Over the last week we have had plenty of carnivore action...
I have a story about a leopard that should go here for you...
...but the images and story are embargoed until one of our large sponsors has chance to publish it. The exciting thing is if it is published a lot of the images were taken by me and I would be so proud to have my pics on their website (NatGeo). Watch this space, as soon as I can share with you I will....
I have a story about a leopard that should go here for you...
...but the images and story are embargoed until one of our large sponsors has chance to publish it. The exciting thing is if it is published a lot of the images were taken by me and I would be so proud to have my pics on their website (NatGeo). Watch this space, as soon as I can share with you I will....
" I just use my muscles as a conversation piece, like someone walking a cheetah down 42nd Street." -
Arnold Schwarzenegger
One afternoon last week we got the opportunity to dart two cheetah - to check their health, collar them and then release. They were already in a capture cage, so we prepared everything, headed to the cage and darted them.
Ten mins later they were down and we could begin our work. Transporting them to the table we work quickly to check heart rate, temperature, respiratory rate and measure them. They were covered in cheetah flies and ticks so we had to pick those off and frontline them like domestic cats.
"Of all God's creatures, there is only one that cannot be made slave of the lash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve the man, but it would deteriorate the cat." - Mark Twain
Whilst some of the team were working on one cat I had to put down my trusty marketing camera and work on the other with one of our biologists. Putting in eye drops, covering her eyes to protect them from sunlight, timing her breathing and heart rate and helping with the other checks and collaring.
Ten mins later they were down and we could begin our work. Transporting them to the table we work quickly to check heart rate, temperature, respiratory rate and measure them. They were covered in cheetah flies and ticks so we had to pick those off and frontline them like domestic cats.
"Of all God's creatures, there is only one that cannot be made slave of the lash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve the man, but it would deteriorate the cat." - Mark Twain
Whilst some of the team were working on one cat I had to put down my trusty marketing camera and work on the other with one of our biologists. Putting in eye drops, covering her eyes to protect them from sunlight, timing her breathing and heart rate and helping with the other checks and collaring.
Soon the collars were on and the reversal drugs were in, they were soon up and awake again and tomorrow they get to move to their new home in the south.
"Freedom is never dear at any price. It is the breath of life. What would a man not pay for living?" - Mahatma Gandhi
"Freedom is never dear at any price. It is the breath of life. What would a man not pay for living?" - Mahatma Gandhi
Box of tricks
checking the dart is properly prepared (not the start of a balloon animal!)
about to dart the cheetahs
the boys carrying over the capture cage
cheetah 1 coming out the cage
on the table we start our work
eye drops in
measurements taken
and here ends the pics as I am needed to help with eye drops and eye masks, heart rate, respiratory rate, measurements, parasites and collaring of number 2 cheetah. Its a shame not to have images, but great to have had that experience. All in a days work...
"The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play. his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly know which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both." - James A. Michener
In more carnivore news, I jumped in a car on Sunday going on carnivore with just a couple of members of staff. We got to the first cheetah camp and counted 4 out of 5 cats. Then we spotted something off in the distance and realised it was a cheetah. Could be wild, could be one of ours.....well if we call and it comes it must be ours....
'come, come, come, come'
Up trots a cheetah 'yup one of ours!', we quickly made a plan, opened the gate and threw the meat in as the cheetah approached and (luckily for us) in she went. Phew!
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same." - Ronald Reagan
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same." - Ronald Reagan
The day after we got a call to say there was a cheetah seen on the baboon walk, someone was needed to help. We soon realised it was the same one, so we jumped in the car and sped off. We found the cheetah on the far side of the river bed and two of us walked her back to the camp with a piece of meat, lots of encouragement and sticks to stop her getting too close! There were a couple of nervous moments as she pounced and spat at us, but luckily cheetahs tend to be all front and we were fairly safe. We coaxed her into a cage and now we are waiting to moved her a day later into a camp with some electricity in order to contain her and one of her coalition for company.
"When written in Chinese the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity." - John F Kennedy
"When written in Chinese the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity." - John F Kennedy
Saturday we did a wine tasting up at the lodge, 5 wines from a wine and conservation company (Pained wolf) and a lovely dinner. Lots of fun and giggles.
Had a lovely relaxing Sunday, some work, a nice walk, and some play with my friends son.
