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Published: January 25th 2007
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Hi to everyone back home and in the States too! I decided to let you all know what I’ve been up to again as I’ve had a pretty busy week. I had my friends from Aus, Em and Lachie, here for the weekend, then Dave and I went to a game reserve near Kruger National Park on Tuesday for a job interview.
We decided to take Em and Lachie to the Sterkfontein caves and to the Lion Park for the day on Saturday. The caves are situated in an area known as the ‘cradle of humankind’ because this is where the oldest fossils of early hominids were discovered. They are 20 million years old and are currently still an excavation site as they have been digging up the remains of ‘little foot’ for the past 2 years. This are area is, of course, blocked off, but the caves are so big that there are sections that remain unexplored, so we had plenty of space to explore in the hour we were there. In one of the caves there is a big underground lake, 60 ft under the ground in fact. The system of tunnels under the lake are so complex
and deep that no one knows how deep this lake actually is. Three divers attempted to explore here, but two of them died by becoming lost in the deep underwater maze. It is so dark down there that I could not take a picture as my flash didn’t reflect anything! It is also so eerily quiet. I could not imagine why anyone would want to dive in there.
Sections of the way required crawling through, which I found quite fun but I think Dave didn’t, being quite a bit bigger than I am. Up the top again, we found our way back and through another excavation site on the way, one which I had studied at university and found quite fascinating to actually be there. The excavation has been continuing on since 1966 and this particular hominid is considered to be the link between apes and humans, being the first to walk upright. I really enjoyed seeing this.
After our tour here, we set out for the Lion Park, which was not far away. This is not merely a zoo of sorts, but also is a centre for the breeding of the white lion, which is dying out
in the wild. We firstly got to play with the cubs, which was pretty cool. Then we went on a drive through the lion enclosure, which was amazing as I’d never seen fully grown lions that close before. One of them decided to come rather close, rubbing its way around the back of the car and then attaching itself to the tow bar. We couldn’t see him behind us though we knew he was there. We heard a crunch and then suddenly the back of the car was pulled down, the force from him pulling us backwards against the brakes. We were worried he was going to crunch something else or even jump on the car, so Dave edged forward and the lion then made off with the tow bar cover, taking it over to his friends where they all proceeded to roll over it. We unanimously decided they could keep it!
I spend Sunday and Monday walking around Sandton (one of the nicer areas of Joburg) and lying by the hotel pool sipping champagne (as you do). On Tuesday, Dave and I headed off early to drive the over 500 km to the game reserve for our job
interview. But we got lost! This was after being assured by Dave that he knew the way and therefore declining the offer of the game reserve to send us a map. We actually drove 100km past it and then had to backtrack. So we were an hour later for our interview. As for the place, all I knew was that they were a private game reserve outside of Kruger, who specialized in corporate and school outdoor education, and were in need of someone who had experience with horses (me). They decided to interview Dave as well with a view to becoming a guide. We didn’t know anything else except what we found out on their website, which sounded great.
But as it turns out, this job wasn't entirely what I expected- but not necessarily in a bad way though.. (that, I’m still deciding!) The best way I could describe it is as a ‘work in progress’. It’s a lovely place, but the problem is that they had a management change because the last management buggered it up. The people who own it live in Joburg and they only come up every now and then. The previous manager used to
one of the lions who claimed ownership of our tow bar cover
hence the reason no one wanted to retreive it! He wasnt the one who stole it though poach the animals and the whole place was falling into disrepair. The place is currently not open for groups due to the facilities being in desperate need of renovation. The new management is great, but the problem is that they’ve got so much to do and pretty much no staff. In fact, they only have one ranger, and a few local helpers who do the cooking and cleaning and look after the horses. The ranger who was looking after the horses previously quit suddenly (but unsurprisingly), and the horses have been neglected for a while. They are quite unfit and they are covered in ticks!
The staff buildings are falling down and need to be rebuilt, but they do have some accommodation that they used for students which are ok. There is so much maintenance to do that they don’t care that we have no guiding qualifications because we wouldn’t actually be guiding. Dave would be doing building repairs, fixing fences, and looking after the crocodiles (yes they have a croc enclosure which he is thrilled about) and I would be in charge of the horses, and doing fence and snare patrols. The horses need so much exercise and
I would have to ride them a lot (all 8 of them) and they haven’t checked the fences for a while so who knows what kind of animals have got their way in there. I hope I don’t go out and come across an elephant sized hole and then come across an angry elephant! The game reserve next door apparently have the big 5, whereas ours have mainly zebra, giraffe, wildebeest etc (ie- no dangerous animals, hence the reason we can offer horse rides through it). But the electric fences currently have no current running through them, and ive been informed that the animal tracks made alongside the outside perimeter fence were made by lions..
And you know you’re in trouble when the conversation contains the following phrases- “here’s the pool but just check it for crocodiles before you jump in”, “the other day a snake fell on my head while I was in bed”, “there’s a resident leopard around here somewhere” and “we used to have 9 crocodiles but we only seem to have 8 today”…
They seem quite happy with us though, with my horseriding experience and Dave’s teaching experience (they are interested in him later on helping with the outdoor education). Dave is happy, but im thinking… do I really want to do this? I would be happy as long as I was learning things, and there is a wildlife rehab centre and a cheetah breeding project just down the road which I could volunteer at. I can also get involved in the management and project co-ordination side of it with my current education and experience. On the other hand, there is no aircon and I basically have nowhere to live there (apparently that’s being sorted) so I am having a think about this. I suppose it would be pretty cool to be paid to ride a horse through a game reserve on a snare patrol. The other girl who is there (their one ranger) said she has been there for 4 weeks and she is on a 3 month trial, so I suppose that couldn’t hurt. If I don’t like it I can leave. At least I would have given it a go and see if I’d like it. Anyone with any suggestions, please feel free to leave me a comment or message!
Love Kel
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SnazzySmith
Deb & Russ
I say, Take the Job.
Great read chicky. Although I can't offer any suggestions I do think that taking the job would be a great experience and you could possibly use it to getting that 5* job that you would rather. You're not deciding to stay there forever so why not give it a go? I know I would if I was there.