my extraordinary ordinary life

Long day today, the end of the tourism expo and one of those strange days where you feel like you are trying to catch up with yourself and failing all day, not always through fault of your own. 

"I can remember the frustration of not being able to talk. I knew what I wanted to say, but I could not get the words out, so I would just scream."- Temple Grandin

"I was an accomplice in my own frustration." - Peter Shaffer

Some days are long and stressful, with crazy tasks and unexpected happenings at every turn, you plan for one thing and you can guarantee its the one thing that will not happen in your day, but in some ways that sort of suits the sort of person I am. Despite some frustrations and knowing that living here can be intense and crazy I often look at the alternative, the 9-5, the rat race, the white picket fence and 2.4 children, the day to day and wonder what I would do if I didn't wake up to a caracal in the chicken pen, a baboon out, a bird in my bedroom, a conversation about how to make a baby carcal poo for the first time, baby zebras walking into the office, baby zebras being found in the junior baboon camp (twice) baby zebras full stop, a leopard in the bushes we can't catch, filming permits to sort out for Sky 1 shows and (most importantly) the impact we have from the work we do, what we change and why it matters and I know (despite there being draw backs) I will never live like this again.


"There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle." -Albert Einstein



This is my extraordinary ordinary life.


"A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results."- Wade Boggs

By the end of the day I was ready for a relaxing evening and luckily on my way down to the farm for a few drinks - which may have turned out more hectic than planned or needed after a long week - I was invited for drinks and a braai, and had a lovely relaxing evening - just what I needed!

It's amazing what people cook on the braai here - in the UK we pick out the two days of summer and BBQ - usually cheap sausages and burgers- or if you are fortunate nice sausages, home made burgers and kebabs. Here everything can be braaied (definitely a Namibian verb) pork, steak, sausage, ribs, bread, pies....yes, we made something called Kwaai Braii Pie the other week- like pizza pie done on the braai. Look out UK, when I finally come home and we get a day of summer I'll teach you about the braai .v.the BBQ!

Kwaii Braii pie Inside

Outside

Woke up this morning with a crimson breasted shrike in my room, flying between my side of the house and the other side (open roof across the whole house). Not sure how long he had been in there, but he was in a real flap (pun intended) and managed to fly into the wall and land under the wardrobe. I got him out from under that, but couldn't get him out of the house. Looks like he is out now since I have gotten home.

"Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark."- Rabindranath Tagore

Today was quiet for here, Sunday's tend to be 'down days' where even if it is your working  weekend you just have to be around to help if needed, things have been so busy recently though that I have still been doing lots of office work on a Sunday. Today was no exception - but at least I feel ready for the week! I also had some guests to show around today - who had popped in with donations on their way to the airport. I drove up to the lodge with the drivers door swinging open periodically, something I hadn't been warned about when I hopped in the car! I went to pick them up and parked up, only when I got out did I realise the car I was driving had a load on the top and that I had squeezed the land rover underneath the shade tower with only an inch to spare. Between me and one of our lodge staff we managed to tie the wires from the shade netting and averted a potential reversing disaster - much to the amusement of one of my colleagues as he pulled in next to me with his guests! Luckily my guests remained blissfully unaware.

"Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes." - Oscar Wilde

 

Similar to the car I was driving today

Similar to the car I was driving to and from expo

Every time I drive one of these monsters I always find myself telling anyone who will listen how I am usually only used to driving a Renault Cleo twice a year to my Grans, and how the tube is a wonderful invention - that I have used successfully for the last 6 years!

Finally with a smooth exit I set off with them in tow to see the school and the farm, half way down the road my door flew open and wouldn't shut until I fiddled with it after the 15 min drive to the farm, so I had to drive down with one hand keeping it closed!

"Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant." - Horace

...such as driving one handed holding a door closed so you don' fall out of the car! But as my mother commented 'so much easier than the passenger door flying open dear, at least you can hold it shut' - ever the pragmatist.

Came home and parked the car taking the keys into the main house and sharing some lekker cinamon/sugar pancakes with the family.

 



After a good sleep I woke up to another busy day, lots of meetings with our team strategising the future and a very important meeting with the MD and Head of CSR of one of our biggest sponsors. Luckily they were lovely people and along with getting some really important things discussed, which we are very optimistic about!! We spoke about the importance of our project, introduced them to the wine from our winery, and discussed how we could take our relationship forward. Luckily they are great people and spending time with them was interesting, we rolled home about 10pm and headed out for breakfast about 7am with them. We are releasing two leopards shirtly so they got a unique experience in being able to watch the darting and preparation of these two juveniles this morning. Learning all about what drugs to use, how to dart and animal and how to look after the animal to ensure its well being. Being so close to such a wild creature is such a privilege. 

