tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50184428040720274512023-11-16T02:43:37.954-08:00Della Volunteering Among The AnimalsDellaAnimalFriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09082991843938988614noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5018442804072027451.post-29972028637488186102011-05-20T04:05:00.000-07:002011-05-20T04:05:25.909-07:00First Days at Kibbutz Lotan<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Shalom to all,</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I realize that I've been in Israel almost three weeks, and two and a half of those weeks here at Kibbutz Lotan, and have not put a posting on my blog for all that time, so now I should make up for that and tell you all what's been going on.</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">It's been an incredible time of discovery and I've seen and experienced so many new things in these few days since I've arrived, I hardly know where to start!</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Firstly, Lotan is set in the middle of the Arava desert, far from any 'civilized' urban environment. The area is remote, very hot as can be expected from a desert, full of sand and dust. Sound good? Plus the kibbutz is surrounded by barbed wire and you can only get in via a gate which is guarded night and day. Sound better? I'm emphasizing this on purpose as a joke kind of, because while it is true that we are 'closed' in, you don't get the feeling of being closed in at all. It's just a normal requirement and all the kibbutzim in the area (and there are quite a few) have the same set-up. </div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">One of the first things they tell you when you get here, on top of the normal tour of the kibbutz is, don't walk east. Cross the barbed wire, walk a couple of hundred meters and there you are in Jordan. There is peace with Jordan and it is not risky as such, but sensitive nevertheless, there have been incidents and the army patrols so.....keep to the west end of the kibbutz!</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Kibbutz Lotan is a relatively young kibbutz, created in 1984 by members of the Reform Movement. They produce milk and cheese from cows and goats. All the produce is sold to the outside. It is still one of the more traditional kibbutzim where all the 'wealth' goes to the kibbutz, all the money people make on the outside goes straight into the kibbutz accounts. Because they don't have many members (55 adults plus about 60 kids) and some aspiring members, it is not a rich kibbutz, so they do rely a bit on tourism. </div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">They are very well known in the region and further beyond as well for their knowledge of and dedication to sustainable living, and everything here, and I mean everything, is recycled. Natural products are used for their buildings (mud mostly, which provides for good insulation) and everything is composted, included the toilets, which for the most part are dry (not as bad as it sounds actually). They run Apprenticeship programs which go for 5 months or one year and take volunteers such as myself for one week up to whatever, to learn techniques relating to mud building, sustainable gardening and so forth.</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Which is what I've been doing and while it was a little challenging at first, I now have got the hang of it and am contributing to the kibbutz by my hard work. And it is hard work. Up at 6AM when we do stretching and tai-chi movements together in a circle at the end of which we all hold hands and welcome the new day together (this is the holistic aspect of Lotan) and then we go off to our various duties until breakfast at 8:30 until 9:30 and then back to work until 2:30PM. So in actual fact, almost 8 hour days in the hot sun (does wonder for my tan and yes, I do wear sunscreen and a hat for those who would be tempted to question it;-). I have done a lot of mud working, and gardening, weeding, collecting seeds, preparing our ecological centre for visiting groups of kids.</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I have also been joining in the various other activities on offer. On the occasion of Yom Hazikaron (Remembrance Day) and Yom Ha'atzmaut (Independence Day), there were special little ceremonies I attended. There is of course the weekly Friday evening dinner with a little singing, which is nice. This coming Sunday there is the feast of Lag Ba'omer (not sure what it is, google it...) but it has something to do with bonfires, so that is what we are doing in the evening in an area outside of the kibbutz. I am also taking a couple of hebrew lessons every week (not easy, but I am making progress!) and of course I hear hebrew here all the time, so that helps in picking up a few words or phrases. And I'm continuing diligently my Veterinary Assistant online course, so my brain is frying a bit with all this new wealth of information!</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I've been fortunate to befriend the lifeguard of the pool here, who is a french woman who made aliyah a few years ago. She and I will be spending a night and day at the Dead Sea next week, so that will be a nice change as well. Rolling around in the mud (again!) as it were, and rinsing off in the salty waters of the dead sea...I'm looking forward to that!