Last morning at Moholoholo - for real this time! Walked down to the rehab centre from where I was staying. Played with the serval cat and her kitten for a bit. They are lively. Breakfast was hectic again. Found out we were supposed to be leaving at 9am instead on 10am so we had to get all our stuff on a vehicle at forest camp where we have breakfast and where we were staying. Just about had time to scoff a bit of food then were told that the people were here to pick us up. (three of us were leaving today, the 2 others were flying home)
It took us about 2 hours to drive to my next project. Actually tonight I am not staying where I would usually stay. We are capturing giraffe for a few days about 30mins from where we usually live so are staying at the vet's house.
Giraffe are crazy. First the vet darts them from the helicopter, and us volunteers follow on the bucky with the game capture team. Once it is darted we have to chase it through the bush in the bucky - a pretty bumpy ride! - then the game capture men jump out with ropes and try to guide it until it falls to the floor. Then we have to jump out ofthe bucky and run over, take blood and give it lots of injections. They are also very dodgy under anaesthetic so we have to watch the breathing too. But you also have to watch out for their legs as they have a 360 degree kick! Then it is given the reversal to the sedative. They are blindfolded and their ears are blocked. Ropes are tied around its front lets abd around its head and when it gets up everyone pulls on the ropes to guide it towards the trailer. It's pretty scary! The giraffe does NOT want to go in the trailer. All together they captured 10 today. They captured 5 yesterday and we will get another 10 tomorrow.