Walking in the Wild

I passed a rough night, fighting a losing battle to avoid going to the bathroom so I wouldn't have to encounter the warthogs and jackals lurking outside of my tent. I ended up being late in the morning, but I was glad I made it since we were going on a caracal walk!

The caracal was a bit on the smaller side since she's still quite young, and it was easy to treat her just like an oversized cat. She spent her first moments out of the carrier exploring the truck and checking each one of us out.

Then she wandered off on her own and explored the area around us.

Eventually, we began to walk with her alongside us, and Jo figured out that she'll even play fetch like a dog. I threw a rock, and she'd go running like mad to chase after it.

It was really good fun, and the sheer speed at which she took off was amazing!

After we finished the walk, we went to feed the not-so-tame caracals. They jump incredibly high, and the hissing and spitting between the cats was pretty nuts.

We returned to camp only to go on another walk, this time with the junior baboons. It's safe to say that the baboons aren't the most popular animal here since they like to climb on people despite being nearly twenty kilos, and they're not afraid to bite if they think you're getting out of line.

I didn't mind them so much, except for the smell, which was just as well since I ended up getting more baboon kisses. Yuck! I much preferred feeding them the seeds from a nearby tree.

The others were busy getting groomed.

Or having to scratch baboon butt. If the baboons like you, they'll present you with their behind, and it's only courteous to scratch it in return. I was so, so glad that wasn't me.

It was a pretty mellow walk as the baboons behaved themselves, but we had some excitement when we came across a giraffe family - they're really beautiful on a grand scale.

It turned out to be a day for walks since our afternoon activity was taking two mongoose and one meerkat out for a short walk.

They're not shy, and had lots of fun with us humans when they weren't busy digging little holes everywhere.

Did I mention that they're curious little buggers? I guess they thought I had something good in my backpack...

It was really nice relaxing out in the bush - we saw lots of wild meerkats, warthogs, hartebeest, springbok and horses while we were out there.

The day ended with another short walk with the baby baboons to a nearby tree, and I was more than ready for some food by the time dinner time rolled around!

Babooning Around

The morning started out with food preparation again - I made the day's food for the warthogs and fed the goats and rabbits. I also helped one of the guys feed the vervet monkeys, and they were not happy about it. Scarlett (the female) jumped at me and decided to try to scratch all the skin off my hands while I held the gate shut.

We had a quick muffin break, and then I was off to babysit in the baby baboon enclosure. No one in my group wanted to do it, and I got stuck holding the buck. I think the reason is that you get really, really disgusting while in there, mostly because the babies will pee and poo on you with abandon. I put on my dirtiest clothes, and the baboons were more than happy to use me as a jungle gym and bathroom. It was only about five minutes after I entered the enclosure that I got pee on my shorts.

Just my luck, a tour guide pulled up with tourists in tow while I looked like the baboon queen with two of them curled up on my lap. It was rather strange sitting in a cage while people took pictures.

The rest of my group soon fetched me, and I returned to the food prep area to package some meat to be sold to the local Bushmen. After a quick lunch, we took all of the baby baboons on a walk to a nearby tree. I was a bit nervous since I heard stories about some people who had been bitten quite hard during the walk, but it actually turned out to be quite fun.

There were about ten of them, and they would climb on whoever they felt like and then jump on someone else whenever the fancy struck them. Some of them are quite heavy, and it does give you a bit of a start when a fat, warm bundle plops itself on your shoulder without warning.

We hung out under a large tree while they climbed and frolicked, and they would occasionally come up to us for a cuddle. I was the reluctant recipient of more than a few kisses from the baboons - gross and funny.

After making sure the animals got their afternoon meal, I got to count sheep! For reals. I never thought I would do this in real life - only on those nights when I couldn't go to sleep and then only in my mind.

The day finally ended with baby baboon induction, where I learned how to change a baboon's nappy, make baby formula and to give the babies a bath. Sheila, the demonstration baboon, turned out to be more of a shower kind of girl and succeeded in thrashing water over all of us while she fought to get out of her makeshift tub.

Needless to say, the shower that night was amazing - no more baboon pee and dirty bath water!

Feeding the Carnivores

Today I dug a hole. Really. I did other very cool and interesting things, but most of the day was spent with a spade and 50 cm of hard packed dirt that just wouldn't shift. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The day started with a bracing cold wash (the hot water is on only from 4:30-10:00pm), and then I walked over to the lapa area for breakfast. I always pass the cheetah cub enclosure to get to the rest of camp from my tent, and it's pretty amazing that this is the first thing that greets me in the mornings.