</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I have to add that people here are incredibly kind and welcoming and that is something I am not entirely used to. Surely it has to do with the nature of the kibbutz. Yesterday, the woman in charge of the eco volunteers who left for the States the day after I arrived, asked me if everything was alright and what could they do to make my stay more pleasant...I mean WOW! I was so taken aback that she should even think of asking me....nobody on my other projects had even considered that I might be wanting or lacking anything. </div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">What else can I say? This part of the country is so remote and one can't say that being here in Lotan is really being in Israel. It is a very protected environment and while events are happening in other parts of the country, such as what happened in the Golan the other day, here life goes on as usual. When I asked one of the long term kibbutz members about that, he said, it's not that they are not interested, they are, but here in Israel, they take it one day at a time, and if they don't happen to turn on the news, they just don't know what's going on. And that applies to everywhere in Israel, not just here in the South. What we perceive as a huge occurrence for them is part of their daily life. They know it's happening but they go on with their life because there is nothing exceptional about a bomb going off in a bus in Jerusalem, for example. Not long ago, I met this Israeli woman, when I was in South Africa, and I asked her how people felt about that bomb that went off in the bus and she replied “which one?” And it's not that she didn't know, it's that it happens and they take it in their stride. Another man was telling me about Gaza and about when he was in the army. He was dressed in full combat uniform, like the Ninja turtle. He would cross the border into Gaza and would be like all the soldiers you see on TV and in the movies, and then he would cross back and go home or to the base and he would lead a normal Israeli life again. Just part of a day at work...Fascinating.....</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Well, I'll leave you now with a few photos and hopefully my next posting will be sooner that this one has been.</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Lehitraot, yom tov! (See ya and have a good day!)</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfLMO6ftiJP0n3mymT3zr7N3UPuSAIN94Tb2rSim7QzgTxuaIvJCL_sXX4LcS_84VXcJ81Abwj1PZYnevDWMnNMJIMHo9T5CGYRo1fnoIbv2XpoaMT90x8j9HoFSGLlmI90W5WXln5Ukdt/s1600/IMG_4650.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfLMO6ftiJP0n3mymT3zr7N3UPuSAIN94Tb2rSim7QzgTxuaIvJCL_sXX4LcS_84VXcJ81Abwj1PZYnevDWMnNMJIMHo9T5CGYRo1fnoIbv2XpoaMT90x8j9HoFSGLlmI90W5WXln5Ukdt/s320/IMG_4650.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Very early morning walk in the desert...introducing Blanca....<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjJBoY_7MVdNuQfvhUw3isJBFl6zLt7t637dTtVrMvrbBb_I7JOUUtLNZORYLz8qwMO64hZBXfCKvHwRaS1nALs9JIYqQKBXfCvXIi6ecBUPDANM3paBlGj6MrtcTmpCFzkAQmQ3sPt6xR/s1600/IMG_4606.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjJBoY_7MVdNuQfvhUw3isJBFl6zLt7t637dTtVrMvrbBb_I7JOUUtLNZORYLz8qwMO64hZBXfCKvHwRaS1nALs9JIYqQKBXfCvXIi6ecBUPDANM3paBlGj6MrtcTmpCFzkAQmQ3sPt6xR/s320/IMG_4606.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Scenery around the Kibbutz Lotan<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuHOCeHlZ-6bwuAVQ9STYAJcVLUjQuF6DEQDnKhb9gChcR-My731icvIeQ7_UW7Ao9G0lbpMzF-Ho7AYMjNhFLfagQbiT5BFpjudnEtZHI3Jj8cJf6lbmP0Cc5IumwZj41LoZxlpYOIr0W/s1600/IMG_4614.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuHOCeHlZ-6bwuAVQ9STYAJcVLUjQuF6DEQDnKhb9gChcR-My731icvIeQ7_UW7Ao9G0lbpMzF-Ho7AYMjNhFLfagQbiT5BFpjudnEtZHI3Jj8cJf6lbmP0Cc5IumwZj41LoZxlpYOIr0W/s320/IMG_4614.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> "Give your garbage a second chance" our Eco Kef or Eco Centre<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOfFEViV5Ug70KkFPa-9HLuKwjfApfDcVa-4iUmhHNyYTY21mNAvKshXofvHpihEnwtFShvA-mdZvZMRLZwF2ShRu2dtRw6az_5wipp5tPllNBR1S4kaxAjtYXYNkVLQw0WmuLD4pp1MBy/s1600/IMG_4616.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOfFEViV5Ug70KkFPa-9HLuKwjfApfDcVa-4iUmhHNyYTY21mNAvKshXofvHpihEnwtFShvA-mdZvZMRLZwF2ShRu2dtRw6az_5wipp5tPllNBR1S4kaxAjtYXYNkVLQw0WmuLD4pp1MBy/s320/IMG_4616.jpg" width="240" /></a></div> The children's playground at the Eco Kef<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-RU5Hf7tJ80qZrCbYm7WCWAeruz0g2f-NdUTWOlsdCDkd7rnglfCiWpJfgMshMvqfxq4p6-SZDsxnJYLQOSwuMz23eDF3AYxx3gu_Bgzu5Ok6AeAa8bCFc8drqI1z_UrTqLe-icmGo8Lr/s1600/IMG_4620.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-RU5Hf7tJ80qZrCbYm7WCWAeruz0g2f-NdUTWOlsdCDkd7rnglfCiWpJfgMshMvqfxq4p6-SZDsxnJYLQOSwuMz23eDF3AYxx3gu_Bgzu5Ok6AeAa8bCFc8drqI1z_UrTqLe-icmGo8Lr/s320/IMG_4620.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> More examples of mud created playground....soon my creation will be on here too!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU1HahtZuRnILf9Js_C34pLoweEKdGd0Acwu8s7laZ9fL_9cWk4Zp23YkVzhUvQo0CX_WZGYA2nTf0sVbDt6g6UGV2-PO96nwYp92oI9dt6TxjFkhNFtjRI7k1oIiwv8vQ0i7-naCXkqdV/s1600/IMG_4609.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU1HahtZuRnILf9Js_C34pLoweEKdGd0Acwu8s7laZ9fL_9cWk4Zp23YkVzhUvQo0CX_WZGYA2nTf0sVbDt6g6UGV2-PO96nwYp92oI9dt6TxjFkhNFtjRI7k1oIiwv8vQ0i7-naCXkqdV/s320/IMG_4609.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> We do have a fantastic swimming pool ;-)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiszM83JOq1jL2im6sHeRnazb3utYX2-0hOS-TZzEtNc_Ww6MlufkG0mJayp5i1NZTeWI9W5R9Fio0fB41k2FMFouCBTx4sZKQrxKExRcRNvcNIg1TfQJDDPZNlgwa1EX9lYY6YmF_sj5QB/s1600/IMG_4654.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiszM83JOq1jL2im6sHeRnazb3utYX2-0hOS-TZzEtNc_Ww6MlufkG0mJayp5i1NZTeWI9W5R9Fio0fB41k2FMFouCBTx4sZKQrxKExRcRNvcNIg1TfQJDDPZNlgwa1EX9lYY6YmF_sj5QB/s320/IMG_4654.