Who's that?

Hey everyone,

Well its been a busy 24 hours since i arrived in Bloemfontein. I was met from the bus by May,  one of the permanent volunteers at  the farm and bought back to the volunteers house.  A beautiful big house with a pool and huge living area and kitchen.   I'm sharing a room with another Chris,  from Australia who was already at the farm.  I dropped my bags and was given a very quick tour of where things were.  Basically the kitchen is fully stocked with stuff for breakfast that we help ourselves to,  lunch is always prepared and cooked for us and for dinner we fend for ourselves,  we have 2 shopping trips a week to get whatever we want.   Food is pretty cheap,  so I'm kind of spoilt for choice!

Next I was taken to the farm and introduced to the other volunteers.   There's 4 of us that all arrived on Monday and 4 or 5 more along with the team of permanent volunteers and staff.  In total it's a team of around 15 and everyone is really friendly and gets on well.  A mixed group from UK, Australia, USA,  Norway and Denmark,  the full time staff are local South Africans, of which Rene is the founder of the farm.  Her enthusiasm and energy is incredible and her love for the animals is so clear.  She started with two cheetahs,  Fiela and Bibi that she hand raised from cubs.  They have full run of her home which is in the middle of the camp.  They can open doors themselves and even share the bed with Rene on occasion.

We then met 'Poofy' (real name claire) and given our induction. Covering the background to the farm,  how it began and what they do here,  explaining the breeding programme and the eventual hope that they can begin controlled reintroduction into protected, but wild environments, on top of that, all the rules of how to (or not)  interact with the animals.  There's so much to learn and remember and on top of that learning the cats names and how to tell them apart,  means my most used phrase so far is 'who's that?'

It was getting late in the day so we had a quick tour around one of the camps,  home to the leopards,  lions,  caracal, serval, goat and wolf! Some of the cats will only accept the volunteers that have been here for months/years so some we cannot interact with,  others we're actively encouraged to spend time with whenever we have a free half hour,  just go into the enclosures,  talk to them,  play with them and stroke them.  So far my favourite has been the caracals and Zoro the leopard.  Such beautifully tame creatures,  although we do have to learn the signs and behaviour and know when we have out stayed our welcome.   The two wolves are stunning however they have been raised by females and are not quite sure about men,  I'm going to persevere and try and be accepted by Shakira,  the alpha.  Once she has accepted me then Nikita will also come to me.

They have 5 male lions (Jubutus and Achilles) , 2 are mistaken for females as they don't have the typical mane, this is due to them being castrated at a young age so never developed,  however they are massive,  certainly don't want to be mixing with them! The other 3 (Acinonyx, Neptune and Napolean) , 2 of which are white,  just have such a presence about them,  you can really see why they are the kings!

Each week, the volunteers get split into two teams,  lion team which looks after everything except the cheetahs and meerkats,  then the cheetah team that do those.  Each volunteer rotates so that you get the chance to try everything.   Each team then has many different daily tasks ,  from simple things such as checking the voltages of the electric fences to the more challenging preparation of chicken for feeding.   Each task is assigned each morning.

We then headed back to the house to relax, a few of us sat up and watched a film but by 9.30 I could barely keep my eyes open so went to bed.  I had a great nights sleep and woke bright and early at 5.45 ready to start the day (7am start every day)

Our first task this morning was to walk the leopards... Only two of them... Zoro and Pardus.  Only the experienced volunteers could take Pardus as she is so strong and unpredictable,  where as zoro is just a big baby, although in another few months time he'll just be too big and strong to walk.   Whilst walking them,  in the distance we spotted giraffe,  zebra and rhino! A game drive is being arranged for sunday so we can go see them!

I was assigned fences and lapa today.  Fences involved walking around checking the voltages,  and then cleaning the lapa -  this is an afrikaans word,  not sure of the direct translation but its kind of like the patio/bar area that visitors hang around in before they go on tours.  Some daily tasks have to be repeated a few times,  like the fences get checked first and last thing.  Some tasks don't need doing until the afternoon like preparing the food.   We are also put onto rotas to babysit the baby kittens or antelopes,  or to shadow the tours. Once your task is done you are free to do what you want... Sit with the animals or help others with their tasks.  I spent time with the caracals and the servals today then went and sat with zoro.  Such a beautiful cat, you can literally do anything to him and he just doesn't care. 

I went into see the wolves again too,  yesterday they weren't interested even though I went in with May who hand reared them... The best way to be accepted is to go in with someone else who has a strong bond.   Today I went back in with Perry and within a few minutes was accepted... OMG I cant explain how stunning these two wolves are.   If you stop stroking them, they lift their paw and tap you for more.  If you give nikita more attention then shakira,  then nikita gets beaten up by shakira as she is the alpha,  so if you go in alone you always have to give more attention to her.

I also went in with the meerkats... They are adorable and just like to climb all over you. Mario seemed obsessed with sniffing my crotch.

The youngest cheetah in camp at the moment is gabriel,  he's only 4 months,  and becoming more and more mischievous by the day.

At the end of the day was big feed.   Not every animal gets fed every day, nor the same amount,  it all depends on a number of factors such as their breed,  their age, whether they are on heat,  to name a few.  Big feed was feeding them all including the lions.   The servals,  caracals and wolves have one chicken each,  the leopards between 2 and 3 each,  and the lions,  4 each.   Firstly,  raw chicken stinks,  secondly the flies are doing my head in,  however,  staring a white lion (neptune) in the face whilst holding 4 chickens and throwing him 1 at a time is one of the most incredible experiences I've had.

I'm sure so much more has happened today but it was all so overwhelming, I cant wait to see what tomorrow brings and to spend more time with the cats.  I'm shadowing a private tour of photographers at 8am!

We're back at the house now and tonight is movie night.  We're not sure what we're going to see but the local cinema has an offer for 50 rand for a burger and a movie (about £3)

Until tomorrow
Meow