Woke up this morning to news that a piece Emily and I wrote while we were in Mangaung has just been published in the Bank Street Alumni Blog. By Monday we should be featured on the home page of the college's website, with a link to this blog. Pretty cool!
http://bankstreetcollege.wordpress.com/2011/09/16/report-from-south-africa/#more-1694
Also, we're still trying to raise money! We seem to have slowed down considerably, please pass the word! Thanks a lot for reading.
http://www.globalgiving.org/dy/fundraiser/prevfund/gg.html?regid=6298
Thanks!
Laura
Friday, September 16, 2011
Last Weekend #1
It has been another busy week at Daktari, and I've had a hard time fitting in time to update. Last weekend was very busy, and it was nice to get out of camp and do a bunch of different things. Saturday afternoon after our trip to town we headed towards Maholoholo to pick up Charlie, who was a volunteer there for two weeks after she left Daktari. Maholoholo is a huge game reserve that also has a rehabilitation center, where they take care of injured animals on a much larger scale than Daktari. They have lions, cheetahs, hyenas, wild dogs, and a huge assortment of birds. I will post about my tour at Maholoholo as my next post.
Greg, a friend of Ian and Michele, was our driver and tour guide for the weekend. "We" here refers to me and Andrea, the previously mentioned long-term volunteer who works in the office. With the constant revolving door of people in and out, we rely upon each other for consistent friendship. Anyway, Greg picked us up in town and took us towards Maholoholo, but we were early so we stopped at a restaurant/pub called The Upper Deck for a drink. As we were sitting and drinking, a woman came running in saying that there was a fire nearby that they weren't sure was intended (there are a lot of controlled burns, so sometimes it can be hard to tell). No one panicked, a few people went out to check it out, and then they came right back in. About five minutes later, someone else came in and let us know that it was an out-of-control fire heading our way. And STILL no one panicked. The general attitude was that there wasn't a lot anyone can do, and we'd get in our car and drive away if it got any closer. We went outside to look and saw the fire approaching, as the owner of the pub hosed down the perimeters of his property:
Greg, a friend of Ian and Michele, was our driver and tour guide for the weekend. "We" here refers to me and Andrea, the previously mentioned long-term volunteer who works in the office. With the constant revolving door of people in and out, we rely upon each other for consistent friendship. Anyway, Greg picked us up in town and took us towards Maholoholo, but we were early so we stopped at a restaurant/pub called The Upper Deck for a drink. As we were sitting and drinking, a woman came running in saying that there was a fire nearby that they weren't sure was intended (there are a lot of controlled burns, so sometimes it can be hard to tell). No one panicked, a few people went out to check it out, and then they came right back in. About five minutes later, someone else came in and let us know that it was an out-of-control fire heading our way. And STILL no one panicked. The general attitude was that there wasn't a lot anyone can do, and we'd get in our car and drive away if it got any closer. We went outside to look and saw the fire approaching, as the owner of the pub hosed down the perimeters of his property:
The fire did look pretty scary, although it ultimately didn't cross the hose-line:
Unfortunately the properties behind the restaurant were unattended, and the fire jumped onto one of their thatched roofs:
By this point all the neighbors were mobilizing, gathering barrels of water onto tractors and pick-ups. Once the thatch caught it was too late to save this house, but everyone went to work spraying the thatch on the house next door so it couldn't spread. They were lucky that the fire didn't jump across the road to either side, as there were some large houses, also with thatched roofs, just across the road. It was really interesting to see the community come together to fight this fire, as the municipal fire department was basically non-existent. We drove back the following day, after dropping Charlie at Maholoholo, and saw that the house had burned completely:
Overall it was a scary experience, but everyone agreed that it could have been much worse.
