and I tested the chili one for lunch. It was fine so I add lots of bean, onions, and peppers and with sour cream and tortilla chips, it was almost like my chili at home.

I feel much calmer and more into this placement.

Thursday, August 31

Schedule

7:00 bottles - So much to do early in the day and as we were delivering the first shift of babies to the outside pens, Bennett told Sara that most of the other staff has quit as yesterday was pay day. Not great news, but with the volunteers, we should be able to get all the feeding done at least for today. One of the things that was new for me today was I had to cut up a bucket of food for Stevie. I thought he was blind, but I went to help Catarina by distracting him as she tried to get food in the door to him. I finally ended up feeding him a bottle through the cage to keep him occupied. He was so pissed when the food finally made it inside and barked at me. I told him that I hadn’t lied to him; he did get some of the bottle. My animal communication skills still need work.

Naked Guy used to receive medicine in the milk and still gets one bottle a day. He is even more handsome up close.

I had about 40 minutes of a break and took a cup of tea up to the upper deck and looked at the landscape and thought about how I was in AFRICA and feeling at peace with the world and myself. I find that I am stronger than I imagined I would be, but I can’t quite say how. I am amazed how I can be patient with these small creatures as they landed on my exposed stomach or head and pull my hair. I remember in the past when I was holding a human baby, if they grabbed at me and pinched, I would loose it. I really believe that this placement will help prepare me for Romania and the orphans. I watch them and they have so many traits that could be compared to human; their little egos, alliances and friendships, misunderstandings and makeup’s and physically, working through issues and problem solving solutions. They are a miracle and I am so pleased that I am here.

9:00-11:00 – Small Babies – I think I have discovered the pattern and the solution to making it through the day without a melt down with one of my little friends resulting in me getting bit. First thing in the morning, they are all working through the hierarchy including with the volunteers and that means some good-natured hello bites or tastes as they rush past. By not making is mean something, the day is much better for me and them. With this new realization, Nigel is back as my friend and as long as I wait for him to approach, which is usually later in the day, we are back to grooming and having a little cuddle. He is usually too busy playing and trying to be big in the morning to have time in his schedule for a cuddle. I am content to wait and let him dictate the pace. (Not bad, I have at least identified this lesson within one week of arriving!)

Roxie came over and had a little sleep on me. As I held her, I just cried as I thought about her previous abuse and her ability to trust again and to allow us in to her world.

Noon – Monitoring with Pam – Stopped by and said Hi to Charlie, the Samango, who is still incredibly handsome. Sindle troop was doing well today and they are fun to watch. I spent the rest of the time with Bip Bop troop and tried to recognize the key players. They were all eating when I arrived, so not much activity. It is a great time to determine seniority as the dominant animals eat first and the lower ranked wait until they are finished.

1:00-2:00 – Medium Babies – this group was slowing down for the day, and again, Star from the Small babies was banished to the Mediums to work on her getting along with others skills. She still screeched and spent the majority of her time in my lap. I spoke to her and told her this was her own doing. It was her choice to behave in her pen, or to come into this larger pen with the bigger babies. Sara said I should not baby her too much as she had to learn to make her way. She really was doing much better by the time Rita came up to the pen. Star had one more tiff and screamed which upset Rita and she said that we were not to change things without letting her know. (We had not done anything that Lee and Sara were unaware of, but she must have forgotten that she had been told about the possible switch the day before). I took Star back into smalls as I exited the pen.

I spent a half hour in the tinies pen to try and get them accustomed to me. As long as one of the surrogate mothers was in the pen, Icarus and Tortilla are happy to have me and they would count coo on me by running up, lip smacking, touching my foot or leg and then run away. Lynn, one of the newest surrogate mothers told me it took her three weeks to have them used to her. Good, I should be in like Flint in two more weeks.

I ended up going into Small babies at 2:00 because I offered to cover Pam in Smalls as she had not had a break earlier in the day. As Aletheia was arriving with the 2:00 pm bottles, she noticed Colin hanging around. She managed to lure him into the air lock around the biggest babies pen and he was captured. He was darted and will most likely live out his life in an enclosure at the center. He is not afraid enough of humans, in fact he is down right aggressive, to be releasable.
When Lee returns from Jburg, I think the decision will be made. We all breathed a sigh of relief as we had begun to move in groups and carry a stick wherever we went. Colin is incredibly smart and knew the schedule better than the volunteers, including the times and routes that we would take with bottles or buckets of food.

3:00-5:00 – Small Babies – I spent another hour in the tinies to give them more face time. At one point, in the medium pen, Alice, the pickpocket, had stolen the flip-flop from one of the new volunteers and would not give it back. (What anyone would be doing in flip-flops in these pens with the poo, dirt and the little fingers, I cannot imagine!) I spent time banging on the floor of the alcove above the tinies pen to try and get her to go back into the main pen where she could be caught and the shoe retrieved. When it was finally retrieved she was furious and shouted at all of us. Boy, They do not like being thwarted!