Leopard number 1 darted and ready to be checked over

Amazing paws

recovering and coming to

Leopard number 2 - close up

"A leopard sprawled in the crook of an acacia tree, rising now and then to bite on the remains of a gazelle had had tucked away in a nearby branch, as one would get up from a  couch to find some inviting edible in the refrigerator" - Horace Sutton

I have had some quality zebbie time this week, have a look at the pics below to see how much they have grown! It is also very strange to see how well I am accepted into their herd - they know I am different, yet know I am 'one of them'. The other day, Benny and Frankie were all cuddled up with Frankie's head on Benny's bum, I managed to get my head on Frankie and arms over Benny as he lay down on my legs and we all had a little nap for a half hour. I think that was the moment I knew I really had their trust and they see me as a weird sort of zebbie. Even the volunteers have taken to calling me Tannie Zeebbie (Tannie is like Aunty and respectful to an older person or more senior person - would make me feel rather old of zeebbie wasn't added onto the end!). Being 'one of the herd' has its disadvantages though, whilst giving Donsie Donkey a good tickle today I got squarely booted in the back of my leg from Benny it a fit of jealousy. I found myself shouting at him like a real mother'


'Benjamin, you should know better at your age, how dare you, pull yourself together and just behave'


errrrr....he's a zebra, not a child?!

cute little donkey nose

Benny snuffling in the camera

Alpha struggles

Frankies cute little face

My handsome boy

Zeebie bums

Zeb and donkey snuggles.

Look at what was found on border patrol the other day...

a Cobra found shot and the meat removed, most strange.

I have been out on the reserve more this week and finally managed to see the baby giraffe - so cute and still so small. and surprisingly chunky (I suspect the chunkiness is more fluff than fat just like that donkey)...








"God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style, He just goes on trying other things." - Pablo Picasso


"You can't always write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say, so sometimes you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream." - Frank Zappa
 
Been to town today for a change of scenery, same as anywhere else in the world, had breakfast, bought some boots and some groceries and then looked down at me and laughed as I was covered in farm sand! On the way in to town it has started to dawn on me that this is no intermission, this is where I live now - for now.


Came back to a carnivore feed of the tour animals - the ones the staff and vols rarely see as they are fed by the lodge tours. Saw lots of free roaming antelope along with the 3 cheetahs, wild dog puppies, 3 lions and 3 lodge leopards - nice and different feeding tour.


So far this week has been as busy and crazy as the last one, will update you all soon.....


“Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey.” – Fitzhugh Mullan


“Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told to.” – Alan Keightley

“Bizarre travel plans are dancing lessons from God.” – Kurt Vonnegut

 “We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment.” – Hilaire Belloc

Being Dad's anniversary this week and other bad news from home (again - my poor mum constantly having to break death news to me!) for the first time since being away I really could do with a week at home to see everyone.

“A child on a farm sees a plane fly overhead and dreams of a faraway place. A traveler on the plane sees the farmhouse… and thinks of home.” – Carl Burns.

“I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world.” – Mary Anne Radmacher Hershey 

Why lambs shouldn't go swimming and both zebra and sheep shouldn't eat lollipops

The last few month has all been about change and work ...

"Nothing is permanent but change"- Anon / my mother?!

"For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain you lose something else" - Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” -Thomas Jefferson

The work is fine as it is all so varied and interesting - I only wish I had more time on my hands to get it done. 

"A charming woman is a busy woman."- Loretta Young

[haha!]

The change is both good and bad. The good is having some great new people arrive, who so far seem to know their stuff and have settled in really well - the bonus here being that 2 out of the 4 new recruits are in my team - so far so good! 

"I love meeting new people; I think everyone has a story to tell. We should all listen sometimes." - Kim Smith

The bad is losing great people who are also wonderful friends and colleauges who are moving on to pastures new - they have bright futures, but will be hugely missed!

"Even though we've changed and we're all finding our own place in the world, we all know that when the tears fall of the smile spreads across our face, we'll come to each other because no matter where this crazy world takes us, nothing will ever change so much to the point where we're not all still friends" -Anon

My job role seems to have got more and more varied, with massively interesting things coming my way - mainly in TV?! From the Sky 1 documentary we are hoping to film with the San in a conservancy in northern Namibia (with an excitingly gorgeous UK presenter), to pitching for a conservation talk show. 



The other week I even got to be an animal handler for a photography safari crew - my baby zebbies are child models! It's true what they say about never being able to get children and animals to perform! But you can only ask them and work with them to do what you want them to - you can't make them stand on one leg and drink a cup of tea whilst juggling - at the end of the day they are wild animals.

