Kaths Career Break

Hazel is doing some stock control of the drugs and equipment for the safari patients (separate gear to the clinic). She tries to take my blood to check if a sugar kit is still working - same pinprick as the malaria test kit, but instead of being stoic like all the patients at the clinic (particularly since I wasn’t very good at getting enough blood the first try), I run away. Carmine bee-eaters. Yesterday, Ian showed us his photos of the carmine bee-eater colony, taken with his new expensive camera and they are arresting. So Haz kindly asked Ian to take us out for a drive to the colony. It’s not the best light unfortunately, so we quickly put down the cameras and just enjoy the show and later have sundowners where Ian relates croc-eating human ... read more

Drinks night with couple Dave and Caroline with son DJ. All the staff are there - Cathy (cook), Jess and Ade (Flatdog directors), Paolo and Ed. Dave and Caroline are long term guests, and regulars to Flatdogs, so much so, they eat with the staff, get Palo and Ed gifts (they’re like adopted sons), and have people over to the tree house for dinner and drinks. They’ve mentioned funding the build of their own tree house since they come so regularly. After dinner, DJ and I go back to Jess and Ade’s for more drinks and conversation - they’re all such a good laugh. Jess and Ade have two sweet dogs, which they obviously spoilt rotten. ... read more

Spent the afternoon at the clinic doing malaria testing. Gulp. Not that good around blood initially. But get used to it. It’s easier to collect blood from babies, nice and coagulated, whereas adult blood just smears. I comment to Haz that I had to prick some of the adult patients a couple of times so to collect enough blood, and she wasn’t happy. But technique takes time to develop I say! Volleyball in the afternoon with Palo, Ed and Haz. I’m less dire. But we don’t have a reserve so I’m gasping most of the time... luckily we’re distracted by a couple of huge elephants on the opposite bank taking their leisurely time crossing. I would say they would have been about 200 meters away once they crossed. But they were hilarious to watch. The 2nd ... read more

Lion bonanza starts. In our evening walking safari we see lions, rather Brian does and he’s exclaiming to me ‘they're just there..there.. can’t you see!?’. Well, in my defence, lions are sand coloured and they’re lying on sand! There’s four young males sitting leisurely in the middle of the river and later a cub and its mum emerge from a hidehold where they’ve dragged a recent kill. Since we’re walking, Brian and the scout are very careful not to encroach on the lion’s space, they pay particular attention to whether they’re flattening their ears or taking too much interest. But they don’t. It amazes me that eons of hunting have made lions fearful of humans so they don’t even express any interest; without guns we would be such easy pickings - walking ungainly and torturously slow ... read more

During siesta today Glen took me out for a spot of illegal fishing (Illegal as it is a national park so all animals are technically protected and also he shouldn’t really take guests out, in case they’re get eaten by crocs or drowned by hippos, but I’m a special case - it’s obviously clear that I’m an old hat at all this bush stuff!). It’s land fishing, so we each had a rod of line with bait (steak) attached that we spun then released - I was aiming for the croc in the middle of the river, but watched at it plopped ungracefully a few feet away. Had a great time though - I was essentially feeding the fish my bait rather than catching them, but Glen caught one fish that we released back as it ... read more