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
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
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.
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!
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...
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.
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)
"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
No comments:
Post a Comment