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Florence, my friend the lifeguard, on our early morning hike<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZSsTPqZFKiUX_YmFzQtMipgkrFf4MFwLO8cfCI-zzQbW_AeU1fs9wfCPHAfoSQRLH51zcwYyc4phAs7tYz_ySJD6oKv53CerS02qGE4yXrvcrqrkX072GP5MG9X-93yAg9ZXjadW_3vl1/s1600/IMG_4665.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZSsTPqZFKiUX_YmFzQtMipgkrFf4MFwLO8cfCI-zzQbW_AeU1fs9wfCPHAfoSQRLH51zcwYyc4phAs7tYz_ySJD6oKv53CerS02qGE4yXrvcrqrkX072GP5MG9X-93yAg9ZXjadW_3vl1/s320/IMG_4665.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Me and one of our LED lamps in the Bustan neighbourhood where we live in our mud made domes... </div>DellaAnimalFriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09082991843938988614noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5018442804072027451.post-52170925160432193862011-05-03T08:47:00.000-07:002011-05-03T08:47:33.591-07:00First days in Israel<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Well, hello everyone! I'm back, so to speak, as I am away again, but back on this blog...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="en-US">I left Strasbourg again on May 1</span><sup><span lang="en-US">st</span></sup><span lang="en-US"> to take the plane from Basel airport. When you board a plane going to Israel, you are immediately in the ambiance! Picture the scene: half the plane was Orthodox Jews all dressed in black as befits their tradition, with the appropriate number of children and strollers and suitcases to suit that number. We all settled into our seats with more or less discipline, the men putting up and taking down repeatedly bags, cases and other belongings including wigs (!), I am not kidding, and the plane took off. As soon as the seatbelt sign was turned off, all the men got up and put on their prayer accoutrements and started praying, pacing up and down the aisle, it was Mea Shearim in-flight!</span></div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I land, all goes well at passport control, very fast actually, I retrieve my suitcase (not lost this time!) and off I go to get my shared taxi to Jerusalem. The drivers are arguing vociferously in typical Israeli style. Our driver drops me off as planned right near the Abraham Youth Hostel where I am to spend a couple of nights before heading off for the desert and my project. I meet a nice young girl by the name of Rosie who is also going off on a project a few miles away from mine, and we hang out together for the time we are at the hostel. I'm sharing a room with four other girls but I'm soon to learn that in hostels people come and go, and lo and behold, the second evening, I walk into my room and there is a guy in one of the beds! Nobody told me it was a mixed room! So, last night, I had to share my room with two other girls and two other guys...definitely a new experience for me!</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">This morning we got up to catch our bus toward our projects. We needed to catch the 444 direction Eilat and were looking forward to about a four hour bus ride. We get to the Central Bus Station with our reservation which we had been given by the GoEco representative and proceed to the ticket counter to retrieve our tickets. Picture this again: there is this girl, talking on the phone, chewing gum, no “hello, may I help you?” or any nicety of that sort....she shakes her head over to the left and says “the machines!”.....ahhh, welcome to Israel and its people....full of charm and goodwill;-)</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">After four hours, I am dropped off in the middle of.....NOWHERE! It's desert all around with the Jordanian border about 500 meters away. Fortunately, one of the members of the kibbutz came to pick me up in her car and drove me the short distance to the kibbutz. I was shown to my own private geodesic dome lodging and taken on a very short tour around the kibbutz. It is very small with only 55 members and a few other people too who aren't full fledged members. Luckily for me, they have given up on the passive cooling system as it really gets much too hot here in the summertime and doesn't cool down at night, so they gave in and put ceiling and floor fans in our rooms. I was shown the showers and the “dry toilets”, not a favorite of mine, but I have to admit, there was no foul smell. Everything here is recycled, composted and communal....An interesting way of life indeed. For me? Hmm, not so sure.. But the strange thing is this: I'm in a totally remote part of Israel, in the middle of the desert, with goats chatting outside my window, not a town in site and full internet connection! Now, ain't that amazing?! What a world we live in!</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Tomorrow I start my work at 6AM. I am expected to work until about 2:30PM with a break for breakfast and in the afternoon, I can chill out by the pool, finally work on that tan I'm longing for and prepare assiduously my veterinary course for which I was awarded an A- for the Module 1...apparently, the old brain is still functioning a bit... So I will leave you now with a few photos and will be in touch soon with more news..</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cheers to all ;-)</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_FwWtwLfClSY_6KR9sbdcTYD2BCUfl44-mnCbtBPmJrgUVx7NmUKilpQN3ZQkKzJP3rnnyXC0Dfwi1AP4qj_dhSRsOr4EcgIPHr4a7UOEQ-JzWTG3eCtxAcsA3Qa7QG2O9QrRsAqbX0Hu/s1600/IMG_4595.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_FwWtwLfClSY_6KR9sbdcTYD2BCUfl44-mnCbtBPmJrgUVx7NmUKilpQN3ZQkKzJP3rnnyXC0Dfwi1AP4qj_dhSRsOr4EcgIPHr4a7UOEQ-JzWTG3eCtxAcsA3Qa7QG2O9QrRsAqbX0Hu/s320/IMG_4595.