The wind was up and I had been peed on several times and I was getting cold. Luckily, Goku took a nap on my chest, which warmed me up. I am now able to recognize the alarm call, which is usually a single bark like sound. It is usually followed immediately by 5 small babies arriving on your lap, head or your waist. Alarm calls are not specific and the troops first inclination is to climb as high as possible, which usually means you!

After the Goku nap, finally Roxie can back by for another cuddle and nap. She has been mothering two of the little guys Mr. Stubbs and Zorro and she will be penned overnight with them from now on. Her back leg seems to be getting worse, which may be a function of her being more active in the Small Babies pen then she was in the Medium pen. My understanding is that she will be going to the vet for an X-ray on her hips. Not sure when that will happen.

Friday, September 1 – Week one anniversary.

Today is the start of week two for me. I find that I am becoming more tired and finding 6:15 a little early these days. I end up waking up during the night and having a hard time getting back to sleep.

Schedule

7:15 – Unload truck – I had assumed that this meant a feed truck was coming, but it was unloading Lee’s truck who had returned from Jburg the prior evening. She had taken a wild baboon in for cataract surgery. She had brought back lots of milk powder, dog food, t-shirts and assorted treats for the baboons. As two of the new girls and I began to pile in the stuff in the world’s oldest and heaviest wheelbarrow, we were accosted by baboons who made off with one bag of dog food. At that point, we loaded our arms instead of the wheelbarrow and toted the stuff to the kitchen. The milk powder was very heavy, so Lee ended up moving the truck a little closer to the kitchen. The two girls were a little slow to jump in, so I took on the task of job assignments. I realized after the fact that I had the directions for Lee about what needed to happen and had neglected to explain the plan properly to the crew. I apologized to them once I had realized my non-communication. We finally had it done just before 9:00.

9:00-10:00- Medium Babies – no dramas, no fights, no screaming and no visitation by Star from the Smalls.

10-Noon – Feed – I had been assigned to help with the feeding of the enclosures with the lack of staff, but Sara canceled it. Apparently, there were enough people to handle it. So I had two hours on my hands. I decided to work on my monitoring logbooks to try and get a handle on my bigger troop. Aletheia found me reading and asked if I would like to accompany her to he river to take pictures. It was my first time to go to the river and in the middle of the day, there wasn’t much wildlife to be seen. I know that the next time I go, I will take not only my camera but also my binoculars.

1:00-3:00 – Small Babies – Again, no dramas, no major fights, not much screaming and no bites for Kirsten who had had a run-in with Star earlier in the day. The funniest things that happened was that Roxie, our surrogate Auntie, during an alarm call, dropped her young charge, Zorro, head first into the water trough. He came up sputtering and finally screaming until she retrieved and comforted him. Not a very good Auntie to jettison your charge during an emergency - (rather like a kangaroo mum!)

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3:30-4:30 – Monitor- Nothing new to report, except that I finally got to sit and observe my larger troop and work out who was who. They still have lots of places that I can’t see if I sit, but if I move around, I get a pretty good view of everyone.

4:30 – Ship – Not one of my most favorite tasks, as we have to clean the three hoks and two of them still have inhabitants as we are trying to clean. Not the most efficient way to work, but we got it done.

We had been told to keep a look out for a young sub-adult female who was carrying a tiny baby. It appears that the mom must have died and the sister or aunt is carrying it around. The “new” mother does not have milk for the baby and if we cannot locate her and get her into custody, the baby will die. The other dilemma is that the “new” mother will most likely shriek when we take away the baby, which will cause the entire troop to descend in support of the screecher. No sign of her by the end of the day.

As I looked at my schedule for tomorrow, I have been designated as housemaster for the week. This means that I follow up on the four areas of the house that are to cleaned daily. I will also be working to clean up the shower area and distribute or get rid of all the extraneous clothing on the clothesline during the weekend.

Both Saturday and Sunday, we will be light two people, as they will be taking a daylong visit to Kruger Park. I will also be doing this on one of my weekends. I look forward to the trip away from the center as I will be in clean clothes and won’t have to wear my contacts for day.

Saturday, September 2

Schedule

7:00 – Bottles – I got to feed Naked Man today, who is one of my favorite guys. As you may remember, he has a condition and has lost all of his hair, which makes him appear very chiseled and lean. Very Handsome.

7:45-9:00 – Small babies – The early shift finds them interested in letting off steam, playing an eating, but Nigel came over at one point for a little grooming.

9:00- Crates – Easy today with only apples and sweet potatoes to handle.