But they weren't that keen on getting caught being playful and messing about. I guess they have a reputation to maintain.

As a new joiner, I first went to induction where they reminded us of all the animals that could eat/kill us such as the puff adder. They can get as much as three meters long and as fat as your arm. We were assured that they're not common, but we found a lovely example hanging out by one of the tents the very next day. Oops.

We then helped some of the others with food preparation where I made the day's food for the baby warthogs. Milliepap is pretty gross - I think it's a corn porridge, and the texture is just yuck.

Luckily, the staff is responsible for butchering the horses and donkeys that are fed to the carnivores. The animals aren't fed cows or goats or anything resembling livestock in case they're released and develop a taste for it. Farmers are much more likely to shoot a big cat that's attacking their cattle than not.

Besides, I'm not sure how I'd fare against the meat machine. I'm guessing not well, and one of the staff was sporting a bandage from a nasty run-in with the blade.

After induction, I met up with my assigned group - all girls and one guy. They were a pretty chill group, and we jumped into the back of a pick up truck packed full of water, large hunks of meat and a split donkey head.

It's amazing that the animals are accustomed to coming when they see the truck - they know that we're bringing them food and run right alongside the truck.

We fed the leopards first, and I utterly failed in my attempt to chuck the giant hunk of meat over the fence. I think I was too terrified to see straight, let alone throw. Luckily, the leopard was able to swipe the meat with his giant claws. I later redeemed myself when I fed the cheetahs, probably because I figured that I could survive a bite or two from a cheetah whereas I would be a goner if a leopard ever decided I'd make a tasty morsel.

As you can see, most of the cats jump up for their meat and the more skittish ones run off with it after they snatch it from the air so they can dine in peace.

By the end of the drive, we had fed the leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, wild dogs and lions. The lions were the lucky recipients of the donkey head.

We took a break for lunch (nothing gets your appetite going like handling half a donkey's head) and washed off some of the congealed blood. I was on my way to rejoin my group when I was flagged down to herd some goats. Sure, why not? Luckily, it turned out I'm a far better goatherd than I am a leopard meat thrower.

Our group piled back into the truck with our spades and some Bushmen to dig a foundation for the platform being erected over the wild dog enclosure. It turns out that digging a hole in the dirt is much more exciting when a herd of thirty wild dogs want to take a bite out of your bottom!

We had three sentries guarding us with long sticks if the dogs came too close. Before we entered the enclosure, our coordinator reminded us that wild dogs don't kill before eating their prey and that their bite is gangrenous. Oh, and the entire group will coordinate an attack on a single target rather than spreading out. It was even less reassuring to see how reluctant the Bushmen were to enter the enclosure.

I just hunkered down and focused on digging that hole as fast as possible so we could get out of there. Some safari guests came trucking on over to watch us - fun for them, not so much for us. We packed it in at sunset, and I was relieved that we all made it in one piece back to camp for a good wash and well-deserved dinner.

Living in an Animal World

J has been crazy busy at work, and I haven't been so crazy busy at home so I got a bee in my bonnet about taking a trip on my own. My parents always had the Discovery Channel on the TV when I was a kid, and I can't remember a time when I wasn't fascinated by cheetahs. It seemed like a good idea to see them in person, and I booked a two week-long volunteer gig at Na'ankuse Wildlife Sanctuary in Namibia to get up close and personal with the cats.

It was a long flight to Namibia, including a layover in Johannesburg. I met with the driver and another volunteer, Monja, at the airport in Windhoek, and we drove the 40km or so to the sanctuary. Namibia is the second least populated country, and all I could see was dry brush during the drive.

Once we pulled in the sanctuary, we were shown to our tents, which was a short walk away from the main buildings. I was to be the lone occupant of this grand palace...

We quickly dropped off our things and began exploring some of the grounds while the others were still away on their afternoon activities. 

Luckily, we ran into Josh, a long-time volunteer, who offered to take us into a cheetah enclosure. Samira is a 14 year old cheetah whose teeth aren't in great shape due to her previous owners not feeding her the proper food. She's living out her twilight years at Na'ankuse, and she's still stunning to behold.

She patiently let us pet her, and I tried not to mind the fact that she hadn't been fed yet and she had some massive drooling going on. 

We visited the baby warthogs afterward, and they were more curious about us then we were of them! They tried to eat pretty much everything attached to us including shoelaces and pocket flaps. By the way, my shorts and shoes were clean before I got in with the three little piggies!

We also saw lots of random animals such as peacocks and duikes wandering about.

The sanctuary also functions as a farm so they also have typical farm animals such as sheep, chickens, and goats.

