Now attempting a second try to write out the first week's blog entry. Aside from it being difficult to be on the internet, due to lack of connectivity at night and a harsh schedule during the day, my application didn't work properly and failed to save my first entry. I now have to rewrite it. At this point, we are on our second week, and I plan to combine the first and second week in this entry and maintain a weekly entry from now on. Plan for updates on Saturday or Sunday nights.

But seriously, it is amazing here!

We are all set up in our cabana, and our day starts bright and early. At first, I was lucky enough to sleep in until around 7:45 am because the first manatee feeding of the day wasn't until 8:30 am (the first monkey feeding is at 6:30 am). Many people here are considered "general" volunteers and work with monkeys and manatees, but I'm primarily manatee-focused. Now, Rameses the manatee is eating so well that we've added a sea grass feeding around 6:00 am and I'm the one that has to make sure it is taken care of. The truth is, Rameses has stolen my heart! His injury is quite serious... involving a punctured lung that allows air into his chest cavity. This will eventually heal, and he is past the critical point and on the mend. Now is the challenge of putting some weight on him, and his appetite is increasing every day. We've added a few ingredients to the bottle he gets three times a day to help him build more fat, and to help his immune system stay strong. We've also been working with a volunteer from the village, that is well known here at Wildtracks, to implement a new way of feeding him sea grass. It is working very well! So well actually that we've had to make many schedule adjustments to compensate for how much he is eating. This includes more sea grassing trips, sea grass washing, and providing more sea grass more often. It is nice that we are able to do so much more in a much shorter period of time now. His personality is so sweet and docile, and he loves his social time ALMOST as much as his food. I've been spending some time in the pool with him each morning before or after his first feeding, and I'm really, really enjoying it.

Later in the day is Duke's water change, and every other day he gets his milk formula fed to him with a tube. His case was very severe, but he has recovered to a point where he is healthy and putting on weight, but still needs our help. His digestive system had completely shut down when he came to rehabilitate at Wildtracks, and it is a true miracle that he is doing as well as he is. Hopefully soon we will convert him over to sea grass and water hyacinths more than formula, but until then we are being sure to give him everything he needs. In the meantime we are giving him a frame of sea grass, which he grazes on here and there, fresh water hyacinths, and some toys to play with along with improvised social interaction. All the manatees here are at a stage where they can not be together, but it is a plan in the near future to join Rameses and Duke together in their enclosed, natural lagoon. Because Rameses can't dive and isn't a great swimmer due to the air inside of him, Duke's playfulness can be a bit overbearing for him to handle, and we are going to wait until he is stronger. Then, they will keep each other company in the lagoon and start preparing for their release back into the wild. That day with be bittersweet!

The last manatee to introduce is Khaleesi, the tiniest little manatee Todd and I have seen in person. She was found by villagers washing up against the rocks with her umbilical cord still attached, but now seems to be flourishing here at Wildtracks. Her feedings go all day and night long every 2-4 hours, and keeping her warm is essential during her water changes on cold or rainy days. She likes to nuzzle and suckle on everything, but right now only the directors, Paul and Zoe, are able to feed her. Hopefully one day I will be able to give it a go, it is something I am aspiring to do once she is strong enough to take on new feeders.

The schedule here is very intense, and we are still trying to get used to it. Running water is solar powered, and lately it has been raining a lot... so we've been doing "bucket showers". We also have to pour water into the pack of our toilet with a bucket to flush it, but it is honestly surprising how quickly we have gotten used to fitting this into our routine. The electric is mostly solar, with a generator at the house. The house has a community area downstairs, and we have a lot of books to read and time to socialize in the evenings and in-between work. Everyone works so well together, and we are enjoying getting-to-know people from all over the world that have decided to generously give their time to Wildtracks.