10:00 Monitoring – Remember yesterday when I was scheduled for feeding but it was cancelled? Well, today I was not scheduled for feeding but they needed us, so I carried crates and stuffed food through the holes in the cages for the individual animals. Sara did not want everyone to do it as the males are very unpredictable and one volunteer was silly enough to put his entire hand through the opening and ended up with plastic surgery on his thumb. It was exhausting in the heat and hard on my wrists. By the end, I got some electrolytes and rested until my next shift.

TODAY I CLEANED OUT THE SHOWER OF ALL THE EXTRANEOUS BOTTLES. YAAH!

12-1:00 – Medium babies – At one point, all the babies where at my side of the fence looking out at something, that I could not see. Finally, I turned to see what they were watching and it turned out to be a 12-inch long snake, silver and moving away from the cage. One of the guys was passing and I asked him to handle it. He killed it and when I asked what kind it was, he said dangerous. Later, Lee said that she would not have killed it and moved it into the bush. The African’s assume each snake is a bad one and don’t give it the benefit of the doubt.

2:00-3:00 – Dogs – I brought all the dogs up to the house and spent the time organizing the pantry, ready for additional rat proof containers. Lots of rat poop!

3:00-5:00 – Small babies – I was pulled early out of this in order to help with 4pm bottles. During the bottles, I got to feed more of the adult’s bottles through the bars. They are very sweet, but I am not sure why such large animals are still getting milk.

I am finally in the swing of this place, but understand why some of the people that are leaving soon and counting down the days. The work is alternately physically difficult and there are inconsistencies of preparedness and procedures that can be frustrating at times. I can also see why this place gets into your blood, because the babies are delightful, except for the biting, and how it can consume your entire life.

The ladies that went to Kruger today saw lots of elephants, giraffes, impalas and hoofed species, hippos, zebras but no carnivores. I am looking forward to the time that I will get to go, especially as it will be a day with no contacts!

My contacts are really working better than I expected even without sunglasses, but my eyes are tired and I feel that I look exhausted. HMMMM?

I found by the end of the day that my right wrist was feeling jammed again. My masculine side again and I find that when others under do, I overdo. It was probably a combination of carrying four crates at one time and the tug-a-war with the baboons in the largest enclosure for the turquoise shirt. I will learn eventually to let it flow and let it go.

Sunday, September 3

It was lovely to be able to lie in for another hour and have the house essentially to myself before I went off to clean up. I took a cup of tea up to my room to get ready. I went off to my first assignment feeling refreshed and balanced.

We were down Pam today as she accompanied Lee to the release site to retrieve one of the females. The baboon is not with the pack and is therefore not being groomed and finding food on her own. She keeps coming back to the two people who are monitoring the troop. If she does not stay with the troop, she will die, therefore they will retrieve her.

8:00 - Clean up - It went much easier today with three of us and we were even finished early.

9:00 – Medium Babies – I realized today that I prefer these babies in the afternoon after they have gotten rid of most of their extra energy.

10:00 – Feed – Frustrating and hot again without sufficient people to get it done in an hour. One of our feeders had diarrhea and had to leave for at least half of the shift. We finally called in Aletheia to take up the slack and she could carry and feed which helped us tremendously.

11:00 – 1:00 – Small Babies – I was 20 minutes late for this shift but I had a wonderful time with the little guys. They are my favorite and I know them all and their little personalities. Even Star is coming up and getting hugs and cuddles and is nicer to everyone in the pen.

2:00 – 3:00 – Medium Babies – Another anxious hour with the whirling dervishes and one with a piece of glass in his mouth. At one point, I was frustrated with 4 on my head or hanging on my hair and I abruptly stood up and dumped the one in my lap rather hard on the deck. Poor baby! The piece of glass finally ended up in Caley’s mouth, and I finally managed to get it out of her.

3:00-4:00 – Monitor – without Pam as she was going on a pick up from the release site.

I went around to my monitoring spot and checked in with Sindle troop, with the yellow baboons and then on to Bip Bop. Almost immediately, I thought I saw a new baby in the pen. I kept counting the ever-moving assortment of heads and finally came up with 17 twice in a row. I consulted my list and sure enough, two days ago it was only 16. This is the troop that I don’t have as good a handle on and it took me a while to determine which female it was. From the previous person’s notes, it appeared that Eye’s Mom was pregnant. I had done a swelling assessment on each pen two days ago to try and get a better feel for the females. As I have had a difficult time seeing each of them daily, I am finally going on vaginal swelling size to determine who is who. Sure enough, it was Eye’s Mom. I AM AN AUNTIE! I get to name the baby, but I don’t want to rush into just any name. I wanted to quickly go and tell Sarah about the baby, but I had just started my shift. So I took notes for 55 minutes and then rushed back to the milk kitchen. Sarah and I went back out to the pen and she said due to the presence of the umbilical cord, the baby was most likely born late last night or early this morning.

