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Name: Linda
Gap Year Project: Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre
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Diary: Monday 13 February
I've been here for a week now, but it seems much longer because so much has happened.
The other volunteers are a very nice bunch of people, so it's been good getting to know them as well as making the acquaintance of the animals that are living here.
Getting to stroke lions and getting my hair licked by a giraffe was quite a welcome on my first day!
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I've had some interesting times getting to know the ins and outs of the vehicles, too. On my first evening game drive, a very nasty metal fence-post stub caused us a flat tire and left us walking home because we couldn't figure out the very arcane method of releasing the spare from under the car!
Although today is hot, there have been days of warm but torrential rain that have left us pretty much confined to the site at times as the red dirt roads turned to liquid mud.
We did make a spectacularly skiddy journey, with the car waltzing all over the road, needing pushing out of the mud and having a too-close-for-comfort encounter with a tree trunk, to get much-needed food supplies.
Jobs here so far have been largely dictated by the weather, with some things needing to be postponed because of the rain, which has been frustrating at times. |
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We did spend one blisteringly hot afternoon pulling up non-native bushes from the grasslands. They came in as rogue seeds with tomato plants and none of the local wildlife will eat them, so they begin to take over if they aren't controlled. It's very cathartic work if you have any frustrations in your life, and the grasslands do look much better for its absence. |
Of course, the feeding of the animals has to go on regardless of weather. Hurling huge, bony chunks of cold, slippery, dripping, raw beef to the lions and wild dogs is not the dream job for a veggie, but they are worth it!
Last weekend I went to the Kruger Park for three days and had a great time. The summer greenery made it difficult to see the animals at times, and we spent long periods just looking at trees and bushes. |
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However, we were rewarded with some great close encounters, including elephants, hyenas, giraffes, zebra, a dwarf mongoose, jackals, lots of hippos, beautiful birds, impala, klipspringer and a very tame bushbuck at the rest camp who came to eat apricots with us.
Thank god for digital photography - there would not have been enough film in the world!
Today I've met a tortoise that was brought in yesterday after being crushed by an electric gate motor. He made it through the night and is now on pain control and antibiotics to take down the swelling and fight infection. His shell is elastoplasted into place and will be filled with a plaster solution if he survives. Otherwise, I'm at the office helping to create havoc with the accounts today.
 Further information on the Wildlife Rehabilitation Project
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