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This has been the week of the snake. Africa has many poisonous snakes and, during my first week here, I had a snake induction to tell me the degrees of deadliness and exactly how each one could kill someone. What I didn't realise at the time was quite how many of these creatures hang around in our camp! In the space of 3 days we saw a spitting cobra, a hooded cobra and a herald snake - and the hooded cobra was found under a tree no more than a metre from my bedroom door. the general manger here is a bit of snake expert so whenever one is found in camp a call is put out to him and he comes to catch it. With the spitting cobra he took the necessary precaution of putting on his sunglasses first. We came across a night adder out on a lion walk and other people have also seen pythons, one of them reputedly over 2m long.
Having cleaned vultures restaurant last week we set about putting food out for them earlier this week. Unfortunately African horse sickness has affected some of the horses here and sadly a couple died so they were the first item on the menu. We also added bags of offal and old meat that wasn't fit for lion consumption - a veritable vulture smorgasbord. We then drove off and waited a couple of hours for the vultures to come. The plan was to drive back to the area later in the day and drop us off to hide in the bushes and watch the vultures feed. Unfortunately the vehicle scared the vultures away and, despite hiding in the bushes for more than an hour, they steadfastly refused to come back and feast, instead sitting patiently in nearby trees. However I was really lucky the next day as we happened to pass the site on the way to taking water to some of the lion enclosures and a group of vultures were still feeding on the horse carcass so I managed to get some photos.
One of the less enjoyable jobs this week was emptying the sacks containing all the nasty stuff we clean out of the lion enclosures. This hasn't been done for a while so there were probably two or three hundred sacks that had been maturing nicely for a couple of months. Somehow I ended up being one of two people standing in the truck emptying the sacks as they were passed to us. Some of the bags you could tell would just contain dry bones and faeces but others felt ominously soft and usually contained assorted cow parts crawling with maggots. The smell and dust of death and decay gets everywhere and is still lingering in my shoes I'm sure.
But TIA and there are always plenty of things on the plus side. For a start it's been scorching here this week and I haven't seen a cloud in 10 days. And there aren't many places where you can get up before dawn to go and hear 90 lions carrying out their morning territorial roaring ritual while watching a perfect African sunrise. The sound travels further at dawn and dusk which is why they tend to roar then. The hot weather also brings the elephants down to the river so we can eat lunch while watching them cool off in the water a few metres away.
The elephants have been busy thsi week as the days around the full moon bring the opportunity for lunar elephant rides. It's incredibly peaceful riding these majestic animals as they move silently through the bush in the moonlight and it's a great way to see the night sky untainted by light polution. The milky way is clearly visible and most syou can see shooting stars.
The other great experience of this week was watching 4 full grown male lions, each weighing around 190kg, being darted and moved across the park to a new enclosure. It's a precision exercise as they need enough sedative to knock them out for the journey but not so much that you can't wake them up at the other end. There was a bit of excitement when one of the lions started twitching his ears and tail when we splashed water on him to keep him cool but, luckily for us, that's all he did until safely in his new home. It was incredible to see their huge paws and teeth at close quarters and to see the strength that makes them such formidable hunters.
In many ways it feels no time since I arrived here, yet in others I feel a very comfortable part of the Park life routine. But tomorrow I must leave and it will be the turn of a new batch of volunteers to enjoy this wonderful experience. Once again Africa and its people have made a profound impression on me and I look forward to the day I can return to this richly varied continent.
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Louise Sutherland
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Thoroughly Enjoyable Read!!!
I have to say I looked forward to reading your blogs to find out whats been going on with you and the Lions. Sounds like an amazing adventure well jealous! I hope to catch up with you when you get back to hear about life has in store for you next Mags! :-) xx