Home Sweet Home (8-13)

Well, I've made it back to Texas and it's good to sleep in my own bed again! Sorry I wasn't able to update my blog at all while I was gone but I hope you still enjoy seeing what I was up to the past month. I've certainly learned a lot! I've slept with a giraffe, caught an owl, befriended a crow, plucked and cut up a whole chicken (that was pleasant), bathed a serval, built cages and met a lot of wonderful people. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers and if you want any more details about my trip, let me know! I'll leave y'all with a few more pictures.

I unfortunately do have a bit of sad news as well. Duke (the giraffe) passed away on Wednesday from tick bite fever. He will be forever loved and missed.

Messing with Kevin the wild ostrich

MaloRee, Me, and Alice with the cats

George and I sunbathing


Wild Care Africa

Taking Duke for a walk

RIP Duke

London, again (8-12)

I managed to explore Heathrow a lot more this time around. Our flight was delayed from 11:40am to 3:20pm so I had time to eat a traditional English breakfast (minus the beans), drink a lot of tea, and take some pictures.

English breakfast

The door wouldn't open so I had to settle with standing next to it

Ridiculous chocolate bar

Giant cup of tea

8-11

This morning I finished packing, took a few more final photos, and said goodbye to everyone before heading to the airport. When we got to the airport we (MaloRee, Alice, and I) got to eat some real food and shop before getting on the plane for an 11 1/2 hour flight back to London.

Real Food (bacon cheeseburger and diet coke)

The castle where we lived

Nelson Mandela made out of beads at the Johannesburg airport

8-10

A cold front has blown through so it's been pretty chilly (about like a Texas winter). Two other girls and I leave tomorrow so we went around taking pictures and saying goodbye to the animals today. We were going to have another braai tonight but it's too windy so we made spaghetti instead.

Me on the balcony

Sunset

The bush baby eating yogurt


The mongoose like to snuggle when it's cold

8-8

We've been really busy lately because we keep getting more animals. Besides the animals we already had (servals, caracal, crow, chameleon, stripped pole cat, giraffe, barn owl, spotted eagle owls, sun conures, mongoose, and guinea fowl) we've gotten 2 porcupines, 3 leopard tortoises, 2 more barn owls, 3 more guinea fowl, and a bush baby since I've been here. Besides feeding all the animals, we have to keep their cages clean and make sure they don't get bored. Everyday we're divided into teams of 3 or 4 and assigned 4 or 5 animals to take care of. Some animals require more attention (like the cats and Duke) so usually everybody helps out with them.

Hydrating the leopard tortoises

Barney the barn owl

Trying to retrieve a serval from a tree

8-4

Today we went on another nature walk (we do one at least once a week). We look for spoor (tracks) and feces and try to identify them so we know which animals are in our area. Usually the mongoose join us on our walks as well. We didn't find many tracks today but we did find a wart hog skull.

Examining the spoor

Keeping the mongoose hydrated

Wart Hog Skull

8-3

Today we did lots of work to clear an area to build a new cat cage. We had to cut down trees and dig up stumps as well as deal with lantana (an invasive weed with sharp thorns). While we were working we found a wild chameleon. He was a lot bigger than George, our dwarf chameleon. We had another braai tonight as well (we usually have a couple every week).

Lantana

Before

After (it still needs to be covered in wire)

The chameleon we found

Hendrick at the braai pit

Kruger, part 2 (8-1)

Today we got to go back to Kruger Park and it was so worth getting up at 4am again. Right off we saw a White Rhino and her baby walking along the road. The baby was prancing around and rolling in the dirt and just generally being adorable. Then we saw a cheetah stalking impala, but he didn't catch any. We also saw a spotted hyena with her 2 sleeping pups. Right as we were leaving we also found a pride of lions lounging around. For lunch we stopped at an area in Kruger that was supposed to have peppermint pancakes that everyone raved about and I was exited cause I haven't eaten anything besides pasta and potatoes since I got here. As it turns out, when British or South African people talk about pancakes, they mean crepes (although they were still pretty good).