Getting here was intense. We flew into Cancun, Mexico from Orlando International, and then took the ADO night bus from Cancun, Mexico to Corozol, Belize. Once in Corozol, we took the Thunderbolt water taxi to the Sarteneja dock and met with Zoe to be driven back to Wildtracks on a rough dirt road around 2-3 miles long. It took us a couple days to recover completely from this trip, especially because we went straight into a 12 hour work day 24 hours after we arrived. Their briefing, which honestly wasn't very brief, was very interesting and informative, but we were quick to sleep afterwards. Now, we finish our day around 6:00 pm every night, and then Zoe usually makes us an amazing dinner with pasta, beans, rice, chicken, eggs, fresh fruits and veggies, or sometimes something special. We were surprised with pizza one night, and Paul made us yummy banana smoothies another night after dinner. Once in a while, we go to the village to eat out and the owner/server writes down the dinner options because he doesn't speak English very well. I've had the "fry fish" which was an entire fish with fresh sides, and Todd loves the Lion Fish fillets. The village is mostly Spanish speaking, even though everyone in Belize generally speaks English. There are wild and domesticated dogs all over, and they beg for food and love... which Todd and I often give them. Nips, a gorgeous domesticated dog that is well taken care of, likes to chase bikes and follow us around. She followed us to the bar one night, and when Todd and I walked down to the dock to look for wildlife and she followed us all the way there and back. We enjoy her company!

A new friend insisted on adding a quick statement, which has completely flattered me! -
"Since meeting Emily, I have fallen in love with her passion and pure fascination with the Manatees. I think this centre can use her experience and motivation to help them, as well as being incredible for her and Todd to learn and experience as much as they can. The more one learns about these beautiful creatures, the more one can help them. I have worked with wildlife for years and I can tell you, personally and professionally, that she is the right woman for the job. The level of passion and dedication that Emily has for these incredible creatures is not just beautiful, but very needed in our world today! The Manatees need her." - From Aggy, the South African girl volunteering with the monkeys here at Wildtracks.

From Todd -

"Week 1 has been very interesting to say the least. Each day starts at 6:30 a.m. with a feeding of the primates, which is always interesting. The Howler Monkeys are quite the handful, yet very mellow, and to make it even more interesting the area is overrun by mosquitoes. The Spider Monkeys on the other hand are very unpredictable, so I do not enter their enclosure, a bit stressful to feed, and also quite overrun by mosquitoes. These feedings happen about every 3-4 hours all day long, and to avoid mosquito bites we wear long clothing into the rain forest where the primate rehab area is.

The first manatee to be fed in just after breakfast, which is Rameses; who gets bottle fed every 5 hours and a nice helping of sea grass every time it runs out.

Next we move on to feeding Duke with sea grass, and every other day a tube feeding to keep his weight up, and sea-grass for a snack throughout the day.

Then comes another primate feeding, this time I took care of a couple of special cases in a different area. 1 being Mel, a howler monkey that was a pet in bad conditions; Ricki, another howler that has trouble getting along with other howlers; and Nikki a Capuchin that is not native to this area and will be kept as a mascot for Wildtracks, she is very fond of humans, and enjoys hanging on my arms and legs while I clean her cage and feed her. Plus she likes looking in my pockets, so I have been keeping peanuts and other treats for her in them.

At just around 1 p.m. is our first break of the day, with one of the most amazing lunches you could ever imagine. Fresh tortillas, fresh boiled/buttered potatoes, fried bread fruit, fresh black beans, and freshly made salsa.

2 p.m starts back to feedings, with primates again. Followed shortly after by Rameses and a cleaning of his tank. Then on to Duke, and cleaning of his tank. This process takes quite a while, each tank is completely drained, scrubbed, and refilled with water from the lagoon.

5 p.m. is the final round of feeding for the day. Doing the same process again, except without a tank cleaning this time.

Unlike in the United States, sea-grasses are able to be harvested from the lagoon at any time to feed the manatees. In the States, sea-grasses are protected due to agricultural pollution, careless boaters, and trenching of waterways.

Rameses and Duke are very different animals, even though they are the same species and sub-species. Rameses has been eating the green of the sea-grass, and leaving the root fibers. Duke has been doing quite the opposite, eating the root fibers and leaving the green leaves. We are testing some new grazing implementations to see if it helps them both eat more of the healthy sea-grasses.

The first day using this implementation, Rameses was the test subject. It went quite well, with Rameses eating nearly 8 extra pounds of sea-grass. The only problem, was that he was too full to finish his formula at the last feeding of the day. It was quite a sight, to see him swimming with sea-grass hanging out of his mouth because he was too full to swallow it. We will be trying the new method soon with Duke."