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When I start a job or internship anywhere I always want to be on my best behavior, and as always I just try not to embarrass myself and learn as quickly as possible. Well every situation is different and no matter how hard I try I just can't adapt immediately.
The guy from CCF came to pick us up Sunday afternoon with two others and then we all left. The driver John didn't say much of anything and it was a silent three hour drive to Otjiwarongo. We stopped once for drinks, then again in the city just before CCF. It was so odd that no one said anything, but it gave me a lot of time to do some thinking and was quite nice.
When Lynda, Meg, and I got to CCF it was time for dinner so we just ate and sat down. There were others there, but no one really jumped up to say hello. Slowly we were introduced to more people, but we were definitely left by ourselves for the most part. Unfortunately our room is on a farm called Boskop which is about 10 minutes from the main offices so we had to wait a while for those at Boskop to leave and take us with them. Meg and I share a room at Boskop and Lynda is in the dorms near the kitchen where we have our meals.
The typical schedule here at the Cheetah Conservation Fund is every morning those at Boskop leave around 7:30 am to get breakfast which is always cereal and toast served between 7-8 am. Work starts at 8 am and all the volunteers look at a schedule posted for what they will be doing, and then they wait for the person in charge of that project to tell them what to do. Lunch is at 1pm and then work resumes from 2-5pm. Some projects will take longer and you won't be done until 6pm when dinner is served. As soon as everyone is done all the people at Boskop drive home. Usually you are so dirty from work that everyone showers at night, but we only have two showers for around 10 people. The showers on my side are always cold, but its good because we have little water so more incentive to take quick showers.
My first day we got a short tour from a staff member of some of the main places and she showed us where our schedule is posted. Later Anais, a French woman who is in charge of the vet clinic explained what I will be doing while here. CCF performs annual examination on the cheetahs in captivity every year which will take place the beginning of April. During this time there are three vets that will be coming to do a behavior study testing the stress levels of the cheetahs. I will be working with them to assist them with the study. They will be working with 10 cheetahs in particular so Anais handed me a book big with the names of those cheetah with their pictures and background so I could know them. I can now easily identify the majority of them, but the ones I didn't study I am not so great at. That afternoon I did pen maintenance with one of the keepers named Matt and another volunteer named Rosie. We had to rake some of the cheetah pens that will be used for annuals so they are ready for the cheetahs the next week. It was hard work!! I liked it though and I got to know Rosie really well. She is from England, but went to school as a vet tech in South Africa and after volunteering here she will now be continuing her career her as a staff member.
Tuesday I felt much more comfortable with the schedule and what to do. A bunch of us went with Matti who has been here 12 years to do a vegetation survey. What this means is that we go out to certain predetermined points using a GPS and measure how thick the vegetation is. Sometimes it is really hard to go through the thick bush and the thorny acacia bushes rip into your clothes. It was fun though. In the afternoon I did some more pen maintenance and raking with Meg this time. We thought it would rain so we ended early but it didn't. I was glad though because I got to go on a game count with Matti. What you do on a game count is you go on a certain trail and count how much wildlife you see, what species, age, how far away from the road, etc. It was really neat and Meg got a lot of great pictures especially of the Tawny Eagle we saw.
Wednesday wasn't as exciting because we had orientation to CCF with Jacqueline the volunteer coordinator. We toured the museum and I learned a lot about the cheetahs that way, but at the end she gave us a book to read for the rest of the morning. The book was interesting, but at that point I was really sleepy and it was hard to stay focused. Things were better after lunch though as I went to do pen maintenance with Rosie and Allie. This time I was mowing the lawn. Finally those years of mowing the lawn has paid off for me to be an expert in lawn mowing! Only about 30-40 minutes into it though it started pouring rain. It was funny because I didn't know how to stop the lawn mower so Matt had to come help. Later on we were able to finish though thankfully. That night we got together and watched Madagascar in Rosie's room which was a lot of fun.
Thursday we went to do pen maintenance with Matt and Kate. This time I helped feed the cheetahs with Kate which also included collecting poop samples. The best part was that afternoon when we went to do the rest of the feeding with Matt. I went with Allie and Jane and the ride itself was a fun adventure. We saw two ostriches…Truman and Silvia. Silvia is on the other side of the fence and they can't get to each other so it fits the story. However I recently heard one of them jumped the fence, but it was the wrong one. We also saw giraffes and all kinds of things that day. Also Allie and I plotted with Matt to do an April Fools joke on some people but the day was pretty much gone and there wasn't an opportunity. That night was a lot of fun because on the way home with Matt was Meg, Allie, Rosie and I and we basically had a dance party in the car. We got out of the car dancing and another guy John was there and asked us if we had been drinking. It was funny.
Friday wasn't as interesting because that morning I ended up just cleaning one of the kitchens all morning by myself. I had fun doing it though and I love being able to see how much better it looks when you're done. That afternoon Matt and I went feeding though. We even had to give a few of the cheetahs full donkey heads. It started pouring on us before we had finished. While we waited for the rain to die down Meg and I went to get our CCF uniform shirts from the gift shop. Later I finished feeding and helped Kate wash the cars. Since every day is like a four-wheeling adventure through mud puddles the cars had a lot of mud and dirt built up. That night we left early to Boskop to eat and party there because James was back, who is one of the main trackers here, and it was his birthday. We had kebabs and cheeseburgers, and a lot of people from the dorms came as well. It was a fun party and us girls had even made a card and got some snacks as a present for James. We played darts, and spoons, and danced a bit too. Meg and I headed off early to bed though around 10:30pm. We all still had to work in the morning and we were tired.
Saturday Rosie, Kate and I went to town to pick up one of the squeeze cages to be used with the cheetahs for the annual examinations. We got breakfast and went to the store. Unfortunately I couldn't think of anything to get at the store at the time so I just got Meg and I some chocolate and that's it. Later I thought of more, but oh well. When we got back there wasn't much to do so I helped Kate with some feeding and things. I got really lucky though because I got to see the stars (three cheetahs named after starts). Those three cubs are very accustomed to people and so they will come running up to you to be pet. To have those big animals licking you and purring heavily from being pet was really neat. Their tongues are like sand paper and kind of hurts after a while though, but well worth it. Later that afternoon we spent the day moving the cages to where they needed to be. They were heavy and difficult but we finally did it! We were supposed to have the afternoon off, but I liked helping so I didn't mind. I did get to play Frisbee that night though which was a lot of fun. We watched Some Like it Hot that night but we were so tired that we didn't finish.
This morning hasn't really seemed like Easter, but it feels closer to a Sunday at least because I don't have to work. Some people still decided to work today to get stuff done before annuals which start tomorrow. We have some vets that arrived yesterday from the National Zoo in DC and some other places. Two of them speak Spanish and one is from Argentina! She and I have talked in Spanish a lot and I'm so excited to finally have someone to talk to in Spanish.
So far this has been an interesting experience. I am really lucky that I will get to work with the cheetahs and help with a behavioral study. I feel like so much has happened in just one week. I've pet and fed cheetahs, eaten things like oryx, made new friends, and learned a lot. Next week will be even crazier. Africa is so different from everywhere I have been so far, but I feel like all my life experiences so far have played a part in my time here. That is the beauty of traveling and doing lots of things, it better prepares you for other new experiences.
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