Charlotte and I were cooking dinner and we took the beans left over from last night and made baked potatoes. Simple and early dinner. Just as well, I am pooped and want to sleep.

Entry # 28 B – Second week with baboons

Monday, September 4

7:00 Mediums
9:00 Crates
10:00 Monitor
11:00 Mediums
1:00 Bottles
3:00 Kitchen
4:00 Bottles

An overcast day with a little breeze that was a nice change from the cold nights and hot, warm days recently. I did not put on sun block today.

The new baby in Bip Bop is doing well. I still have not settled on an appropriate name for her. I am feeling much more comfortable with this troop and identifying the individuals.

I have not started taking any photographs. I need to start soon, but I am having a hard time figuring out how to capture what I am experiencing. Not even a video could capture the total experience.

Several things happened today, which were unexpected.

First, I have a roommate – Verena from Germany. I was unaware that more people were coming and I am not sure why I got her versus the other bedroom that has spare beds. She seems nice, is older and has already done a volunteer placement in Swaziland two years ago. I think she will be fine.

The infant baboon baby that was being carried by a sub adult was finally visible to the kitchen staff. The only problem with this situation is that a sub adult will not be able to feed an infant that young and the hope was that we could get the baby into out custody and start feeding her. This pair had been spotted several days ago, but they were never in a position to be caught and we knew that we would have only one chance, as the troop might descend on the rescuer if there was too much alarm given. There was a little discussion about how best to catch her and Lee spread corn and peanuts all over the area, so that the troop would be distracted. Bennet was ready with the dart and it was hoped that as soon as she was darted, she would drop the baby. Then the plan was to catch the baby and get it inside as soon as possible.

Once she was darted, she disappeared like a shot and went far up into the property. At one point, the sub adult was asleep and had let go of the baby, but before Lee could get the baby, a huge male from the troop took up the baby. They left and were planning to try again later but a few hours later, the sub adult was back awake with the baby, but the baby was obviously dead. The group felt sad and yet realized that the chances of the baby living within our care was jeopardized by the length of time that she had been without her mother. Nature sometimes appears cruel.

The last thing was that I did not have any time with the small babies today and I missed them terribly. I had two individual hours with the mediums and I felt very beaten up by them. Both hours were before noon when they are at their most active. I was bit and had my hair pulled and unfortunately, they got me on both shins within one minute of each other. OUCH!

I also made large inroads in the volunteer laundry and the freezer clean out in preparation for the shopping to be done tomorrow. No one has said much about it, but I feel I have done well and am pleased with the results.

Tuesday, September 5 – Lynn’s 23rd birthday, bbq, goodbye Sara.

7:45-9:00 Smalls
10:00 Lower Deck
11:00 Bottles
1:00-3:00 Nursery babies
3:00 Monitor
4:00 Mediums

Sara, the American girl from Virginia who goes to Ohio State and who had a bout of major diarrhea and feels she is leaving Africa with intestinal worms, left today. She lived next door with Lynn and spent my first week in bed watching DVD’s and drinking Energyaid (similar to Gatorade).

It was lovely to be back with the small babies. They all stopped by for a little hello and cuddle and Paprika even had her first massage and nap.

As I had mentioned, my mission is to contribute to the areas that caused me concern or which benefited me when I arrived – the communal food organization, the shower, the laundry line and the extra clothes. Today, with the laundry line empty for the first time in weeks, I was able to clean the lower deck as assigned. YAAAH!.

Bottles at 11 showed me that after 10 days on location, I still did not have all the details in my head. I had made larger than necessary bottles for the small babies and fed them in the wrong order. Not that much of deal, except if you give them the food first, they have no interest in the bottles. Early on, Sara had asked if I had any suggestions about their set up for volunteers, and I will bring up this topic.

SIX ELEPHANTS! They were drinking at the river and when I had them in my binoculars, I could hear their sounds from where I was. Without seeing them, I don’t believe the sounds that they were making would have registered to my ears.

I spent some time with Charlie, the Samango, and I can now recognize his unique call. He is still incredibly handsome, which I tell him, every time I see him. I

I have been trying to figure out how to describe the call that the large male baboons make when they are excited. It sounds like WAHOO with an emphasis on the WAH and the hoo is very much an after thought.

I also make a special effort to say Hi to Naked Guy every time I pass him and tell him he is handsome, the meer cats (2 of them and very cute) and the ground squirrel.

FOSTER MOMS And the TINIES

Currently, we have four ladies who are acting as foster mom’s to the tiniest babies; Lee, who is staff, with Elle (who is long and elegant and only 10 weeks of age), Sarah, who is staff, with Icarus and Tortilla (Icarus is 11 weeks, Tortilla is 10 weeks), Kim with Corey (who is 4 weeks) and our birthday girl, Lynn with Mica (4 weeks). People who stay a longer time receive babies to foster, as you need to spend lots of time with them early. Both, Lynn and Kim are staying at least two months. When the tinies are 6 months, they may be ready to go into an existing baby pen. This group, if more babies come, may become their own troop and the current older pens may move up.