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> My room with the goats in the background<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL46KjMPVi82rGVFuxL96lLqVHV6E4ITahfLlCTcRyy21Qdt4diqs8iRGZWXJ8z-t6S53Q6A9lH-LpwvL06cAZnXw8q0ubIVPOz0aL2pL0T0ibKl_n0eVZwgAGJa418RbvVCVEFRLDs24k/s1600/IMG_4596.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL46KjMPVi82rGVFuxL96lLqVHV6E4ITahfLlCTcRyy21Qdt4diqs8iRGZWXJ8z-t6S53Q6A9lH-LpwvL06cAZnXw8q0ubIVPOz0aL2pL0T0ibKl_n0eVZwgAGJa418RbvVCVEFRLDs24k/s320/IMG_4596.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> No description necessary<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRXrW-_Mzq-FylkPjQsKsBi_vSISjLJF2guziQkkNz219EbRIOk0y0F29VfpvN5UkZD23uU20WzARdAN2vhmFQDgiOytRoKvw8Yr8BsHclF5MCSz4TLPi-18qwaq6QW7J22XHTkC1Rep36/s1600/IMG_4593.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRXrW-_Mzq-FylkPjQsKsBi_vSISjLJF2guziQkkNz219EbRIOk0y0F29VfpvN5UkZD23uU20WzARdAN2vhmFQDgiOytRoKvw8Yr8BsHclF5MCSz4TLPi-18qwaq6QW7J22XHTkC1Rep36/s320/IMG_4593.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Yard in front of my room<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg157yaCNQztlELKEND67Cal5Ki7ZdxiTzZ_sxaqJBgnn8Ti-xVT8MzcdR3qNZNmVY-DF4pJyi_SS24wHbJoKXLZJaskyUE8Y1UVpeoMSJWlMg9nFciFF0kZNOAxabjD5spPNGSLlj1m90h/s1600/IMG_4594.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg157yaCNQztlELKEND67Cal5Ki7ZdxiTzZ_sxaqJBgnn8Ti-xVT8MzcdR3qNZNmVY-DF4pJyi_SS24wHbJoKXLZJaskyUE8Y1UVpeoMSJWlMg9nFciFF0kZNOAxabjD5spPNGSLlj1m90h/s320/IMG_4594.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Another view of the yard and other rooms<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAov8_YPUWvnIm2GrpSpbn3UEHEWZYHAQp7E3skFaoYNijUIRt0YvcNvuFonfdxQmvObmydU2bMmsKJwXX6-JPIUwOa0McdPwN0qkv4s3_6EQ-RhW5eipd7smYxwrCgdDWwFwKUPSGDC3i/s1600/IMG_4597.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAov8_YPUWvnIm2GrpSpbn3UEHEWZYHAQp7E3skFaoYNijUIRt0YvcNvuFonfdxQmvObmydU2bMmsKJwXX6-JPIUwOa0McdPwN0qkv4s3_6EQ-RhW5eipd7smYxwrCgdDWwFwKUPSGDC3i/s320/IMG_4597.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC2Rog_P9v2XeZ7-KlHUDivg7OhxgLE1QkqFVulgGL6WHpwcGtZ9xVnlfZF1X-ejTBQ81Bsu_zq64p8WJSceC6S0_1TRKxvUdzhzTRLDtCEOn_pVmUC1FaDvKCVnzAgNrAZ0u9k6lzCGxQ/s1600/IMG_4598.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC2Rog_P9v2XeZ7-KlHUDivg7OhxgLE1QkqFVulgGL6WHpwcGtZ9xVnlfZF1X-ejTBQ81Bsu_zq64p8WJSceC6S0_1TRKxvUdzhzTRLDtCEOn_pVmUC1FaDvKCVnzAgNrAZ0u9k6lzCGxQ/s320/IMG_4598.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Showers and toilets<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjikgvMSIY1od2anmGenozf3N4TIU8en5br53hA41mNxQHZ8FMtAW0gc_0V7ovgOMO_96a-DL9X17lDwC-FwvTka9Zk7-YyYU_JuGrrzqajQ2OdNmUhfyYO_1tMMHe_A7SWdgHoTXjlZnVJ/s1600/IMG_4599.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjikgvMSIY1od2anmGenozf3N4TIU8en5br53hA41mNxQHZ8FMtAW0gc_0V7ovgOMO_96a-DL9X17lDwC-FwvTka9Zk7-YyYU_JuGrrzqajQ2OdNmUhfyYO_1tMMHe_A7SWdgHoTXjlZnVJ/s320/IMG_4599.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Now, who can that be?!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKlLUfux5rzOQVo0vxyB6ohbbihaZHQ9rRd8Uy0SQamhjMP-xiMfyvBn21l-tfKTzYifFlTSzi3XXvmS8y2kVdjaVrjdghLVGHMvVd1LDCcxBELICb1X7uHlzHBeMWRnEgLFdjkvuLP7NS/s1600/IMG_4600.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKlLUfux5rzOQVo0vxyB6ohbbihaZHQ9rRd8Uy0SQamhjMP-xiMfyvBn21l-tfKTzYifFlTSzi3XXvmS8y2kVdjaVrjdghLVGHMvVd1LDCcxBELICb1X7uHlzHBeMWRnEgLFdjkvuLP7NS/s320/IMG_4600.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>This is what my geodesic dome room is made of</div>DellaAnimalFriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09082991843938988614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5018442804072027451.post-7198091718927353702011-04-10T08:31:00.000-07:002011-04-10T08:31:20.524-07:00Last Days at Moholoholo<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I'm sitting in the departure lounge<span lang="en-US"> of the airport in Johannesburg waiting for my plane for Frankfurt. It's time to say goodbye to South Africa and move on.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">This month has gone by incredibly fast, I can hardly believe it, with its ups and downs and pretty low moments when I was wondering what I was doing here. Not enough work at the centre. Same duties day after day. And the similar 'young' crowd as the one I encountered in Thailand. Nice young people, completely immersed in their own lives as young people will be, with their concerns and sense of humor that I confess to not always sharing. Obviously, they thought the same. This past week, a couple of 'older' women arrived at the centre and that was a relief as I could finally have a normal discussion with them as they 'spoke' my language....</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">That said, just when I thought things couldn't get more boring, everything happened at once. Such is the nature of Moholoholo Rehab Centre. About a week ago, we were called by the owner of a nearby game reserve to come and get a baby zebra who was really in a pretty bad way. We never really found out what happened to its mother (poaching is always suspected of course). The female zebra was 3 or 4 weeks old. We brought her back to the centre and put her in the clinic on a bed of straw and started trying to feed her. She got constant attention with someone sitting with her all the time. She wouldn't drink milk, so we had to force feed her and put her on a drip. Unfortunately, her health went from bad to worse and she died two days later. It was very sad to watch as she tried to catch her last breath (I happened to come into the clinic right at that moment) and her whole system just shut down. Poor little thing.