After I did the tour at Maholoholo and we picked up Charlie, we drove back to Daktari for dinner and to meet the new volunteers who had arrived (three new French and one American, for those keeping track). Sunday morning we woke up and ate breakfast, and then drove to a pub called The Trading Post to watch South Africa's first game of the Rugby World Cup. South Africa narrowly defeated Wales, in a relatively entertaining game. I'm trying to get into rugby as a surrogate for the NFL season, but it's not quite working. I still missed home a lot when I realized it was opening sunday of the NFL and also the ten year anniversary of September 11, and I had no one around to understand!
Next we drove to the Blyde River Dam, which is a beautiful area surrounded by mountains where there is a large reservoir. Here's Charlie, Andrea and I in front of the mountains:
We were able to take a short hike to a swimming hole with a waterfall, which apparently was very low because it hasn't rained in a few months. The water was FREEZING but it was beautiful and a lovely place for a picnic and relaxation away from camp:
After such a lovely weekend it was time to head back to camp and brief all the new volunteers on the week to come. Being South Africa, though, the ride home was full of interesting things to look at. The first phenomenon that needs to be documented are the "farm taxis" that carry 25-30 people in the back of a truck on their way home from work:
And this is on the highway. Greg was recently pulled over for not wearing his seatbelt - and was passed by a truck like this while he was being ticketed. It's a little bit ridiculous.
And finally, on our way back into Daktari, we saw the saddest thing. Two giraffes, a male and a female, talking to each other from the opposite side of two fences. They apparently do this often, and it's pretty heartbreaking. It's an old male and a younger female, so of course we hypothesized that they are either father/daughter or star-crossed lovers:
Apparently they can be found there frequently, trying to communicate with each other. Of course this made me want to write yet another children's book. We decided that they would go enlist the help of some elephants, who would knock down trees and create a bridge so they could be together again. Maybe it will happen someday?
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
A Mongoosey Morning
First: Thanks so much to everyone who has donated so far! We're almost a third of the way there in less than a week! Ian and Michele can't believe how awesome my friends and family are (and I can barely believe it myself!) They've already begun making contact with workers who can come repair the roofs, and I'm hoping we can meet the goal. Thanks for all your donations and for sharing with your friends and family!
I wanted to share with you all an example of the type of minor crisis I have to deal with before breakfast. First, an introduction to our Mongooses. (Yes, mongooses is the plural of mongoose. I just looked it up.)
We have five mongooses: Leon, Weasel, Sidone, Mango, and Groove. They are super cute, and make very weird noises. They also bite your fingers off if you put them inside of their cage. When I arrived they were separated into two separate cages, with Sidone, Mango and Groove on one side and Leon and Weasel on the other. Weasel is the most tame of the mongooses, and the others beat up on him. Leon has some type of mental issue and constantly rotates in circles, and always to the left. It's really amusing to watch. Here are some glamour shots of the babes, sorry for the wire in the way but I was not risking my life to take the photos:
Last week builders finished a brand new giant enclosure for the mongooses, generously donated by the Brigitte Bardot foundation. We moved them into their new home, and tried keeping all five together, hoping that with more space they wouldn't fight. They've been in there for about a week with no troubles.
This morning as one of the volunteers went to clean their cages, he noticed that Weasel wasn't moving. He asked me to come over and have a look, and I noticed that his back foot was seriously hurt. He's missing at least two toes. He was walking ok, but clearly had been attacked during the night by his cage-mates. Here are some photos of poor Weasel:
All of our cages can close into at least one smaller compartment by the use of sliding doors in the middle attached to ropes. This way we can close the animals into one side while we clean the other, then let them through. The new mongoose cage has three compartments, so we shut weasel into one of them, and let the other four stay in the two smaller compartments.
When we were about to open up one side of the compartment (with the four mongooses safely on the other) they came running through. They had burrowed a hole through the sand under the door, and now could get from one side to the other. So we sent Jacob (one of the staff) bravely in with gloves and closed shoes to put bricks under the door. From there, we were able to close them off properly, and clean the cage.
