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We've departed Lilongwe Wildlife Center after 2 weeks of volunteering and a Wildlife Veterinarian specialty course for Haley. It's been a great trip to date, but it's also been long, and having the hard work at the end of the journey is starting to wear on us a little bit.
As part of Haley's Wildlife Veterinarian Experience course, she and the 5 others were invited out for a special opportunity at Liwonde National Park in Malawi. It was the final day of a 1 year project to relocate 500 elephants from the area that is saturated with elephants to an area with dwindling population. It's quite an interesting project, and is best described in the organization's website:
https://500elephants.org/
Also, Haley made a 2 minute video of her day in action that you'll want to see, and it's all in "point of view" angle so her hands could be free. Watch it here: Go to youtube.com , then type in "Haley Harraka" in the search bar. Open her site, and there's a 500 Elephant video there.
She was in the heart of the action, and her experience was precisely what is shown on their website, and BBC & CNN articles - same people and organization. Helicopters going all over, darting the elephants, while Haley was on the ground in the vehicles, communicating with helicopters by radio.
For the elephant darting/tranquilizer, they use a chemical called carfentanil, which is 5,000 to 10,000 times as strong as morphine. Given the size of the elephants, this would be the appropriate reason. However, it's extremely dangerous to handle as veterinarians, as the equivalent of 2-3 grains of salt of this chemical would kill a human adult, and additionally, the liquid carfentanil used in the darts can be absorbed into the skin even without an open wound or injection. She and the other students were instructed to not touch the dart/vial under ANY circumstances, even if there's bleeding around it -- only the head veterinarian would handle the dart. Haley said there was a tense moment when the head veterinarian started yelling out for "water ! water ! " next to one of the elephants. She thought it was strange to be requesting water in a frenzy, when the focus for everyone was the elephant welfare -- but it was because of an emergency, as the veterinarian had a vial shatter and the chemical got all over his hand. He immediately prepared the syringe for treatment and washed his hand off, and they were prepared to give him the injection if the symptoms started. Fortunately they caught it in time and all is well.
As soon as the safety clearance was given by the veterinarian, they moved in and monitored vitals on each elephant individually. They moved 34 elephants from Liwonde NP to Nyika NP, which was the most they've ever done in a day, with 15 being the norm. 14 hours of action, and another great experience with wildlife and actual veterinary work for Haley in Africa -- a true privilege to be a part of one of the largest and most significant elephant translocations in human history.
With clinical work and hands-on instruction from the veterinarian at Lilongwe Wildlife Center, she has learned a lot in this Wildlife Veterinarian course. And the vet is awesome, a very patient instructor. They practiced sutures on a dead goat and did medical checks on tranquilized baboons. Those are Haley's daily experiences, and for me, when I wasn't "monkeying around" and having personality conflicts with wild monkeys, I was busy constructing a recycling collection center with Wilfred. It features 5 collection bins with lids, and the exterior is themed for the type of material being collected and recycled. It's been a fulfilling couple construction projects for me (see my surgical light in use in one of the photos), and I feel good that I'm providing useful items that will help the center in the long run.
The local guys here that work on staff were so fun to be around. Yesaya, Gaby, Hamilton, Jeremiah, Chico, Softi -- always smiling and laughing, and it's really cool to watch. From our volunteer work in Malaysia 2 years ago,, cleaning cages and building enrichment exercises, to our experience here in Lilongwe, preparing food for the primates, construction projects, and clinical procedures, I feel that our volunteer expeditions have been fulfilled -- my duty is complete, and this chapter in my life may be finished. Both volunteer expeditions have been very fulfilling and are experiences that we'll remember for a lifetime.
As explained in my previous blog story ("Monkey Intimidation", just click on "Blogs" to see all of the stories), the simplest of tasks at home are not always so easy or expedient here in Malawi. It's a combination of resources, which are just not as accessible as at home, along with the general lack of urgency. We're "moving at the speed of Malawi" when it comes to completing projects and getting things done. But that's ok, as it's always with very pleasant and kind local people. So, the impatient American storming in expecting to get this done and that done, chop chop, needs to learn to adapt a bit. But, with my back getting quite sore and body feeling tired, "Malawi speed" works out to be just about right, as I'm just not moving as fast at this stage in the journey.