The vervet monkeys also warranted a visit, and we petted them through the fencing. They were perfectly friendly and sweet, and it was only later that we found out that they were supposed to be vicious due to mistreatment by the previous owners. We didn't see any of that and stroking their fingers weirded out me a little as their little hands are just like ours!

The sun sets quickly here and is gone around 5:30pm, and the day's heat rapidly dissipates soon thereafter. It's cold enough for people to huddle around the bonfires after dinner, and I had to put on multiple layers. The drop in temperature happens so quickly that it's a bit of a shock.

Time also moves as slow as molasses since there is pretty much nothing to do - no internet, no TV, no mobile phones. There is music if someone plugs in their ipod to the communal speakers, and the only light is from your flashlight. As you can imagine, people turn in pretty quickly, and I found myself tucked into bed by 9pm most nights snoozing away to the sound of jackals, baboons, and a distant lion's roar.

Spain at Southbank

There's always a ton of stuff going on in London, and J finally had some free time so I convinced him to venture out with me to the Spanish food festival at Southbank. I miscalculated our tube stop, and we got off a bit too early and popped up outside of the National Gallery, where there was some kind of Indian festival going on. This is why I love living in London so much!



There was a concert, which inspired J and I to try to bust out some Bollywood dance moves (fail), and we nabbed some free samples of mango lassi.

It's a fairly short walk to Southbank from the National Gallery, but thanks to a dangerous combination of terrible sense of direction and incurable curiosity about side streets, the walk ended up bieng much longer than J had counted on. Oops.

Thankfully, the weather was more than pleasant and J was in a forgiving mood since he knew we were headed to food. By the time we got there, the place was positively heaving with people!



The stall holders from La Boqueria, the world famous market in Barcelona, were the main draw of the Spanish food festival. We had visited the actual La Boqueria when we were in Barcelona, and I remembered the fabulous array of meats and fruits. Unfortunately, the stalls were a bit of a letdown and much too crowded.

We headed toward the parking lot in the back, where I knew there would be fewer crowds and better food, and we hit pay dirt. J got his favourite at La Raclette, which is a dish of potatoes, onions and cheese with broiled cheese scraped on top, and I scored a risotto ball and stew wrap that was ginormous and crazy good. We finished off our gorge-fest with a salted caramel brownie.



Needless to say, I was completely forgiven by then. We could barely walk with our bellies so full so we decided to head back home. We encountered a women's acapella group performing "California Dreaming" by the Eagles along the way. It was lovely, and we stuck around for a few more songs before hoofing it to the tube stop.



London, thanks for reminding me why I love you.

May Flowers

I feel a bit bad about complaining about London weather all the time, but the drizzly weather and lack of sun really does get to me, especially considering I'm used to sunny California weather. But I have to say, when the sun finally comes out over the city, the entire city comes out to play!

We finally got our first warm day of the year this past weekend, and J and I decided to take a stroll through Regent's Park and celebrate the weather with an ice cream. When we got to the park, it looked like pretty much everyone else had the exact same idea.

It was the most crowded I've seen the park in the last three years! I think the beautiful flowers had something to do with it. 

Every few months, the park's gardeners plant fresh flowers in certain parts of the park, and they really outdid themselves this time around. You never see the gardeners unless you're at the park at the crack of dawn, and I wish they could see how much people were enjoying the fruit of their labour.

Everyone was taking pictures of the beautiful blooms, and it was actually so warm that the tulips were starting to wilt!

I think the sheer amount of sun and warmth got to J pretty quickly, and we checked the rose garden to see if any of the roses had made an appearance yet before heading home. No such luck! But we did get to admire an entire avenue of blossoming trees. I wish I could sleep in a bed of these blossoms.

Of course, the warm weather didn't last, and it's rainy and gusty again, but I can't be too disappointed since I have some fun travel plans. Onward and upward!

Babies and Cameras

My friend's baby's getting bigger every day, and we've been meaning to do a photo-shoot for fun before we blink and he's walking and talking.

It's crazy to think that I knew him when he was just an idea in my friend's mind, and now he's here and growing faster than a weed!



I don't think he's ever seen me without a camera stuck to my face, and I hope we're still in London so I can watch him grow up and become a Wolverhampton fan to spite his Arsenal dad.



Watching my friend with her baby is pretty amazing.



She can make him laugh even when he's tired and cranky, and she can tell when he's getting too hot in his clothes.



I love watching them together, but it made me realise how very difficult being a mother is. She had brought her lunch, but she didn't have a chance to eat it even though I was there to help with the baby. Sometimes, no one but mommy will do. I got exhausted just watching her, which makes me think that a baby is still very, very far away in my future.