2 Weeks Later

Hello everyone!

Before we start, yes, I am alive. During my last day off, I was trying so hard (in a sense) to have a relaxing day, that my blog slipped my mind. Plus, this past week has been insane!

Puppies waiting for food, adorable! 

During the last 2 weeks, it has been extra busy. Although we had a few people come in, by the end of two weeks, just as many people, if not more, left. Just yesterday, one of my dorm mates, Sara, left, and as she was only going to be here a month. Even though it is exciting that she is getting to go back home after two months in Africa, it's also very sad for us, as we have to say goodbye.

Although week 1 (Week 1 and 2 for the past two weeks since I didn't upload one for last week) wasn't the most interesting week, I have tried to push myself a bit. I finally decided try to move past my fear of speaking in front of groups. Although a small step, whenever I am on Center Feeding, I have started to at least give the Meat Speech, which informs visitors of CCF about what we feed the cheetahs, as well as some important factors about the meat itself. It is nerve racking every single time, but I like to believe that it is helping. Though the third time I did it, I managed to miss an important little detail, and I realized it about halfway through. Whitney, who does the rest of the speech, didn't even catch it! It was actually quite funny afterwards though. Currently, I am trying to learn the rest of it, which includes important information about each cheetah specifically, as well as important facts about cheetahs in general. This includes information about how they eat, and why females stay loners while males tend to join into coalitions.

On a random tangent, I managed to "catch" a Red billed Francolin that week as well. When bringing in the horses, we have to make sure there aren't any birds, including Francolins or Guinea Fowl, in the barn as one of the horses is very afraid of them. Now, these birds are far from smart, and in a barn where with one door open there is about a 6 foot wide by 15 ish foot (total approximation) opening, I have seen a Francolin fly right at the door, and then go 1/2 - 1 foot above it, and miss the opening entirely. The bird then managed to find some discreet and small opening in the corner and leave from there.... One day, while trying to get some Francolins out of the barn, there was one that kept running back and forth for about 5 minutes, and couldn't find any way out (I wonder why?) It finally tried to fit through a small space between a cement wall and a rock/cement sink, and got itself stuck. I was able to walk over, pick it up, which is rather sad, and then tossed it outside of the barn to run back to its buddies. These bird never cease to amaze me....

This past week (week 2), on the other hand, has been kind of insane. It was decided that we were to do 3 more 12 hour waterhole counts. Now, although I wasn't a fan of it, I do think that it has its own pro's and con's. For one, the game counts were on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Wednesday, we had some of the monthly Big Field Counts. Starting with Wednesday, on the Big Field Count, we didn't see too much beside a couple animals that were interesting. The first was a Bat Eared Fox, off in the distance. Although I did get to see one at Erindi, it makes it all the more exciting when it occurs in the Wild and by chance. Erindi is a enclosed area, and all the animals that aren't already there, are brought in so that people have a chance to see it, so it is a bit of an operation, but interesting and smart regardless. Also, Tarik, the staff member who was driving us, pointed out an Eagle. It was soo cool!! He wasn't exactly sure what type it was, and bounced between one type of eagle (which I can't remember the name of) and a Boot Legged Eagle (I think). Either way, I am glad that I got to see it.

Also on Wednesday, a veterinarian came out to check on and work on all the horses teeth here at CCF. It was really interesting, as all the vet interns came over to watch her work. She was very kind, and answered any questions people had. It was also very fun for me as she let everyone touch the horses teeth after they were sedated and had an item on the horse that kept them from closing their mouth and possibly injuring or hurting the vet as she worked. For the first one, we worked on Merlin, the horse I often ride while I am here, as he was the worst behaved the last time their teeth were done. In fact, compared to some horses, he was a little angel! It was kinda sad and funny though, after we were done, he just stood their looking a tad high, or out of it for about 20-30 minutes. He didn't even move! The second horse we worked on was smaller, but she didn't want to stay still, despite the sedation. We were having to hold her up a bit, and then hold up a pole because she was practically sitting on it! Poor thing didn't want anything to do with the rasp that was helping her. Third we did a horse named Calderon, or Cal for short. He was actually a really interesting case. He with the exception of one tooth, his teeth were normal.

As far as the water hole counts went, Tuesday was my day off, which meant I had the absolute pleasure of waking up, for two days in a row (Thursday and Friday), at 4 in the morning. Safe to say, I had issues with this, but I did it regardless.What I have realized during my time here at CCF, is that although I don't eat the healthiest of meals, I do have a better sleep schedule. Back at home, due to me being a bit of a night owl, mixed with school, I lived off an average of around 5-6 hours of sleep. Here on the other hand, I tend to get about 9-10 hours of sleep. Quite the difference honestly. On a normal day, I will wake up around 6:30, and I will go to bed at 8 at the earliest and 9 at the latest.