Fortunately, I discovered there is a casino only 10 minutes away from the wildlife center, and this provides a breath of fresh air and excitement, as a break from volunteer work at the center. Making friends (Malawian, Indian & Chinese), and making lots of noise, as I'm rather easily excitable when it comes to gambling -- right, Jim ? One of the guys chatting with me in very broken English told me his name, and limited discussions here and there, at which point he said sorry, my English not so good -- I replied, that's ok, as my Chinese is not so good either . And minutes later after I called out to him, "Yang Yong", Haley was shocked and thought I was being racially insensitive and outspoken, no, no, no, that's his name. He smiled and nodded to me . . . seeeee, I didn't do anything wrong. The management there are apparently not accustomed to this loud enthusiasm and behavior, and I've been told a few times, politely, to bring the noise level down, and ultimately cutting me off from the bar. It's all in good fun, and it's always been positive enthusiasm.
I made a friend named Cuthbert at the casino bar, a nice Malawian who works for the World Food Programme. Funded by the United Nations, they provide staple foods (maize grains) to the very poor villages of Malawi. Cuthbert took me for a day trip out to Lake Malawi, chatted a bit more, and enjoyed our time together as an "intercultural bro-mance". Lake Malawi really looked more like the ocean, with a sandy beach (at the resort we visited) and small waves and a vast body of water. And as an added bonus for visitors, the lake has the parasite present in the water that causes Schistosomiasis or Bilharzia. I asked a few locals about this and they all denied it, nahhhh not in Lake Malawi -- maybe some of the smaller lakes, but not Lake Malawi, it's beautiful. Yes, I agree, it was beautiful, but let's not deny these invisible creatures are really there or deny the statistics. At one point several years ago, research was done, and just a mere 87.5% of the school children in the area had the parasite, and 57.5% of the entire population in the region. Yeahhh, there's nothing to worry about jumping in the water, don't know what anyone's worried about. And for further comfort and ease of the mind, the pharmacies provide a pill to take care of this, but you have to take the one pill 60 days after being in the water. See, it doesn't work if you take it right away -- you must wait until the parasite has developed into it's mature developed phase, inside your body, then zap it with the "magic pill". Ohhhh, see, now I feel better already about this whole thing ! And the British volunteers we were with referred to it as a "de-worming" pill, which made me wonder about what the symptoms might appear as ? ? If I started dragging my butt across the carpet in the living room, is that a sign that I might have contracted the Lake Malawi worm ? But, no worries honey, I didn't go in the water (despite dozens of locals frolicking in the water), and therefore, I won't be doing the "boot scootin' boogie ".
Haley and I have been free of any injuries or travel troubles, and without any illnesses. One of the volunteers with us became quite ill and made a trip to the local doctor. After some tests and blood work, they couldn't identify the reason for the fever and constant vomiting, but definitely confirmed the presence of bacterial infections -- symptoms pointed to malaria, and they treated him for both malaria and some general antibiotics as a precaution, and he's recovered quite well.
So, today we said farewell to Lilongwe Wildlife Center, the staff, and the fellow volunteers. It was a nice experience overall -- some great people and a great cause, so I'm glad we did it. With a short 1 night stay in Johannesburg, we're just relaxing and enjoying the amenities, while waiting for our Emirates flight tomorrow to Dubai. It'll be quite the change of surroundings, from one of the poorest countries in Africa, to the land of extravagance and indulgence. In Dubai, it will be just a 2 night, 1 full day stay to get a brief glimpse in the United Arab Emirates.
We are in the final stretch of the "Off the Face" journey, and just a few more days until home sweet home. We're both missing family and friends, so it will certainly be good to be home.
Hamba kahle,
Robert & Haley
- comments
Dad Wow -From Rags to Riches. Have fun in Dubai. I'm glad you'll be coming home. I'm retired and I don't like doing math problems anymore.
Pat Hurley Miss you, Robert. Let's toast one soon!
Jim Haynes I don't know why they cut you from the bar; you act that way whether you've been drinking or not. But next time wear your Afro Wig, you should blend right in.