Carpe Africa

We had a monkey bought in last week who had been fried by some electricity wires. he was really shaken up, and of course had to be taken away from his troop. he was probably only a couple of months old. he smelt really bad, like burnt flesh. So we sedated him and cleaned him up a bit, but he didnt make it through the night. Rigor mortis freaks me out! We had named him Berni Flash (and made him into a super hero because he survived the high voltage!).

Had one of our babies die as well. probably from worms. found him in the morning when we were cleaning the cage.

a lot of the monkeys and the babbons have diahorrea at the moment, as do I and some of the other volunteers. goes to show how similar we all are.

on thursday we had some land claims people come around to price the farm up because some black people are laying claim to the land. which is really sad and could mean that the monkeys become homeless. apparently the claims dont even need to be that substantial and it can be claimed that their ancestors were living there before white people took it away. there is so much built on the land which they will also get, and no doubt the price that is offered will be very low for what is there. it is all to do with having a black government.

sunday i went on the big swing, which you jump off into a gorge from 38metres up and swing! lots of fun, though lots of screamning. we bought a dvd of it so that you can all see when i get back!

on the way there we stopped off at a few different places with nice views and to do some shopping. so now i must send some thigns back! but i will wait til im leaving SA. We also saw some potholes (not the ones that annoy you in teh road) and i got to make a wish because i had good aim!

on monday me and james got adventurousa nd decided to brave the crocodiels and hippos to test the rope swing over the river at riverside. needless to say the river was cold and dirty. but it was really good fun. and no crocs or hippos spotted!

we also had another braai but was slightly different because we made a stew on the fire, which was tasty!

on friday we have 22 kids coming for the day to show them around, so might not be getting to town.

forgot to say but i would like the melon at the wedding please!!!!

xxxxxxx

I am back at Riverside now. Finished shooting the baboons on monday.

Before I left sun city i went to the local shebeen a couple of nights (and on monday when i was supposed to be working!). Bob, Mathew, Tracey and new volunteer James came to SUncity before I left. James to take over my role. We had a couple of lovely meals which made a nice change to pap and chicken! I ate ostrich!!

oh and i also took my first night drive. The baboons let me have the evening off, so i took a night drive. so very very cold!!! but i saw lots of animals and took some vidoe because my camera is not so good at taking ngiht photos. we saw wild dogs, lion, hippo, zebra, elephant, rhino, impala, hyena, wildebeast and rabbits!!!

Rather than coming straight back to riverside i spent 2 nights at the release site, where we have been relocating monkeys from a nearby town. the site is going to be part of a huge game reserve, and we stayed in a luxury lodge. It has a chapel so I am contemplating this as a future wedding venue because it is so lovely. Except for the kitchen where it is so dirty that i cut my toe on glass despite wearing sandels. when they have weddings there, the bride arrives on an elephant!!

I was also able to do a microlight, and saw zebra, giraffe, buffalo, and monkeys because i flew over the release site!!!

we then came back to riverside. there are 4 of us volunteers here now, and a couple of friends of bob and lynnes. the baby baboons have gotten so much bigger and stronger in two weeks. it did not take them long to recognise us again. we also have a baby vervet that we are looking after now, it is napier who was not getting along with the other babies in the baby cage. not sure what will happen to it. because it being out of the cage will only make it worse for it to be reintroduced!

tomorrow we go to kruger national park. we will take a day and a night drive.

unfortunately my camera is not recognised on this computer, so no new photos!

soo... its been a week since i last wrote. and here it is to keep you up to date.

we had a bad day on friday... first we lost a baby monkey up a tree... but using a large poking device managed to get it down. then the workers bought in a monkey to clinic who was very thin, a little while later she died. we did an autopsy and found that she had a huge worm, which had been eating all her food. apparently there isn't a monkey grave yeard and when a monkey dies it actually gets cremated. then we were just waiting for dinner to be served when we heard a commotion over at one of the enclosures, one of the female monkeys from the intro enclosure had escaped into the main enclosure and without her troop to help she got bitten to pieces. we had to sew her up in clinic which took 2 1/2 hours because each stich has to be individual to stop them pulling out the whole thing and also she was cut open all over the place. she has survived but is clearly in a lot of pain and isn't eating much.

after stiching up the monkey we went to a local club, very cheap drinks!

saturday night we had a braai, which is basically a bbq but we cant call it that!

sunday we went out on the raft, but on our way back (we had to get back to take a girl to the airport) the wind picked up and was blowing us backwards! so we had to pull up on the side and walk through the bush... i did this while carrying a baboon!!! there was then an amazing thunderstorm! it was worst when we were trying to do feed, and there was a river running down to quatentine!

monday i have moved tpo sun city, which is an exclusive resort in SA, they have a problem with baboons and monkeys so we are contracted to shoot at them with paintball guns to get them out of the resort and stop causing problems! its fun and pretty chilled, but with only one other person doing it, it can get boring. luckily we get to drive around a golf course for a few hours each day which keeps us entertained!! google sun city and see how cool this palce is. i will prob be here for 2 weeks because it is a 6 hour drive from riverside.

forgot my cable so cannt upload pics this time. will remember for next.

also pain in my ass that my zen has broken from using my battery thing to charge it up!!! very annoyed having spent so long putting stuff on it before i left!

report again soon!

xx

Arrived safe and well. Trip to Johannesburg was fine, had 2 seats to myself! The plane to Phalaborwa was tiny, but also had a couple of seats to myself. The airport was really beautiful, if I can at some point I will get some photos, cos it is something else!

Arrived the first day and got straight in to cleaning out the croc pond,whcih entailed me holding the thing for a while and getting a dead arm! The next day I had to clean out the baby cage which is somewhat of a challenge, because they are running and jumping all over the place, covered in poo, climbing into my top. Twice a day we feed the animals, and every morning clean out all the cages!

YEsterday was also mother to the 2 baby baboons, which means having them follow you, feed them and fling them around. However, I have quickly found out that if you put liquid in one end, it inevitably comes out of the other and covers you! No time to change clothes, plus you would be doing it every half hour. It does thankfully dry out quite quickly.

facilities are basic, cold showers outside... but I'll live with that.

This is my first chance to get on the internet because we have come into town toget food for the animals. bread from the factory and waste from the supermarket.

Got to go, monkeys to clean!