So awesome!

We're in Windhoek for the day. It's SO AWESOME here!!!! :) I'm having a great time. The place is awesome, the people are awesome, the animals are awesome, what we're doing is awesome! :) Been here at the sanctuary for a week now, got another week to go. The volunteers are split into three groups and we rotate between three groups of activities. #1 Food prep 8-10:30, carnivore feed (go feed the lions, cheetahs, wild dogs, and leopards 11-1, food prep again after our long lunch break 2:30-5 and then some presentations at 5:30 and then dinner is at 6. #2 group is caracal walk 8-10:30, junior baboon walk 11-1 and then either research work (game count, tracking etc) or project work (digging trenches, building enclosures etc) in the afternoon. Group #3 is enclosure patrol 8-10:30 (you walk around all the carnivore enclosures, measuring the electric fences, check to make sure no one is digging out or in and check the health of the animals), enclosure cleaning 11-1 (that's the close enclosures, baboons, chickens, sheep, rabbits etc) and then baby baboon walk in the afternoon....which really is more like baby baboon carry! :)

Here are some pics:
 

 

My tent, on the inside, that back part is where the beds are. It's lit by solar power.

 

Me on enclosure patrol. That's one of the leopards behind me. They're probably scarier than almost any other of the cats!

 

Carlos and his "baby". that's Sheila, a 2 month old orphaned baby baboon. She LOVES Carlos!!!

 Me petting Samira. She's an ooooold girl! 14 years old, and unable to be released...she was hand-raised and too humanized. She was fed on cows milk, which isn't good for them, and so doesn't have all her teeth. She's a total sweetie. You're allowed to go into the enclosure with her.

 Mom helping bathe the baby baboon Bobby, before having him sleep with her and dad. They don't have to be bathed...but they're kinda stinky, so it's for our benefit. That's Sam, a longer-term volunteer on the left.

 This cheetah was darted to put her tracking collar on before release. She put up quite a struggle! She looked like she was out of it, but she woke up when they picked her up. And then she started coming out of it again long before she should have. She SHOULD have been out for several hours, but she had cubs, and so the adrenaline woke her up way early. Very very interesting time! :)

 Meatball enjoying his lunch. Meatball, isn't that cute? :) hee hee. You don't look this boy in the eye...he REALLY doesn't like that!

I'm here!

Well, can I just say that Namibia is better than I could ever have imagined! After mroe than 48 hours I arrived in Windhoek, and then we drove to the coast to Swapokmund. Today we toured around here, looking at dunes, flamingoes, the ocean and this cool area called the "Moon Landscape". Tomorrow up the coast a bit then inland and north to Etosha.

:) More later, gotta go to bed, it's late! And besides...I'm kinda just borrowing someone's computer. I'M SO HAPPY TO BE HERE!!!!!!

Gemsbok, springbok, eland, oryx, kudu?

I've spent quite a bit of time trying to familiarize myself with a lot of the animals we're going to be seeing. Some things are quite obvious...cheetah, lion, giraffe...DUH! :) But the antelopes and gazelles...they're hard! It's all about the horns. Sheesh. What if they're young and their horns aren't developed yet?

I'm going to be keeping a "Safari Diary", trying to list all the animals I see. I haven't said it in this post: I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!! Although I'm also kinda freaking out about how quickly it's coming up. I need to make sure I get everything done that I need to get done. And I haven't quite figured out my packing yet. I just found out that the luggage weight limit is lower than I thought it was. Hmmm....  :)

Countdown to Africa

This year I'm going Namibia, AFRICA!!!!! :) I'm so excited, I can't wait. I am going with my parents to volunteer at a wildlife conservation place, N/a’an ku sê. We'll be there for two weeks, and then my mom and dad are staying a week longer to work out in the field tracking and monitoring cheetah. How cool is that???

Before we get to  N/a’an ku sê we're going to do a self-drive safari for a week. Namibia is one of the safest African countries to travel by yourself. We're going to go from Windhoek over to the coast, see Dune 7 outside Walvis Bay, then up the Skeleton Coast to see the Cape Cross seal colony, and then to Etosha National Park, which is a Big 5 park. Mom and dad are leaving this weekend and will spend the next week around Victoria Falls in Zambia and then travel through the Caprivi Strip/Okavango Delta, meeting me in Windhoek on Aug 14th. I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!! :)

I will update and upload pictures as much as I can. it may be even less than in India! :) Not sure what our Internet access is going to be like. But I'll be in touch, as I can.... Have I said yet that I'M SO EXCITED!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!