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The following day or two days later, we were called to go and get a baby bushbock only a few days old, whose joint in the right hind leg had been eaten by a baboon (though she still had her leg but in a very bad state). She was abandoned by her mother. We brought her into the clinic, Brian asked us what we thought we should do seeing that even if she were to be amputated, she could still lead a normal life at the centre and breed. So we all said, go ahead with the surgery, bring her to the vet straight away. Cost is always a consideration of course, but they were willing to give it a try. So we all piled into the bucky and drove hellbent into town to the vet's office. The vet operated for about one hour actually saving the leg, only to have the little thing die on the operating table, of a heart failure, probably due to excessive stress. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Things were getting tough, but such is life in Africa. You try your best and then move on because other animals need your attention.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">And then, I had a wonderful surprise. Just when I was thinking I couldn't wait to get home, some of us were told we were being taken on a 2-day outing on a nearby reserve which belongs to the same owner as Moholoholo. So off we went to Nhoveni, bright and early on Friday morning. Brian was due to join us late morning and that, for me at least, was a real treat! In a nutshell, he took us on a 3-hour bushwalk on Sunday morning, two 3-hour bushrides Saturday afternoon and Sunday late morning. I truly think there is nothing that man doesn't know about African wildlife and it was just a very special moment. While up there with us, he relaxed, became really funny, telling us stories of when he was young and wild in the bush, calling to the birds, teaching us about tracks, trees and other vegetation....We were driving along and all of a sudden, he spotted the vultures going around in the air, sign of a nearby prey... Alive or dead? Difficult to say. So rifles in hand, Brian and Martin led us through the bush to try and find the prey. Suffice it to say, we were completely oblivious of the dangers involved. He wasn't of course and imposed absolute silence on us and extreme caution. Well, we did eventually find the birds' prey.....a poached white rhino, horns still intact, so we assumed that the rhino was shot, wounded, ran away to die a distance away and the poachers lost sight of her.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Rhinos are the most sought after animals in Africa at the moment. Last year, 333 rhinos were poached for their horns, this year to date, already 101 have been killed. As Brian said, in a few years , at this rate, we will be able to show our children pictures of rhinos, an extinct animal, and they will have no idea what it is. Poaching is a terrible problem. And the truth of the matter is that, the poachers are not the problem, for the most part they are very poor people who only want to feed their families. The problem are the people who commission the poaching out of pure greed: a rhino horn sells for 1 million Rand (a huge amount of money) and the buyers are for the most part the Chinese market who use it for allegedly medicinal purposes. Only the horns are taken, they have no use for the rest of the animal. As such, we found this female rhino is an advanced state of decomposition, horns intact. At least that is one pair of horns they won't get, but it is a life wasted and there is a baby rhino somewhere in the bush roaming around without its mom.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The two days were eventful as you have just read. We were lucky to see a couple of elephants, an injured hippo (probably poachers also), giraffes and zebras, many impalas and even a buffalo! That was a fantastic way to end my trip and I was very, very lucky.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">When I think back on my month here, I realize how full it has been, although I didn't always think so at the time. Again, I have learned tremendous amounts, only to realize how much I still don't know. Daunting. I am not sure I will return any time soon however, it is a little too brutal for me and if one is not a meat eater, it is quite difficult. But, on reflexion, I'm glad I did it, it was one heck of an experience!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">And now, in a couple of days time, I'll be off to England, London specifically, to lead a very large group of runners to the London Marathon. Talk about culture shocks...no time to adjust and I'm off again (I love it;-). So there probably won't be any further postings until I get to Israel and settle in to Kibbutz Lotan. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijoFiIY4U9rGLmVJ9xks-8rg4Nbe_b3H47q6oNCCoqtMlzPeWtBUUnb5Yi4OkT9Cmrimhyyqup9gClbvRBiANTCZuRELHlX_seNHbKcEA2v8gNIDbgLCukMCZC_mgGls6BapbmnRB7GVul/s1600/IMG_3733.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijoFiIY4U9rGLmVJ9xks-8rg4Nbe_b3H47q6oNCCoqtMlzPeWtBUUnb5Yi4OkT9Cmrimhyyqup9gClbvRBiANTCZuRELHlX_seNHbKcEA2v8gNIDbgLCukMCZC_mgGls6BapbmnRB7GVul/s320/IMG_3733.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> A tender moment with 'Dela' our baby black rhino...<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQywuB7_HTI82sk7uQcSJznGlHJwdB5WQUAm5C7lfpd0XXH1r-K_jvq15cv8HNVYZftBI3H4aNvY3cfNR3CZ3SBVTy4huPjXP99YGKAYqjhbfLnyw9RYNRF0Cd5BdNAvXms-cEHgWxHJlW/s1600/IMG_3772.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQywuB7_HTI82sk7uQcSJznGlHJwdB5WQUAm5C7lfpd0XXH1r-K_jvq15cv8HNVYZftBI3H4aNvY3cfNR3CZ3SBVTy4huPjXP99YGKAYqjhbfLnyw9RYNRF0Cd5BdNAvXms-cEHgWxHJlW/s320/IMG_3772.