There is one pen that we call the nursery and typically, each of the foster moms will spend several hours in the pen watching all the babies. The mom’s that are not there will leave a shirt of sweater with their scent so that if the baby stresses when they are away, they can lay on it and smell the mom. When the baby is really stressed they will flatten themselves on the shirt as much as possible. When the babies are with us in the house, they all wear little preemie nappies with a hole cut in the butt for the tail to stick out. When they are in the pen, most of them go without diapers. They are very cute with the little nappies on.

Early in the relationship, the foster mom and baby are on light duties so that babies can bond with the mom. At this point, the schedule looks a little out of balance, but when you consider that they are up, sometimes all night with a baby who wants to play, you soon realize that any extra work that comes your way is easier than what they go through in the beginning. Lynn lives next door to me and the walls are not solid, but I almost never hear the baby during the night.

Today, was my first day to really spend time with the nursery babies. They generally have stranger anxiety until they get to know you and for the first hour, they did a perimeter check and gave me a wide berth. Finally, with Alethia, who they knew a little better, they were finally coming over to me and counting coo. A new foster baby arrived today at 6 weeks of age and Pam is the new foster mom. She has named him Kiyoshi in honor of her grandfather. By the second hour, Lee arrived with the lady who brought in Kiyoshi and finally, little Icarus was coming over and flopping on the

Miscommunication with Sara from staff today about my final assignment with Medium Babies. The third person for ship was in small babies and I offered to trade with her for a while so that they could do ship. I also admit, that I prefer the smalls, but I intended to go back as soon as they had finished in the medium’s pen.

Today was had a BBQ for Lynn’s birthday which would include chicken, corn on the cob and sausage on an wood fire pit BBQ. Before the BBQ, Sarah asked Gemma and I to go get the crate from the mamba kitchen. It was getting dark so off we went with our flashlight to find it. We came back empty handed and were told to look for a rectangular grate with legs on it. We went back again and were still empty handed. Luckily, Lee arrived and said it was in a different location and it did not have feet. Ah! Communication.

I was on dish clean up tonight which was a large number of dishes, but as I not had many shifts as this, I felt it was fair. I had lots of people wanting to help me, so they did my part of clearing the table and putting things away, the part of clean up that I don’t like.

Wednesday, September 6

7:00 Bottles
7:45-9:00 Small Babies
10:00 Monitor
11:00 Upper Deck and lounge
1:00 Medium Babies
4:30 Ship

Pam was in the throws of new mommydom, so I monitored by myself. Other workers were in the area feeding the pens, so they were stirred up as where the wild troop. At one point, two big males came chasing down the narrow corridor I was standing in and the first one grabbed at my pocket. Another example of how they are wild animals and never to be taken for granted. The nice thing about seeing the troops when they are fed is that you get a better handle on the dominance order of the groups. I am still trying to figure out by the amount of swellings and the colors if I can determine which of the females may be pregnant or at the peak of heat. Two more weeks to work it out.

Today I had the lounge clean up which is where most of the communal clothes are kept. I took them all out before I vacuumed and organized them into what needed to be pitched, laundered and what was ready for storage. In the chest of drawers, the clothes all needed to be laundered and they drawers vacuumed to remove the tons of rat turds. Another thing on my list accomplished. I just need to keep up with the clothes that are left by other departing volunteers and let Lee and Sara know where I have put things.

The vacuum! It is a shop vac and I had a bit of a time figuring out how to make the thing suck. I finally realized that there is only one way to place the top so that it seals and has a vacuum. With help from above with those with wings, I finally had it in place and began to vacuum. I was so enthusiastic; I managed to break the bit of attachment for the largest carpet head. I am now trying to remember where I hid the duct tape from myself so that I can repair it. I will tell Lee tomorrow.

Even with not much sleep last night due to the late evening and the soon to be full moon, I had a good day.

Thursday, September 7

8:00 Clean up
9:00 Crates
10:00 Medium Babies
11:00 – 2:00 Break and signs
2:00 Monitor
3:00 Small Babies
4:00 Bottles

Let’s see, besides hitting a co-volunteer in the head with a rock, not much else happened today. It was when we were giving Big Babies their bottles, and they are notorious for escaping into the tree house with bottles and nipples and not giving them back, that I pitched a rock to encourage one to drop the bottle and caught Catarina on the side of the head. No blood and she was very generous to accept my apology.