Last thing to do was to pick Weasel up (carefully), spray his foot with bright blue antibiotic spray (carefully), and move him into their old cage where he can spend some time alone to heal. We already have Princess Maya in half of the cages, so Weasel is getting the other half. I'm praying that they will become friends through the gate and we will be able to put them in together, because if that is not (another) children's book waiting to happen I don't know what is!
It's dinner time now so off I go, but I have taken a lot more photos that I want to share when I have time. Please spread the word about the roofs, and thanks so much for reading!
I wanted to share with you all an example of the type of minor crisis I have to deal with before breakfast. First, an introduction to our Mongooses. (Yes, mongooses is the plural of mongoose. I just looked it up.)
We have five mongooses: Leon, Weasel, Sidone, Mango, and Groove. They are super cute, and make very weird noises. They also bite your fingers off if you put them inside of their cage. When I arrived they were separated into two separate cages, with Sidone, Mango and Groove on one side and Leon and Weasel on the other. Weasel is the most tame of the mongooses, and the others beat up on him. Leon has some type of mental issue and constantly rotates in circles, and always to the left. It's really amusing to watch. Here are some glamour shots of the babes, sorry for the wire in the way but I was not risking my life to take the photos:
Last week builders finished a brand new giant enclosure for the mongooses, generously donated by the Brigitte Bardot foundation. We moved them into their new home, and tried keeping all five together, hoping that with more space they wouldn't fight. They've been in there for about a week with no troubles.
This morning as one of the volunteers went to clean their cages, he noticed that Weasel wasn't moving. He asked me to come over and have a look, and I noticed that his back foot was seriously hurt. He's missing at least two toes. He was walking ok, but clearly had been attacked during the night by his cage-mates. Here are some photos of poor Weasel:
All of our cages can close into at least one smaller compartment by the use of sliding doors in the middle attached to ropes. This way we can close the animals into one side while we clean the other, then let them through. The new mongoose cage has three compartments, so we shut weasel into one of them, and let the other four stay in the two smaller compartments.
When we were about to open up one side of the compartment (with the four mongooses safely on the other) they came running through. They had burrowed a hole through the sand under the door, and now could get from one side to the other. So we sent Jacob (one of the staff) bravely in with gloves and closed shoes to put bricks under the door. From there, we were able to close them off properly, and clean the cage.
Last thing to do was to pick Weasel up (carefully), spray his foot with bright blue antibiotic spray (carefully), and move him into their old cage where he can spend some time alone to heal. We already have Princess Maya in half of the cages, so Weasel is getting the other half. I'm praying that they will become friends through the gate and we will be able to put them in together, because if that is not (another) children's book waiting to happen I don't know what is!
It's dinner time now so off I go, but I have taken a lot more photos that I want to share when I have time. Please spread the word about the roofs, and thanks so much for reading!
Sunday, September 4, 2011
My First Kill
Before I go into the title of this post (which I know you're all dying to hear about) - I wanted to point out the little "Donate" button on the right side of the blog. As my loyal followers know, Daktari is a really amazing nonprofit saving animals' lives, and working to instill a love of nature and animals on the local children of Limpopo. As with any nonprofit, finding the money to stay running is a big part of the job. As the rainy season approaches, there is a big project that needs funding: redoing the thatched roofs all around camp. They are full of holes and at the moment covered with plastic tarps that blow around, blow off the roof, and generally don't do a great job of keeping the water out. It is usually very dry here, but there is a rainy season, which is rapidly approaching. So I am undertaking the mission of trying to raise the funds to fix the roofs before the rains. We really need your help! You can donate money through my page on global giving, which is tax deductible for US/UK citizens: http://www.globalgiving.org/dy/fundraiser/prevfund/gg.html?regid=6298. Please pass the link to whoever you can, post it on your facebook, etc. etc. Thank you so much!