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> This is 'Joly' one of our ambassador Cheetahs<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDmmYiihMhUgWCN9I0zJHu9N4KuAmP8vApHP9wCsYLl0dmU-pYoZadWfxxks8yb6NKBnjSpo88Ed5Kdg_pZiHuGDi4gjmdB_qHYB6KjEFlhYSHdLDps9lD3cL52neeB9yi7aZw2tiAEucC/s1600/IMG_3904.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDmmYiihMhUgWCN9I0zJHu9N4KuAmP8vApHP9wCsYLl0dmU-pYoZadWfxxks8yb6NKBnjSpo88Ed5Kdg_pZiHuGDi4gjmdB_qHYB6KjEFlhYSHdLDps9lD3cL52neeB9yi7aZw2tiAEucC/s320/IMG_3904.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Self portraits of 'Dela' and Della...</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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</div><div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cheers to you all and I hope most of you have Facebook to be able to see the full album of my stay in South Africa. Additionally, I will put more pictures on my blog as soon as I get home.</div>DellaAnimalFriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09082991843938988614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5018442804072027451.post-35603114852944106282011-03-30T03:06:00.000-07:002011-03-30T03:06:33.044-07:00It's not for the faint-hearted!Well, I now know from a first-hand experience that Africa is a brutal place indeed. When I signed up to come here, in the info pack I received, it said “It's not for the faint-hearted!” and this has proved absolutely true.<br />
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In my last posting, I spoke about the elephant killing for the purpose of culling. The way I understand it, culling started in the 60's when land owners came in to farm the land and decimated the wildlife. Nowadays, public outcry has made culling illegal in theory, so instead, trophy hunting has been introduced. But in actual fact, the result is the same. The population of certain animals being too great in proportion to the space they occupy, as in the case of the elephants, they are selected according to specific criteria, and shot down. <br />
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As I mentioned previously, Brian and the staff here at Moholoholo try to have us experience as much of Africa as possible so include us in most of the events taking place in the wild. Thus, a couple of evenings ago, I went to do one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do in my life. We went to cut up the elephant which had been killed that day. We all piled into the trucks, with extra water for the long drive, all weather jackets and whatever else was needed to be out in the wild for over 6 hours, and drove to the site. There, the elephant was lying on its side, two legs had already been cut off, the head was partially cut off along with the tail and one ear. It was a gruesome sight and I was devastated. The guys were cutting and hacking away to try and cut the animal up while the meat was fresh and get as much done as possible before night-time. I took one look at the elephant's eye which thankfully was closed, and I had the feeling I was looking into his soul. Everyone was taking pictures. I couldn't as I also felt that I would be robbing it of its soul, so you won't see any pictures of that when I get them all on Facebook. It was horribly difficult for me to watch, so I just sat in our combi waiting to take the first truck back to the center. At about 7:30 PM, we were ready to go back with the first load, I sat in front, two other students sat in back on the meat on which the rangers had placed a tarpaulin, and we were on our way. Had a flat tyre on the way back, but I guess that's incidental. All the other students got back to the center around 1AM covered in blood. I did help to unload the truck though, and all of us were complimented by Brian for having put in the effort. A graceful gesture on his part. Now just remember, they don't do this for fun, they use every bit of the meat, none of it is wasted. Of note however, the man who actually killed the elephant refused to touch the meat, which disgusted everyone, Brian included.<br />
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What else can I tell you? A 2,5 meter python was found in the snake snare the other day and put in a cage in our clinic. He unfortunately escaped and is still lurking somewhere not too far we assume. It is not a venomous snake but rather a constrictor, however I am not happy about it at all and try not to think about it. An ordinary occurrence here, snakes are everywhere. Fortunately, I have not been close to one yet and hope it stays that way until I leave!<br />
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Two of our hyenas, Luma and Shade, were finally put together in the same enclosure and seem to be getting along just fine, so that is nice. Our 8 week old sable, Maisy, who is being hand-raised by two of the students, is also doing very well and is gorgeous. Four of the servals here will be released any day now, and the sooner the better because every day I go to clean their foul smelling enclosure, they hiss at me and it is kind of scary. Dela the rhino, is her usual self, happily munching away at the trees. She too is being hand raised by Dave whose fee for staying here is being paid by Dela's future owner, and she will be sent to her new home sometime in May. <br />