With the Waterhole counts, waking up two hours early, twice, was AWFUL. :,(
The first waterhole, was not even a waterhole. It was a circular trough that had fencing around it, and during the course of the day, we saw an incredible total of 12 animal groups (1 or more animals). It was a very boring day. At the very least, the working guest I was with was a trouper. She did not have to do this count by any means, but willingly did it any way, and was very good about not complaining much. Regardless, we had good discussions along the course of the day, and she was a great person to work with during the whole 12 hours. The next day, Thursday, went much better though. In this case, the third time was the charm. There were only two groups going out that day, one was a group that was supposed to go out on Thursday, but they managed to forget to set alarms and got to sleep in, so they took the place of a another group for Fridays waterhole count. The second group was composed of Sara and me, and we actually got to go to a REAL waterhole!! It was GREAT!!! XD

The day started out quite interesting, as our driver did get a bit confused on the directions. The first group was dropped off in the correct spot (though they did not have chairs) and we were initially dropped off at a rotting, VERY termite eaten hut. It was very sketchy.... Plus we could not see most of the waterhole (not very good if you need to see what is coming in and drinking) The driver returned after about 10 minutes, and we learned that our actual spot was actually down the hill and past a fence. Although we once again did not have a floor, we did have some time of covering over our head, and could see (sort of) the three waterholes (as the waterhole had dried up and shrunk into three sections). The other small issue is that we could not at all see the water of these spots, as they were behind grass and down a small area of dirt and mud. We were unsure what we were going to see, but honestly? We were just happy to have a true waterhole, plus we started our day watching the sun rise to the Circle of Life from the Lion King. Absolutely worth it!

During the waterhole count, we saw a lot of warthogs (no surprise there) and quite a few Steinbok! I actually hadn't seen one during a 12 hour count yet, and they are so cute! One even stuck around for 2 hours. We also saw quite a few Kudu, an Oryx, and even an Impala!!! It was amazing!!!! We saw the same one three times, as it had a broken horn, but I haven't seen one here at CCF at ALL since I have been here. I was SOOO happy! We ended spending the first part of the day watching, and worked on stuff various things. I mostly drew in my book and colored in some of my drawings. During the second half, we passed the time by watching some movies including How to Train Your Dragon 2, Indiana Jones 1, and Madagascar. What was cool was that we found, well Sara found, our own little discovery in the middle of Indiana Jones. This happened partly because we were kicked out of our hut by a large amount of large ants that were swarming and started coming it. We decided it was as good of a time as any to collect our stuff and move outside to enjoy the evening. Sara went off for a few moments, and stumbled across quite a few bones from an old leopard kill. We infer this as the bones were well chewed on. It wouldn't have been a Hyena, as they would just eat the bones entirely, and it wouldn't be a cheetah, because they can't chew through bone very well. So leopard was the next best guess. At the very end of the count, only about 5 minutes before we were picked up, we also got to see 2 jackals just pop out of the bushes, it was rather cute, as they popped in, and popped out, as if to say hello, and goodbye.

Saturday was entirely different though. During the first couple weeks of my stay, the farrier came to do the horses hooves. I learned then about an eventing show that was going to be held on the weekend of the 12th. Eventing shows, for those of you who may not know, are shows that have three different competitions. These competitions include Dressage, Show Jumping, and Cross Country. After the three days, the score people receive for each of these events are added and the person or group with either the highest or lowest (I do not know, as both Whitney and I were very confused by the scoring here) wins. Whitney and I were fortunate enough to be brought along when Laurie and Tess went to watch in the afternoon this past Saturday. I had a lot of fun watching, and both Whitney and I were excited to watch the Cross Country. I have never been to an eventing show, so this was also very interesting for me as well. Also, despite having more cake than I have ever eaten in my life at CCF, Whitney and I indulged ourselves in some of the cake being served. There was cheesecake and chocolate cake and a few others. I chose chocolate, and it was SO. DELICIOUS. There is no comparison with the cake from CCF, which is okay, to the delicious cake they had at the show. It ended up disappearing quite quickly. Besides that, both of us were chomping at the bit, so to speak. For those who have jumped horses before, and enjoy it, watching these competitions, and not being able to participate, is a tad frustrating. But we got over it once we left and continued our intern duties.

Anyways, I hope you are all enjoying the summer, and have fun in the time you have left.