Busy and Exciting week!

Note: I will be posting pictures at a later date, but I want to get this out there before I leave for my trip today. It's been extremely busy here, so I haven't had time to add photographs. But it will happen!

Hey everyone!
This post will be interesting, or at least, I have a lot to say in it. The past week has been hectic to say the least, we had a large group come by, and a lot of game counts as well as a LONG waterhole count. But we'll get to that.

Every year, CCF has annual game counts of various areas including the reserve, Bellebino, etc. along with a 12 hour long waterhole count. On Thursday, I went out to Bellebino with Richard (he drove), Sara, and Shari. We started at 2:40 or so, and finished around 4:00 pm. Throughout the drive, we look for various animals. Bellebino  is known for the Zebras and Giraffes brought here for tourists to see. During the drive, we not only saw Zebras, but we even saw a little foal!! It was so tiny and cute! It couldn't have been more than a few days old, close behind it was a month old foal and the rest of the herd. I am so happy I got to see it! Plus, we came across several very brave giraffes who stuck around for a small photo shoot. It was great! Another small herd of giraffes even had a ladder of ages. We thought the youngest one was around one year old, while the oldest of the youngsters was probably around three or four. Even though all these animals are brought in for the tourists, it does not make it any less amazing to see them, or even get a glance at some as they run away, which happened quite a bit as it happens.

Small little side thoughts:

As you may know, I have been sick since last week. I am feeling much better now, and the worst of it has passed. Regardless of that, I have continue to have a lingering cough that refuses to go away. What several interns and I found hilarious, it that a returning veterinarian, who completed vet school a little over a year ago, walked over and gave me these saying something along the line of - take these, you need them.  -
You know your still sick if that happens haha!

Also, Saturday, which had been rather uneventful before noon, turned out to be an amazing day! Paige, the staff member in charge of dogs, asked for some help cleaning out the puppies. I obviously willingly went to help. After we finished cleaning, and moving the puppies around in order to make sure we got everything and replaced the dirty hay and the blanket, Paige looked for a few puppies that had lost some weight. I was then told to sit down cross legged, and them she proceeded to place 6 puppies in my lap! It was so warm and adorable!! I would squeal if I could!!!! When they were removed, I found that two had gotten in very odd positions. I'm so sad I wasn't able to get a photo of them though... Arg!! One had gotten to the very bottom and onto the ground, and fell asleep in that space, while the other was partially on the ground with it's head on my shoe, it was SO. CUTE!!!! I am so happy I volunteered to help with that!!!!

I had another game count on Saturday, out on the Reserve and into Big Field. It started out rather dull, we went for around 10 kilometers without seeing much besides a few birds. Then, once we got out to Big Field, we started out seeing... Well, I saw a giraffe next to a tree. Let me tell you, trying to show people where a giraffe is under a tree, when there are several trees in the same area 250 meters away... Hoo boy! Easier said than done! It took Sara looking around with binoculars, where she saw different giraffes, and then the one I saw finally Moved, for everyone else in the car to see them. Then, farther down the road, I saw a Jackal, and just as Kaetlyn started to stop, Sara yelled excitedly "stop! there's a A! Stop!" She was so excited to see it, she barely got out the word Pangolin at the end of her sentence. It was hilarious! But it was also incredible that we saw a pangolin! They are a critically endangered species that is hard to see and is often illegally poached. A couple people in the car were so excited they started crying! (not that I can blame them).

Finally, Sunday was the 12 hour Annual waterhole count, which started at 6 am in the morning and ended at 6 pm in the evening. For most of the interns here, this did not turn out great.... The waterhole count was done by the interns and the earth expedition group who had been staying at CCF for about a week. There are several places people can be placed in groups of two. All of the interns, and I do mean all, were placed at waterholes and troughs on CCF's cattle farms. All of the earth expedition people were placed at the cool places, Bellebino, the Reserve, etc. It was NOT fair! This is all stuff we came here to do and learn about, and most of us saw Guinea Fowl and Warthogs... So. Many. Warthogs. At one spot the interns were lucky and saw a brown hyena, but otherwise, there wasn't anything that was fun. An earth expedition group that was out even saw a pangolin! And they called it an armadillo. If you can't tell, I'm a tad peeved. Even a lot of the staff members thought it was a bit unfair. . .
Sara and I were in a... Well, a pictures worth a thousand words in this case. . . (I'll get there, I swear!!)
We were dropped off first, at 4:53 in the morning. It was pitch black out, our "hut" was lacking at best, and we were at the edge of the bush, which happens to be right where leopards tend to hang around. We were on edge until we could see, which was around 6:30. Plus, it was freezing out!!! The two of us decided that we would watch in 30 minutes sections and switch. This was great because it broke up the day quite nicely. What we saw though, was frustrating. Besides cows, we saw 3 Diker, 4 or so mongoose, Guinea Fowl, and warthogs. I think I've really come to hate warthogs. Urg.
At the very least, the weather warmed, but due to our lack of a roof, my forgetfulness with sunscreen, and one hour in the sun with fair skin, I burned, badly... Sara commented that I resemble a lobster, and honestly, I have to agree with her... Oops.

Other than Sunday though, the week has been really fun. Plus, I am super excited because Whitney, Bridget, Becky and I are all going on a three day trip to Erindi! I am really hoping that we get to see most of the big five, as well as the African wild dogs that are supposed to be there! I plan on posting as many pictures as I can get! Fingers crossed everyone!!!