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As far as my duties are concerned, every morning we start at 7. I go clean Woody and Bubbles' enclosure, two sweet natured blind owls. Then I go on to do the Giant Grey Owls who always look at me with their huge eyes...they actually look very funny, very stoic. Then, we clean the vulture enclosures, with the vultures inside with us. Rosie, a hooded vulture, is so cute, follows us around as we do the cleaning, trying to peck away at our pants or shoe laces. We are also meant to feed the vultures as part of their training program and ours as well, I guess. We put on a leather glove which goes all the way up to our elbow and the vultures are meant to land on it and munch away at the meat we hold out for them and wait for them to fly off our arm. For now, I have only managed to feed Rosie as she is quite light. The other two vultures in my enclosure are simply too heavy for me. But I haven't given up trying! Then, in the afternoon, we feed the owls little chicks, some of which need to be cut up in pieces. That is the one job I'm not willing to do. So as you can see, there are a lot of birds here, not to mention a very full aviary. Something I wasn't expecting when I signed up, not being particularly interested in birds. However, nature is nature, and here at Moholoholo, every form of wildlife is precious.<br />
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The rest of my duties involve cleaning the clinic, cleaning the animals' feeding cages and enclosures or camps, as they call them here and we are strongly encouraged to spend what extra time we have with the animals because interaction is important.<br />
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The center is enclosed for any number of reasons, safety being the main one. Our breakfast is at another lodge to which we can walk every morning. In the evening, we are driven there as it is too dangerous to walk through the bush at night-time. You never know when you'll bump into a rhino, or a snake, possibly a hippo....And in order to get out of the reserve entirely, we need to go through three gates....beyond that is freedom ;-) Yesterday, we went on a boat trip through Blyde Canyon and actually got to see some hippos from a distance (they are the most dangerous animals in Africa and have caused the most deaths). Then we went to a waterfall and had a great time jumping from up on high into the water. I surprised myself and everyone else by my daring, I was kind of proud actually. And tomorrow, finally, we get to go to.....<br />
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Kruger Park! And hopefully see the Big 5! (More on that later!)<br />
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Cheers!DellaAnimalFriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09082991843938988614noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5018442804072027451.post-39566375804117145742011-03-30T03:05:00.000-07:002011-03-30T03:05:13.978-07:00Day 6 at Moholoholo Rehab CenterDay 6 at Moholoholo Rehab Center: today has been the perfect day! Early this morning, we find out that the bats we have been caring for since last Monday have found a new home and are leaving today! Finished the every two hour syringe feeding! Finished the mealworms! Finished getting up at midnight and then 6AM to feed them! We can finally get a good night's sleep and nobody will be on edge anymore and most importantly, we will be able to attend to our full time residents who need our attention such as......<br />
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Dela, our baby rhino ;-) Dela is short of 18 months old. She was brought here as a very small baby when she got caught in a mud mire from which her mom tried to extricate her for two days only to give up in the end and abandon her, reluctantly I'm sure. Dela was lucky indeed. Since she arrived at Moholoholo, she has been hand reared by our dedicated team of conservationists, bottle fed and cared for day and night (at the beginning). Now Dela is a sweet natured 350kg rhino who gets lonely when she spends too much time on her own so we take it in turns to “rhino sit” which is what I just came back from doing. And I just had to tell you all about it. Picture this: the sky is blue, just a few white clouds, the sun is shining, the Drakensberg mountain in the background, and me and Dela. Nap time. She is lying down next to me and I'm resting my head on her tummy or her paw.....I mean, how good can it get?? While riots are taking place in the world, bombs are going off, here we are Dela and I lazing around in peaceful surroundings without a care in the world..... amazing!<br />
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Day 8 at Moholoholo: I'm still rhino sitting. It's 5PM, the end of another very hot day in Africa and it is very peaceful save for Dela who is whinging because she is quite hungry and waiting for her milk, so I do have to keep an eye on her in case she gets a bit impatient.<br />
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At Moholoholo, I am not a 'volunteer' but a 'student' which means that not only do I partake in the duties necessary to run the center but I am also expected to learn a lot about animals, specifically African animals of course, Africa and its ways. That is one of the things I most enjoy about this place. You don't only come here to clean enclosures and feed animals, you also go home with a greater knowledge of this environment and the problems they are facing here.<br />