We are still having issues with Star in Small Babies, our ADHD candidate, who is becoming very aggressive with the other cages and getting herself bitten and therefore bites us. We have been told when she bites, we are supposed to hold her close and give her positive attention and/or try to distract her with grooming, cuddles or food. As I entered the pen, she was on the ledge being pulled by 4 from the medium babies. When I finally got her away, I took her over to the water pool and tried to calm and hug her. She did not bite me, but fought to get away. Immediately, she was back up the tree and doing it again. I retrieved her again and offered her a potato. Once down on the ground, she went up for the third time and I went to retrieve her and this time, once given food, she settled and began to eat and play with the others.

She was fine for another 25 minutes, and then she had one more trip up to intimidate the neighbors, so I brought her back down and offered her a potato. Finally, when she was playing with others, I gave her the play face and she jumped at me and I swung her around and played for a minute. I think she will be fine if she can just continue to receive consistent treatment from the volunteers. My estimation of Star is that she is highly anxious, is nervous with too many people in the pen, is typical ADHD and easily distracted and that you have got to think ahead for her, because she acts off her spinal cord. Most of the more experience volunteers know when and how to intervene, but the new people are still intimidated and do more screaming than effective movements. If people cannot handle her appropriately, they will not be able to monitor the small babies.

Kim, one of our volunteers who has ADD, told me the following joke – How many ADHD does it take to change a light bulb? Let’s ride bikes!

There was a bit a drama for one of the young volunteers from the UK who was taking it personally that the baboons would not come to her to be cuddled or carried in at the end of the day. I remember feeling that way with human babies and I know now that you cannot force them. They will pick who they pick and they will come to people that they know and people with calm energy. Making them wrong and announcing to one and all what a failure you are will not turn the situation around.

The new item on the list for me today was putting up the newly painted signs on some of the individual cages. I had the signs, but needed the handsaw, drill and adapter with power to accomplish my task. I also had several, but not enough, pieces of wire, and pliers to twist the ends together. (NOTE TO SELF – Don’t tell people that you know how to work with wire!) It took a while to gather all the supplies and glean additional bits of wire needed to hold them to the fence. The drill had a bit with the longest shank I have ever seen. After all was said and done, I realized that I had miscounted and had forgotten to do the sign for Colin. At least tomorrow, I know where all the equipment is and should be able to do it quickly given an hour off from my regular scheduled duties.

Also today, Josephine, the cleaner who works for Rita, came up to the Mountain Lodge and gave the kitchen a really good clean. Around lunchtime, Rita came up with I think the architect who will remodel the lodge for future volunteers. I can’t wait to see or hear about all the improvements. I hope they figure out a way to get rid of the rats, which is my main issue at this point.

I am at the stage of this placement where I am feeling the strain of the community and never being able to get away from them. Chain link fences surround all of our houses and areas and you begin to wonder, who is in the cage. We are not encouraged to go into the bush with out company as we are in a game reserve that includes all the wildlife, even the carnivores. I have been here for 14 days and have not had even a half - day off, and I most likely will not get one, except for the day excursion to Kruger one weekend. I find the age and inexperience of some of the volunteer team a challenge. I keep asking for a new way at looking at things and the words that will get my needs met without burning any bridges. This will be my mantra for the next two weeks.

Friday, September 8

7:00 Bottles
8:00 Dogs
9:00-11:00 Small babies
12:00 Lower deck
1:00 Medium Babies
2:00 Monitor
3:00-5:00 – Nursery Babies

Another breezy, overcast day which was nice.

Not a lot new today. Josephine has been designated at the manager for the Mountain Lodge. Yesterday she totally cleaned the kitchen and it is a sight to see. Today she attacked the lower deck with hose and scrub brush. She ended up doing my assigned duties for Noon so I took the time to finally get Colin’s sign up on his cage. I could not find the drill and suspected that Bennet had it with him. Cleverly I brought the sign with me and sure enough, he had the drill and a power source. Colin’s sign went up in less than 15 minutes. YAAAH! Completion.

The Tinies still do no more than come up and touch me, but I have hope by the time that I leave they will accept me.

Star is still having issues, but we have noticed that she is not the instigator, just a willing participant. The other pen gets up at the grill, usually 5-6 of them, and flash their eyes and she responds. I had to remove her 9 times before she finally settled. She ended up really biting me, so I pined her down, and within 5 minutes had forgiven me and was back on my lap with a potato.

Tomorrow, I was supposed to cook, so I was planning how to get the noodles cooked for tuna noodle casserole during the day. What I learned at dinner was that we were going to be treated to a proper South African Bri (BBQ) so I am off the hook to cook until Monday.

I go to Kruger with Charlotte on Sunday that will be a welcome break from work and CARE for one day. I won’t have to wear my contacts that will be good as my eyes are getting a little tired. One more day of work and then my first photo safari!

Saturday, September 9

7:45 Small Babies
9:00 Crates
10:00-11:00 Medium Babies
11:00 Bottles
Noon Monitor
1:00 Dogs
2:00-3:00 Medium Babies
3:00 Tidy crates
4:00 Bottles

Hello to Alice from Toronto today.