It's amazing how a 2 year old can keep you amused for hours, not sure who was having more fun with the stickers me or him?!
"Childhood is the world of miracle or of magic: it is as if creation rose luminously out of the night, all new and fresh and astonishing. Childhood is over the moment things are no longer astonishing. When the world gives you a feeling of "déjà vu," when you are used to existence, you become an adult." - Eugene Ionesco
Stickers everywhere!
You don't need a sticker book when you have a face!
"Children's games are hardly games. Children are never more serious than when they play." - Montaigne
"Stay a child while you can be a child."- Stephen Sondheim
Came home the other night to a horse on the lawn, which shot up as soon as I approached - quite scary in the dark.Today it was a herd of cows.
Today I was called in to move the zebbies and donkey from the front gate to the compound so the film crew we have here at the moment could get out without them coming in. They played along quite easily and I managed to get them out of the road and into the bush. As soon as the film crew pulled out Donsie stamped her feet and galloped after the bakkie, 'eyore eyore' she called as she went (still more like a creaky door than a donkey). The defiant little thing wasn't for being told what to do and blamed the crew and the car determined to track them down, galloping a good half a km after them!! By the time I got to the top of the road, calling all the way they had somehow put her off and she was now galloping and eyoring full pelt in my direction, where we narrowly missed a collision - what a character!
"I am... stubborn, and I admit it, so it's OK." - Mila Kunis
Look at this cheeky face!
Benny is now so big we seem to have reversed roles with me sleeping on him rather than the other way around, some how I get away with lying my head on his belly whilst he is lay down and so far I have not got tangled in his legs or kicked, probably only a matter of time with a tamed wild zebra, but so far her seems to know to be careful.
We also got a new baby baboon this week - Sheila, she is only a few weeks old and still mostly pink under that fur (their skin darkens as they age)
"Holy cow!" - Harry Caray
Today I was called in to move the zebbies and donkey from the front gate to the compound so the film crew we have here at the moment could get out without them coming in. They played along quite easily and I managed to get them out of the road and into the bush. As soon as the film crew pulled out Donsie stamped her feet and galloped after the bakkie, 'eyore eyore' she called as she went (still more like a creaky door than a donkey). The defiant little thing wasn't for being told what to do and blamed the crew and the car determined to track them down, galloping a good half a km after them!! By the time I got to the top of the road, calling all the way they had somehow put her off and she was now galloping and eyoring full pelt in my direction, where we narrowly missed a collision - what a character!
"I am... stubborn, and I admit it, so it's OK." - Mila Kunis
Look at this cheeky face!
Benny is now so big we seem to have reversed roles with me sleeping on him rather than the other way around, some how I get away with lying my head on his belly whilst he is lay down and so far I have not got tangled in his legs or kicked, probably only a matter of time with a tamed wild zebra, but so far her seems to know to be careful.
Today I had the final breakthrough with the herd and seem to have cracked all their characters - Benny I have looked after so long I seem to know his moods and how best to interact with him 99% of the time, Donsie seems to love being hugged and roughly tickled and squeezed and squished and given lots of rough cuddles and little Frankie, who has always been so shy, revealed today that a good tickle and a scratch is the best way to bond with him.
This Sunday consisted of a relaxing day in town, picking up a few essentials and heading to Joe's Beerhouse, one of the most 'famous' bars in Namibia. It is known as THE place ot try all sorts of different meats - kudu, springbok, oryx, zebra, crocodile etc, this week they had lamb, beef and oryx on the menu - having had oryx regularly and grown up on the other two not so exotic, but never mind!
We also got a new baby baboon this week - Sheila, she is only a few weeks old and still mostly pink under that fur (their skin darkens as they age)
"Well! The buzz from the bees is that the leopards are in a bit of a spot...And the baboons are going ape over this. Of course, the giraffes are acting like they are above it all..." - Zazu, Lion King
Unsurprisingly Sheila is stealing hearts all over the show!
"Heartbreaker, you got the best of me , but I just keep on coming back incessantly. Oh why, did you have to run your game on me? I should have known right from the start, you'd go and break my heart." - Mariah Carey
And a couple of thoughts for you...
“Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe”- Anatole France
"Happiness is not being pained in the body or troubled in the mind" - Thomas Jefferson
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are" - Theodore Roosevelt
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