Now on to the good stuff. We had an emotional weekend here at Daktari, as we said goodbye to four volunteers who have been here for the past month. They were all good friends, and it was really hard to see them go. This is the first week in a very long time where there won't be people overlapping who can help teach the ropes to the new volunteers, of whom there are only three (average is 6-10). That means this week is going to be a big test of how well I know my job - and how well can we all jump right in and make sure these children still have the best week ever. The kids this past week were awesome, and we had a really hard time picking out the most improved/respectful to win a trip to Kruger with us in October. They were all so polite, respectful, and fun! Overall it was a weekend full of goodbyes, and trying to prepare myself for what's sure to be a draining week.
This morning I woke up and came down to the Lapa for breakfast just as Michele (the director) came back from a morning walk. She explained that she had found a fresh kill just outside of camp, and she sent Ian (other director, Michele's husband, ex-head game ranger) off to determine what kind of animal had been killed. When she saw me she said, "Laura! You must go see your first kill." So, I grabbed my camera and off I went.
As we approached the site, the first thing we saw were literally dozens of vultures circling overhead. I tried to take a photo, which of course was pretty tricky:
The next thing I noticed was the smell, which hit me like a wall of death. It became stronger as we approached, and scared a vulture off of the carcass. When we saw what the animal was who had been killed, we were all a bit sad. It was a Nyala, a really beautiful type of antelope, and since there is only one nyala on Daktari, it meant we knew who he was. His name was Rusty, and he was hand-reared at Daktari a while back. When he became old enough to be released into the wild, he was released with a herd of impala (a different type of antelope) because there were no nyala around. They adopted him as their own, even after he grew up and began to look very different from the impala (adult male nyala are coverd with dark black hair). When I heard this story, I felt inspired to write a children's book about it. Of course, now this children's book would have a very sad ending. It was an interesting way to start the day, however, and as we teach the children every week, it's part of the circle of life. Here are a few photos of the carcass, which had already been picked clean of meat by the vultures:
Every day is an adventure here at Daktari. It's amazing to live in a place where every time you walk or drive out of the front gate you are surrounded by pristine African bush, and you can run into giraffe on your morning dog-walk. On our way into town we are always on the lookout for lions and cheetahs who live on the reserve next door, and are always spotting zebra, giraffe, elephants, and different types of antelope out the window.
I also got the go-ahead recently to go back to Mangaung the last week in October, to help give a training to the matrons, practitioners, and parents at the creches where I did my work when I first arrived in Africa. I am so excited! I will certainly write more about this project as it approaches.
Thank you for reading, and please share around the global giving link so I don't sleep in a puddle all summer!
Now on to the good stuff. We had an emotional weekend here at Daktari, as we said goodbye to four volunteers who have been here for the past month. They were all good friends, and it was really hard to see them go. This is the first week in a very long time where there won't be people overlapping who can help teach the ropes to the new volunteers, of whom there are only three (average is 6-10). That means this week is going to be a big test of how well I know my job - and how well can we all jump right in and make sure these children still have the best week ever. The kids this past week were awesome, and we had a really hard time picking out the most improved/respectful to win a trip to Kruger with us in October. They were all so polite, respectful, and fun! Overall it was a weekend full of goodbyes, and trying to prepare myself for what's sure to be a draining week.
This morning I woke up and came down to the Lapa for breakfast just as Michele (the director) came back from a morning walk. She explained that she had found a fresh kill just outside of camp, and she sent Ian (other director, Michele's husband, ex-head game ranger) off to determine what kind of animal had been killed. When she saw me she said, "Laura! You must go see your first kill." So, I grabbed my camera and off I went.
As we approached the site, the first thing we saw were literally dozens of vultures circling overhead. I tried to take a photo, which of course was pretty tricky:
I also got the go-ahead recently to go back to Mangaung the last week in October, to help give a training to the matrons, practitioners, and parents at the creches where I did my work when I first arrived in Africa. I am so excited! I will certainly write more about this project as it approaches.
Thank you for reading, and please share around the global giving link so I don't sleep in a puddle all summer!
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