Long day today with lots of things to do. Two shifts of medium babies with the standard two Violet and Caley vying for my lap. Violet was named because her face was so bruised by the mom dropping her from height before they managed to get her away. My second shift found them both on my lap, Violet napping and Caley being ridiculous until she finally bit a co-volunteer and then 7 minutes before my shift was up, finally fell asleep on my chest. Just as I was leaving I had four, two asleep and two trying to be groomed or massaged. One of them was Alice, the pickpocket and chubby girl. I try to tell them to get in early to get their massages but some times their schedules are such that they cannot manage it.

Huge monitor lizard walked down the hill between the lower house and cages towards the river. Four times the size of the ones on Kangaroo Island. Very impressive and the baboons thought so too and they all went to the side of the cage where they could see him. They are very curious and nosey and know what is going on around them at all times.

Monitoring today by myself with no dramas. Charlie is still handsome and I have officially named the two babies, one in each troop. The one in Sindle that had been born 10 days before I arrived is Elf and the new baby in Bip Bop is Button. Both little girls and mighty sweet.

A list of things that the baboons will be offered to eat include sweet potato, bell peppers, bread, apples, cabbage, melon or pumpkin and occasionally other assorted fruits and veggies. In the milk kitchen there are also peanuts, hard corn kernels, nuts and sometimes little candies such as gummy worms. Also in the milk kitchen are eggs (19 twice a day) that are filled with vitamin supplements and are given to the elderly baboons.

The new item on the list today was tidy the crate area or the food shed area. As we receive different foodstuffs on a daily basis, there are usually different food scrapes on the floor. Today we were raking up the huge outer cabbage leaves and bread remnants. Those were loaded into crates and then taken outside the compound and given to the wild troop to eat.

After that task, we had a mountain of boxes to be cut down and stacked neatly. It was obvious that this procedure had not been done in a long time and in fact, there is a huge garbage pile to be taken to the dump as soon as the schedule will allow. My co-volunteers were not enthusiastic participants in the box destruction, as we would unearth large cockroaches and other crawlies. (IF THEY WOULD WEAR CLOSE TOED SHOES INSTEAD OF FLIP FLOPS, IT WOULD BE HELPFUL!) We made a small dent in the pile and there will most likely be more tidy assignments in the future.

I am pooped today after work and grabbed the first shower and threw away my disposal contacts that I have been wearing for two weeks. YAAAH!

Tonight is the bbq called a Braai and include Pap, the corn maize mush that is standard South African fare. I had hoped for an early night, as I will be on the road at 6:30 tomorrow for my first photo safari! We will see.

Gemma leaves tomorrow when I am away and Alethia leaves on Monday. Alethia has been down and out for the past two days with a stomach bug but hopes to be back in action tomorrow. I will miss both these ladies, as they are very positive people and excellent workers

Sunday, September 10 – DAY OFF AND I GO TO KRUGER AND DON’T HAVE TO WEAR MY CONTACTS! YAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!

Hello to Leilani from Moscow, Idaho today.

6:30 am start

I was up at 6 to be ready to be picked up at 6:30 by Davi, our guide who is also a local volunteer at CARE.

We had been warned that it might be cool, so I wore my fleece and took my jacket. I did not need the later and was out of my fleece at 9:00 am. Our vehicle was an old jeep with canvas cover over the roll bar. The front passenger seat was very comfortable and included a sheepskin. The back seat had a seat about 8 inches deep with an extra cushion on top trying to make it longer and failing miserably. Charlotte and I agreed to change at each of the four planned stops, mainly to relieve the bum, but also to increase your chances of seeing things as the view from the back was minimal to the front and limited at the sides.

We stopped at the petrol station for the ATM and to stock up on treats for the trip. Once we were in Kruger, we would not be able to get out of the vehicle except at the designated stops. Kruger is a 50,000 hectares park that runs along the Eastern perimeter of South Africa near Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Recently, Mozambique added another 40, 000 hectares for a combined park. Admission was $120 rand, not quite $20.

The first things that I noticed was the number and size of the termite mounds. They are huge, twice the size of the ones in Australia. Davi said that they were grass-cutting termites and that the mound is like an iceberg with only the top 1/3 above ground. He also said that many animals use the mounds for various things including the elephants that will rest next to them and lean on them so that they can sleep standing and supported. Very impressive.

My wish was to see elephants, giraffes, zebras, hippos and as many other things as possible. The “Big 5”, from the Great White Hunter Days is the Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Cape Buffalo and the Rhino. There is also the “Small 5” which is the Lion???, Leopard Tortoise, Elephant ???, Buffalo???? and the Rhinoceros Beetle. (Not much hope of seeing any of them, but who knows!)

