Week 9 - The Seductive Warthog

---

So now Matt is here Lou and I are having a mini holiday and doing all of the wonderful thing Cape Town has to offer as a tourist. SANCCOB were kind enough to give us more days off during Matt and Kate's (Lou's friend from work) 10 day trip here, in return for fewer days off either side and more days helping out with the transpondering project. This week was an incredible mix of goslings, sunburn, ostrich steak, whales, seals...and cuddling a penguin.

On Monday our 2nd skydive was also cancelled sadly, so we decided to venture into town to show Matt around. We went to an amazing market in the centre of town, where we did lots of shopping, and we saw a hilarious 'scratching warthog' sculpture. It had one leg in the air as if it was scratching, and was leaning to one side, but basically it looked like a seductive warthog. We ate more calamari, sushi and wine at the waterfront before going to a place called 'Hinthunt', which is not very South African at all but we were recommended it by other volunteers. It is a game where you have an hour to get out of a room, by working out clues and finding keys and unlocking doors and solving a murder mystery. It was like being in a game show, and was really fun. We managed to get out of the room, with 2 minutes to spare. Afterwards we went for dinner with Katta, the penguin researcher, and her husband and little girl. They let us stay at their house overnight, as we were heading to Stony Point tomorrow.

Tuesday we drove to Stony Point, with Matt in tow for a free lift to the best penguin colony! Lou, Katta and I had a hugely successful transpondering session, chipping 50 in one day. Lou had a permanent grin on her face every time she was passed a blue or chick, and we sat in the sunshine, once again surrounded by a penguin "village." Kate arrived today, and took a transfer to us, to be able to meet Matt and see the colony. At 4pm, when all of the Penguins were returning to their nests, we had to stop transpondering, and instead wandered along the penguin Boardwalk, watching all of the wild Penguins come back from the ocean to feed their chicks. It was incredible to watch the adults regurgitate their fish for their extremely greedy chicks, who were waiting at the nests for mum or dad to return with dinner.

Wednesday Lou and I were at SANCCOB again, and I was supposed to be in pen 3 working with Penguins, but I was asked to help 2 other interns with an animal rescue mission. We were sent to an abandoned building site to rescue 10 goslings who had been hatched there two days ago. The parents think it is a good place to breed, but the building site has an enormous pool in the middle, filled with stagnant slimy water, which the parents swim on. The goslings follow mum and dad, but instead get trapped in the pool because there is no exit and they can't fly, and starve to death. It happened with their last clutch: all of them died, apart from 2 that they saved, so we were called to rescue all 10 goslings. We started at 9am, and finished at 3.30, 6hours in the South African sunshine with nothing to drink, and some serious sunburn. It was infuriating trying to catch the goslings, who all jumped in the water as soon as we got close. 2 we rescued from little bushes but the rest we had to painstakingly fashion a giant net out of plastic fencing, and pull it along the slimy water, and then net capture a gosling if it hadn't swim under the net or wiggled its way through. Approximately 1 in 10 sweeps with the giant net, we caught a gosling, and the net kept breaking and the goslings were getting very wise at this game. We needed a kayak but there was no way of getting it out again from the deep pool. Hours later, one by one, we rescued 9 out of 10 goslings, but the last one was too smart and impossible to catch. He was exhausted poor bird, but every time we tried to catch him, he would jump onto the net, enjoy the ride, then jump back into the water just before we could catch him. And in an 80foot pool it was so difficult. At 3pm, we made the very difficult decision to leave behind the last gosling, and we made him a ramp in the hope that he would climb out on his own. Poor little guy. The other 9 we took to a wildlife rescue centre, to be raised and released back into the wild. We returned to the centre, saddened and very sunburnt, and very hungry. I returned to help with the Penguins, just in time to help with the afternoon feeding and medication administering, before heading home, beetroot coloured and exhausted from today adventures.

Thursday I was lucky enough to have been given another opportunity to work with the Penguins, and I was reimbursed with my missed pen day. Mel, one of the trainers, trained me how to tube the birds (place a tube down the oesophagus so into the stomach, to administer fluids, medications, electrolytes and liquidised fish), and I practised all day on various birds. Tubing is much easier than feeding, and you get much less fish guts everywhere. I loved being in pen 3, and we were kept plenty busy, with 30 birds to feed and medicate and swim. After lunch, we had to prepare 11 birds to be released, and I held the birds for their final measurements and checks to be done before placing them into the cardboard boxes to take them back to the wild. A shiver went down my spine each time the plastic tag, marking the Penguins number, was cut off and the bird looked like a wild penguin again, ready for freedom. These Penguins were released on Boulders Beach, the famous penguin beach south of Cape Town. In the afternoon, we watched a cormorant and a penguin be post mortemed, and I found Lou busy cutting up the Penguins heart, fascinated by the tiny thing. In the evening, Kate, Matt, Lou and I went out for one of the best meals of my life, and we had ostrich steak, it was so incredible. Late Thursday night, Kim, from my last project, arrived to stay for the weekend. She, Rick and his girlfriend Katie were all staying in Cape Town this weekend, and I was so happy to be reunited with them again!

