Namibia Again

Tuesday July 19
Sunday in town was okay. The mall we went to wasn't anything special...didn't find anything to buy. After a couple of hours we got back in the minibus and went to a really neat restaurant called Joes Brewhouse. Or Beerhouse. They had a big buffet with eland and zebra on it. I tried both (sorry ae) and they were both very good. The eland was very tender. We had lots of fun hanging out in a more normal place than the farm. We didn't see anything else of the city, but it sounds like there really isn't much at all and that it isn't the safest city. Sunday night they had crappy sandwiches for dinner so I'm glad I pigged out at the buffet all afternoon.

Monday we were back to work as usual. The groups got reshuffled a bit so we were on food prep again but it was better this time since we more knew what we were doing. I made a ton of baby bottles up. The baby baboons get three each throughout the day, so that's 15 bottles, and the baby sheep gets one twice. It's very fun to give them the bottles because they are so desperate for them. Have to force them to breathe. Also learnt how to feed the horses - one is called ice cream - but they were a bit aggressive towards each other so I was a bit nervous. After muffin break we went on carnivore feeding. This was great because we just had to hang out in the back of the truck and hop in and out at different enclosures and throw meat over the fences and take pictures. We went to the two tame wild dogs again, but also to the 13 wild dog pups which are super cute and according to volunteers here the only hope for wild dogs to continue existing in Namibia. They are going to start a breeding program but it will be expensive and a lot of work. We also visited two cheetah enclosures and two leopard enclosures. I prefer the leopards - they are more dangerous but much prettier. Finally we hit up one of the lion enclosures and saw the two that keep us up at night with their roaring. Turns out they sound like they are right outside your tent because they basically are. They were huge and very beautiful. Unfortunately I didn't have my iPad with me so no pictures.

Lunch was horrid. There is way too much British influence here. We had toast with baked beans (tasted like fish to me) and a really greasy sausage. I ate a couple of apples too because I could hardly swallow lunch. After lunch we had to feed lots of the animals again and then got to go on a baby baboon walk. It was tons of fun. They are such devils. They want you to carry them and they sit on your shoulders or lie around your neck or sit right on your head. Then they get bored and jump off or swing down your arm or jump onto someone else. Then they wrestle and play with each other and sometimes give each other a hug. We stopped and sat under a tree which they had fun climbing in, and then they would come running around us and over us and coming for hugs. One took out my hair elastic so she could groom my hair. On the way back we basically all got peed on. Pretty gross but worth it for the amount of fun we had. My baboon peed from my shoulder down the whole front of my shirt and in my hair. And, we have a water shortage right now so weren't supposed to be showering. Sable and I decided we had to rinse off anyways and had a super speedy cold shower. But I have a bunch of stuff to take to the laundry! I have Rudie tonight in my bed and I have a feeling I will get covered in pee again tonight....but everyone says it is worth doing...once.

This morning we went on a caracal walk which was super relaxing and fun. I got to carry one out (Medusa, the other was called Cleo) and put her in a crate so we could drive them to the plain where we walk them. She was so soft and nice and warm, like a blanket. Caracals are really neat - they are in the cat family but are quite different actually. Long and thin and can jump so high that their front paws clear well over three meters. We strolled around to a tree that they scratched and climbed, pet them a bit, and walked back to the car. Our coordinator demonstrated their jumping abilities by throwing them pieces of meat. Impressive! I think I got it on film.

After muffin break we took the junior baboons for a walk. I found that mentally exhausting because you never know what they are going to do, when they are going to run up behind and grab their way up your back, or jump from someone else. And they are about 30 pounds! And there are eleven of them! We took them to a tree that they can play in, with nets and stuff set up, but they had a bit of a squabble and forgot who were they were mad at, and decided it was me (I didn't move or do anything to deserve this!) so the two staff had to come protect me with sticks. Nothing happened to me at all. They like to come stick their fingers in your mouth to see if you have gum. They also enjoyed licking my knee. Good times, but not desperate to do it again super soon!

Here is a picture of us at Joe's Beerhouse