On the way to the first stop we saw 13 bachelor African Elephants. They are truly the most amazing animals. Magnificent and huge, elegant and slow moving, it was fascinating to see their tracks on the road and on the dirt shoulder and to watch their hind feet hit the exact same spot that their front foot as just left. I wished we had the chance to just sit and watch them, but not today. Charlotte, who had been in Botswana last year, had already done a safari and was excellent at spotting animals in the bush. She spotted our first giraffe across the river and the only zebras we saw for the entire day were far off and in the bush. I could not see them properly and they only appeared as dark figures, could have been zebra, could have been deer.

Davi told us that there are over 100,000 Impala in Kruger and they are the main food source for all the carnivores. We came across them all during the day, usually in small groups hiding in the shade. It was 32 degrees Celsius today, hot and very sunny.

Our first stop was at a one of the “camps” which is a fenced compound with a shop, restaurant and little huts with air conditioners that people can rent like hotel rooms. It looked very civilized and a little commercial. It had a large shop with lots of souvenirs and foodstuffs, as people had a choice of self-catering or eating at the restaurant. I took a picture of the stands of the plant “mother’s in laws tongue” that people buy in the shops in the US. I got in the back at this point.

As we proceeded down the road, I could tell that there were some large, dark animals in front of us. They turned out to be four very large Cape Buffalo Bulls. Known for the nasty temper, we weren’t sure if they would charge us or not, but they ended up posing for photos and then moving along the side of the road.

As we went down yet another bumpy dirt road towards an overlook over the Oliphant’s River (which is the same river that runs next to CARE), we finally came upon a female elephant herd with several calves and two large males, one obviously in Muste with the glands on his head draining. Davi was not comfortable with the bull so we moved. There were several cars that were getting way to close for comfort and Davi told us the time that he was in a seriously dangerous situation with an elephant and her calf. I must admit, I wanted to be able to stop and stay put and just enjoy them for a long time. I could hear them eating and munching and it was a soothing sound. Maybe when I am at the Lion Park, I will be able to go on another safari and we will have more time to spend in one place.

I asked Davi to point out the two most famous trees that I have heard so much about – the acacia and the baobab tree. The Acacia was just beginning to bloom and you can usually tell them apart and they are the ones with the amazingly long and sharp thorns. The Baobab tree has a massive trunk and branches that at this time of the year look absolutely bare. All the animals know that this a tree that can be a resource for them and the elephants love to eat the bark as well as the leaves. Very impressive

We were on the hunt along the river for the hippos. They can sometimes be seen by CARE, but only when the water is deeper with many pools for them to bath in. As we approach one river lookout, there they were! 4 hippos, one getting a sun tan and flat out on her side on the beach, one in the water and heading away from us and two that were climbing out of the water an beginning to graze. They were very cute and I was so happy to see them.

We were close to out lunch break at another camp with a high river lookout. As we exited the jeep, I heard a sound and wondered what I had heard. As I went around the jeep, it turned out to be Charlotte who was ill and very likely suffering with either dehydration or many a minor tummy upset due to too many baboon fingers in her mouth. Poor sweetie. She felt embarrassed and awful at the same time. We brought her bottled water and Gatorade and had her lay down in the shade on a bench.

Davi and I got a little lunch and I bought postcards and then went to over look the river. At one point, there were more hippos in view. One that I could only see the ears, eye sockets and nostrils. I think he was winking at me.

On the whole, the animal sightings that we saw were minor compared to what they can be on other days. Unfortunately, with only one day in the park, we were only able to see what we saw.

Charlotte in the front as we left the lunch stop, which I said was fine, but that I was not willing to spend the entire rest of the trip in the backseat. As Charlotte was in the front, I asked her to please draw giraffes closer to the car for us, as I had not been able to get a good shot of the only one we had seen so far. Within 5 minutes, two lovely Giraffes, on my side of the vehicle, were munching and posing for photos. FABULOUS!

After that, I asked Charlotte to please do the same thing with the zebra. No luck with zebra, but we did have positive sightings of a huge elephant herd on the horizon, a lovely Kudu buck with curling horns and very close sightings of the Yellow Beaked Hornbill and the African Fish Eagle.

Our final stop and potty break was at a location where guides sometimes bring you to a sight were there are archeological remnants of iron ore processing and spearhead manufacturing. The local guide had closed up shop for the night, but it was nice to potty and to finally get back into the front seat. On the door to the toilet, it asked you to please keep the door closed, as the baboons are very curious. I looked at the handle and after my experience at CARE now that it will take more than a closed door to keep them out.

No additional animals spotted on the way out of the park but we did see three stripped mongooses on the road up to CARE and a tree squirrel like we have at the center. We arrived back at CARE at 5:20 pm we are pooped and hot.

As I got back to my room, I looked at the calendar and I realized that although it is hard to believe, that I leave in 11 days.