First Days at Na/an Kuse

So its Monday morning and we're ready to head out to Namibia. Everything went smooth in the morning, and  it didnt take long to realize that... this is it!  Our real adventure was starting. The flight to Windhoek was absolutely breath taking, Slowly we left civilization behind and entered the desert wilderness.

View as we descended to Windhoek

When we landed in Windhoek we were greeted by our driver, Phaliton, who drive us to Na/an Kuse. Along the way we picked up some young San Bushmen who were delighted when they were allowed to hop into the back of the pick up (They would've had to walk about 40km!!). Once, we arrived at the Sanctuary we were shown our rooms/tents. Hannah had a room in the volunteers quarters, while I had my own tent... in the middle of the bush! That being said, I love my tent, it adds to the "African" experience, in the middle of the bush bush!

After settling in and unpacking we had time to walk around the sanctuary and explore a bit. The more I saw the more excited I got! The baboons, Cheetahs (in an enclosure right in front of my tent), Caracals, Vervet Monkeys, Warthogs, etc. Huge Adrenaline rush!! As the night drew in, we ate dinner at the Lapa (volunteers area, where we ate and relax after work). T-bone steaks for dinner?!?! I think I could get used to this ;)

The Lapa

At dinner we also started mingling with the other volunteers, learning more about them and how they had found their time at Na'an Kuse. The exciting stories they had pumped us up for the next morning which was when we would get started.

The first night in the tent was interesting... sleeping in complete darkness whilst listening to the African Wilderness. The sounds I heard that night... I had no idea they exsisted, first this animal then that animal, they were just taking turns!!

Day 2:

After a short nights rest (took awhile to fall asleep in this setting) it was time to get started. 7:00am wake up, quick bite, and the morning meeting at 8, where we find out what we will be doing for the day. For us new volunteers, we had an induction in the morning and had "animal time" in the afternoon. Animal time is when you go into the enclosures of the animal at the sanctuary and interact with them in order for them to be more familiar with human contact. Our group leader, Collin, who had been here for 2 months took us around the different enclosures, the meerkats, mongoose, cheetah cubs, warthogs, and my favorite the baby baboons!

Baboons are a big deal here at na/an kuse. There are 6 different troops, based on age. We mainly care for the tiny baby baboons (< 2 years old). There are 4 tiny babys and 2 vervet monkeys that we interact with. This means we go into their enclosure and play with them. And woaah, they are a work out! But I'll tell you more about that in a future post!

At night we all gathered around the campfire, and relaxed until we called it a night!

All in all day 2 was a nice laid back day to get settled and ready for the real work!

Samira the Cheetah