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous.  It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."  - Elizabeth Stone

On the day of the photography I  managed to get stood on by Benny in my flip flops (ouchie!) boy has he grown! and fell backwards over a tree stump and have a massive bruise on my bum - great!  If florescent black were a colour that's the colour of my 6 in sq bruise! I still have both sets of bruises two weeks on. Donsie, the baby donkey also knocked over one of the photography guests by rearing and bucking right into him whilst he was crouched down - oh the shame!

After the photo shoot and my regular screaming in pain in front of the zebbikies, and Benny's incident with a lollipop stick that I had to forcibly remove from his mouth pre-chocking, Benny was really unsure of me for a couple of weeks, he has finally began to trust me again after spending lots of quiet time in the Zebbie pen. Now he is back to treating me as a unique member of the herd, sleeping on my lap and chewing my hair!!

"I now have great color sprinkled throughout my herd." - Janine Turner

The other day we picked up a baby cheetah, the story was that it was 75% fully grown, it was living in a 2 hectare camp and the owner was going away for a while, no one wanted it, so if we didn't come for it it could be shot - simple. We arrive to a 25% fully grown (unhappy) cheetah in a 200m square camp (the reality of what we are told and what we get often varies - someone was once called in to pick up 3 baby cheetahs, who turned out to be 3 baby oryx?!) 

"An educated person is one who has learned that information almost always turns out to be at best incomplete and very often false, misleading, fictitious, mendacious - just dead wrong." - Russell Baker

We darted her (to sedate her and remove her safely and humanely) their alternative was to chase her down and tie her legs together - errr no. The farmer suggested the next cheetah he caught he hoped would be so small its eyes would still be closed - from our side it was made clear to him that he should never take a wild cheetah again.  We set off back to the farm where she meets her new brothers and sister - I am happy to say she seems to be settling in well and will have a much better life here - hopefully placed in a coalition with others and released.

This is supposedly a 2 hectare camp?!

Little cheetah at her old home

Safely immobilized and on her way to her new home with us

Being moved into the shade to recover in her new pen with 3 other cheetah of a similar age. 

As they started to get more used to people we have now moved them to a new pen where no one should pass them - we hope they will have very limited human contact and ultimately be re-released.

One lunchtime last week I went to visit the zebbikies (little Zebras in Afrikaans), which involves passing the sheep pen - lucky thing it does as I found a lamb splashing its last few breaths in the water bath. Weird use of first aid training came into effect as I grabbed him and turned him upside down getting all the water out of him and breathing into his mouth. I rushed him to the office where we managed to get some more air into him and get him some 'medical attention'. We named him David Hasselhoff in irony and I spent the rest of the afternoon lamb sitting, warming him with a heater and up my jumper and feeding him milk before reuniting him with mother!

Little lamb in the jacket

Back with mama

Couldn't resist one cheesy piccie of the real Hoff!

"I wanted to play around with the format, really tear it to pieces and shake it up. For example, if Mitch saves someone from drowning, and that person then goes out and releases a virus that kills a million people. Imagine the moral implications of that." - 
David Hasselhoff

Today I found Mopple the sheep in our room eating lollipops from a bag, she is in the staff rooms area as she has been really sick, but can still manage a double dipper! Practically caught her choking on the stick!


In the absence of me managing to get a picture of her, and google images not being able to provide an image of a sheep eating a lollipop - here are some sheep lollipops!

One of my tasks this week was to send birthday greetings to a rather special supporter... I'll let you read more closely...

Lala managed to have a run in with a bakkie (Land Rover) the other day, we sent her in to the vets and had her x-rayed, but she was fine, just very sore with a cut leg and some bruising. She is very talkative at the best of times, but is really milking this one!!

The first week is Namibia's tourism expo, where we are showcasing, so most of the staff are in and out of town doing their bit. This has also brought journalists, agents and other VIPs to town, which saw me explaining our project and entertaining  one of the governments Directors of Toursim, the Adventure Travel Asoc president and a journalist from a big US magazine today. No one can say my job isn't varied!

A final thought on the craziness of this place, I came to work yesterday with a baby baboon bouncing around and 2 staff and 2 volunteers who had just caught a baby caracal who had been hunting in the chicken pen. After 4 months this has somehow stopped seeming quite so weird!

(not this one, reclining on a sofa, but this is what they look like)

Its funny how no matter where you go in the world life still always happens and there is no way to stop it. Wonderful things will come out of the sidelines and blind you and sad things will come from left field and knock you over. 

"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all." - Oscar Wilde

Today's blog is dedicated to my Dad, whose anniversary is around this time. Uncle Tom - the driest, funniest, most Lancashire man I ever did know - and Aunty Margaret - one of the kindest, most genuine ladies I have had the good fortune to spend time with who have both passed away in the last few of weeks. Big love to the family at home, I sadly can't be there but I am thinking of you all xxx

“Remembering you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” -Steve Jobs