Friday we had the most wonderful day whale watching in Hermanus, 2 hours east of Cape Town. We hired a car and drove the 5 along the glorious coastline to one of the best whale watching sites in the world. We picnicked in the sunshine, and all napped as we had taken travel sickness tablets which make you very sleepy. We had a talk about the Southern Right Whales we were about to see, who breed in the bay this time of year. Then we boarded our boat, and sailed off, seeing seals and loads of sea birds en route. Pretty soon we saw our first whale, and they are so enormous! This one breached out of the water, maybe 8 times, and we saw his tail pop out of the water. It was unbelievable, I almost cried a little bit. They put their flippers out of the water, and slap the surface for fun, and blow air out of their air holes in an amazing V formation. We watched him play for so long, then in turn, we saw 6 more breaching, showing their tales or coming close to the boat. They are so inquisitive, and one came right up to the boat, just to "people watch." It was one of the most amazing things I had ever seen. However after about an hour, the wind picked up significantly, and I suddenly became very glad I had taken a travel sickness tablet. The boat rocked and rocked, and people everywhere started throwing up! The captain said we had to go back to shore, and sent us all downstairs to shelter from the waves. The water poured past the plastic sheeting as we cruised back over some seriously bumpy waves. I was feeling a bit sick as 50% of the boat were vomiting around us, and as the water lashed through the windows, the floor was washing over our feet with bits of sick and seawater. Yum. We were glad to get off the boat, and reach dry land, and we spent the rest of the day exploring Hermanus, walking along the cliff paths, stopping on rock ledges to watch the whales from the shore, and watch the sun set over this beautiful bay full of whales.

Saturday Lou and Matt went seal diving and had a wonderful time being underwater with seals, who play in the water and swim up to your face! I took Kim, Kate, and Rick and Katie around SANCCOB, and felt quite proud showing them around and telling them all I have learnt about Penguins. They loved seeing them. Then we took our car into town and drove along the coast, to Sea Point, Camps Bay and Hout Bay. We wandered along the sand, and climbed rocks and watched the world go by. Then we drove to Hout Bay and had a picnic of tuna sandwiches behind some fish and chip shop bins, because there were seals playing about in the water directly next to it. They were so close, and so fun. Then we went into this amazing market, before taking the scenic ride back and dropping our car back. We met Lou and Matt at the waterfront, and had a look at the wild seals there too, basking in the jetti. We ate more calamari and drank more wine, and Kim managed to have a seagull poo directly into her wine. Amazing aim. In the evening we went for dinner at "Mama Africa" and had a mixed grill of warthog, kudu, springbok, ostrich and crocodile, which were all very yum!

Sunday, we were at SANCCOB again, and were fully expecting a day on matts and crates. Instead, we were both mega lucky, and I was out in pen 3 again, and Lou in pen 2, both working directly with the Penguins. I practised my feeding and tubing, and started to get the hang of it. We had 30 birds and our work cut out, but in the afternoon we did manage to spare 10 minutes to watch Albert, one of the rehabbers feed home pen, which was an incredible sight. He knows each bird by face, and knew exactly which penguin had and hadn't been fed, out of 40 birds. The Penguins queued up in a line to receive their fish, and some of them tried to sneak back twice, but of course were noticed by Albert. One of the birds is moulting at the moment, and they always get really fat before they moult. This one looked like a toilet roll decorative dolly, and was the fattest bird I have ever seen in my life. At the end of the day, we were lucky enough to get to go into home pen to have a cuddle with the ambassador, tame birds. We sat on the floor as Princess and Stubby (a baby penguin born with genetically short flippers so he can't swim well) and some of the other tame birds plonked themselves on our laps, wanting a cuddle. Possibly one of the luckiest moments of my life, as Lou and I sat with Penguins nibbling at our faces, like we were regurgitating for them, and wanting to be cuddled. Stubby is the softest, gentlest bird I have ever met, and Princess will sit on your lap like a cat. I didn't want to leave. What an extraordinary experience.

Never in my life did I ever think I would be able to cuddle a real life penguin!

---

Photos

Can't get much happier than this
With Stubby (left) and Princess (right)