Some of the group at Kruger

Rhino with her baby (I have a video of it prancing as well, so cute!)

Spotted Hyena with her pups

Gorgeous full grown male lion (I really love his eyes)

7-30

Tonight we went for a moonlight walk then had a braai (or bbq). The other American (who happens to be MaloRee from Texas) and I taught everyone else how to make smores. A few of them had heard of smores but none of the Brits had made them before. However, we did have a few problems: they don't have Graham Crackers here (they hadn't even heard of them), no Hershey's chocolate, and the marshmallows have an odd flavor.

The Sun Conures eating their lunch (grated apple)

Hendrick (the volunteer coordinator) teaching us how to catch and weigh owls

The closest thing to smores ingredients we could find

7-27

This morning we went to a local produce grower to help out. We plucked flowers off tomato plants so they will grow taller and weeded and pruned a pepper patch. When we left they gave us a big bag of tomatoes to take home.

Greenhouse with the tomato plants

Weeding the pepper plants

7-25

Yesterday we got to go to a festival at a high school in Barberton. There was live music and lots of food. In the evening it got really crowded because a popular South African musician came (I can't remember his name but I think it started with a J). I also got to sleep outside with Duke again. On Wednesday, 10 of the girls are leaving and 9 new people will be here, so tonight we're having a little farewell party.

The festival was held on the rugby field at the school

The famous dude on stage

7-23

We got another new girl this week and today all but 5 of us went back to Kruger. Today I'm in charge of the Guinea Fowl and Sun Conures. Yesterday we gave the cats (2 Servals and a Caracal) a bath and they were not particularly happy about it. The Caracal (Azeke) had ringworm at one point so now most of the girls here have it as well (hand sanitizer is my new best friend). We also started building new owl and cat pens yesterday. This week we had a policeman from the endangered and protected species unit come talk to us about his work in stopping the smuggling of animal products. He also showed us how to make casts of footprints and showed us how his dog can sniff out things like rhino horn and elephant tusk. We also had a state vet come talk to us about preventing the spread of foot and mouth disease out of Kruger Park and working with the surrounding communities.

Azeke trying to eat my shoe

The Policeman and his dog

Bathing a Serval

7-18

This weekend has been really calm. All we have to do is feed and clean the animals and the rest is free time (during the week we have lectures or build things when not with the animals). Next week we have 3 people coming to talk to us (a vet, policeman, and Toby). I'm still trying to get the hang of everything and I've had a little more trouble understanding what everyone is saying than I thought I would (the are 3 Irish girls and the rest are English, besides the 2 people running it, who are South African).

Googoo (aka Mr. Crow). He can't fly because 1 wing is bigger than the other

Learning to shoot a dart gun

Feeding Duke, the orphaned giraffe

Kruger (7-16)

Today I spent the entire day at Kruger National Park. I had to get up at 4am so we could be there when the gates opened at 6am. We saw Impala, Elephants(!), Rhinos, Hippos, Cheetahs, Lions, Mongoose, Alligators, Kudu, Waterbuck, a whole bunch of birds, and a lot more.

Sunrise at Kruger

They were so close!

Me with our amazing guide Toby

Johannesburg (7-13)

The 10hr flight went pretty well, but I seriously felt like I was on the Hogwarts Express. I was surrounded by 2 British school groups and a rugby team and I swear Hermione was sitting across from me. At the Johannesburg airport I met another girl, Alex, who is also going to Khalula. We had a 4hr drive to the project but it didn't feel nearly that long. There are 13 girls here, but 1 is leaving tomorrow.

The view from the car on the way to Khalula

In Jolly Olde England (7-12)

I've made it to the land of Jane Austen, Tea and Crumpets, and large, confusing airports. My trek to the next terminal has been an adventure within itself (it involved escalators, elevators, and a train ride). Even though I have 10 hours to waste I'm tired and don't want to have to lug my suitcase around, so I'm parked in a cafe drinking tea. I'll have to come back and explore some other time. Also, it's only 64F here!