Back at the Farm

So after a great week at Kanaan we came back to the farm late Saturday night and immediately got greeted with dozens of “welcome backs” which was a nice way to come back! The ride was exhausting and a flat tire didn’t make it any better, but oh well, thats life! That Sunday the day was spent relaxing at the pool, listening to music, and just doing nothing, which was definitely needed. Monday meant business as it was time to get to work again. Being away for a week did make me miss it, so I was eager to get started. By now the routine is pretty much set so nothing out of the ordinary happened during the week. On Monday we did receive a new baby baboon (11 months) who came in completely dressed, wearing nail polish, lipstick, and well, I’ll stop there because it was absolutely ridiculous. The baboon, named Bakkies, was a house pet but was given to us after the husband threatened to shoot it because he was sick of him. A day later we got a call from the mother asking for Bakkies back as “her husband is starting to miss him”, there was no way that was going to happen! 

Other than that, I also spent some time with Tessa (Horse Coordinator) working with the horses which was very, very cool. One day we went to the other side of the farm where she has about 40 rescue horses roaming around, and give them all vaccinations. Which meant holding the horses tight, very tight, whilst Tessa applied the medication. We also went for a ride to try to find some horses that hadn’t been spotted for awhile, only to be greeted by Frankie the zebra! It was safe to say that the castration did not really do too much as the moment he saw the car he jumped up and started charging us. For about 200 meters we had to avoid hitting him whilst trying to get away, which of course was quite exciting for me (not my car!! haha). The next day I worked on breaking in two new horses. Having never done something like this before this was definitely a great learning opportunity.

On Saturday morning, Hannah got picked (out of a hat) to join Stu to collar a cheetah that had been caught at a farm in the surround area. Although I was a bit bummed I couldn’t go, Hannah took some pictures so you can see how the process went!

Step 1: Dart the Cheetah and carry her to the shade

Step 2: Check it's health and set up the collar

Step 3: Stitching up an unrelated wound

Little cub watching her mom get treated

The now collared cheetah and her cub

On the 31st of October, like everywhere else in the world, we celebrated Halloween Na/an kuse style! We were split up into groups and participated in 4 activities; Apple bopping, pumpkin carving, best costume contest, and creating a scary story. So i’ll give a quick recap of the outcomes. I was selected to do the apple bopping and completely failed…yeah definitely not my thing! Our pumpkin was absolutely out of this world (we made a cheetah design and it came out first class!). Our custom was dedicated to Stu, as we dressed one of the girls on our team to look exactly like him! And last but not least our scary story scared the jeepers creepers out of everyone…well maybe just the baby baboons, but its the effort that counts! Safe to say, it was a unique halloween!

Our Master Piece!

It Sunday today, which for me means 1 thing: my adventure around Namibia starts tomorrow!! Im really, really pumped to go out with a 4x4 and explore the beauty this country has to offer. I also did miss driving, so driving on those 4x4 dirt roads is definitely up my alley. I’ll be able to update my blog at each destination so keep an eye out for that :)

Till next time!!