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Brian Jones is the manager of Moholoholo. He is certainly a character, rather difficult to describe, a showman certainly, opinionated, extremely knowledgeable, freaks out all the young 'students'. Born and raised in the bush, a white man among blacks, Brian is very much an African man. He is traditional through and through. We are allowed no apparent shoulders or knees, no alchohol, no girls in the boys' rooms and no boys in the girl's rooms, no frivolous magazines, well, you get the idea. He loves to tell everyone how his son in law to be courted his daughter for four years coming to see her once a month only to sit on opposite sides of the sofa. Brian wouldn't 'give' his daughter away until the young man had proven himself in more way than one. A very traditional man. From a very early age, he learned to talk to the lions, the cheetahs, he is an expert tracker and seems to have a clear understanding of the African ecosystem. Part of him is still living in 19th century. This morning, as part of our 'education', he treated us to a conservation talk to which one doesn't necessarily have to adhere but one must give it proper attention and consideration.<br />
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He wanted to emphasize that man is destroying the world. That there was a time when wild animals knew no borders. Game reserves and parks didn't exist and animals roamed freely from East to West Africa, from North to South, birds migrated all the way around the world, and so forth. Animals thus had a huge playground and the importance of this is that the ecosystem was regulated by the animals themselves. Everything in nature had a cause and a reason. Since man has started to interfere with nature, that fragile balance is no longer there. And I will describe just one thing which might shock many of you reading this but I will try to say it like he told it and you can all make up your minds. Keep in mind that this is very much an African story. Elephants. As I said, once upon a time, elephants roamed freely and their territory was massive. Now they are enclosed in parks such as Kruger. Instead of roaming in line, they are going around in circles. Kruger's capacity for elephants is 7000. At the moment, more than 16000 elephants are roaming around Kruger park. They are destroying the ecosystem by tearing down the trees (which is what elephants naturally do) and thus destroying the habitat of countless other animals driving some of them to extinction. The elephant population needs to be controlled in this situation. So every so often, a 'trophy' hunt is organized to shoot down an elephant (not at random but according to certain criteria). The money the park charges for this 'privilege' is redistributed to the park for the benefit of all the animals, the meat serves to feed centers like Moholoholo and the money to pay the local rangers who work in the park, thereby also benefitting the local population. So, a win win situation. Now, as I said earlier, this is a typically African situation and one cannot look at it nor judge it with the eyes of Westerners. I still believe that hunting has no reason to be in our part of the world. And while I abhore the idea of an elephant being shot down, I can almost understand what Brian means.<br />
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As I am sitting here typing this, the most humongous storm has just begun, sheets of rain streaming down, very scary, loud thunder right above our heads it seems. In fact, the loudest thunder I have ever heard. Drenched, I have just about made it back to my room. A lightning bolt just went through the keyhole of the door pushing the key into the room. How scary is that?!<br />
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Well, I will leave you with a very beautiful image, African of course....this afternoon, Lyn, one of our volunteer coordinators, took us on a hippo run, which means that we took the safari vehicle to go and find the hippos in the reserve to feed them. We didn't find the hippos but we did find quite a few giraffes and some zebras who actually came and ate right out of our hands. Another very special moment at Moholoholo.<br />
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Cheers everyoneDellaAnimalFriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09082991843938988614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5018442804072027451.post-79003324214910772932011-03-20T09:25:00.000-07:002011-03-20T09:25:26.779-07:00First Days at Moholoholo Rehab Center South AfricaWell, here I am at Moholoholo Rehab Center in South Africa. The center is located about 30 km away from the town of Hoedspruit, 50km away from Kruger park, in the north east province of Limpopo, the closest border being Mozambique. Moholoholo comprises the Rehab Center, several lodges, and its main purpose is the rehabilitation of injured, poisoned, snared animals with the aim of releasing them back into the wild in what would hopefully be a safer environment than the one they have come from. The other very important purpose of Moholoholo is to do what they call here “Conservation through Education” hence the large number of groups which come through here each day and take part in the conservation tours offered by the rangers on duty.<br />
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My first couple of days here were truly disconcerting and I was going from a feeling of exhilaration at being able to touch, talk to and walk with “Dela” (yes, I'm not inventing that!) the resident baby black rhino, give a goodnight scritch scritch behind the ears to the hyena “Luma” whose enclosure is right in front of my room, put my hand through the cage and pet “Bullet” and “Juba”, our ambassador Cheetahs (more on that later), or even “high five” our lions......to one of total discouragement, because coming from WFFT where I had some much work and such diversity, in comparison here, there is much less to do. <br />
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I've come to understand that the very nature of the center is so different from WFFT. The country is different, the animals are different as are the concerns, issues and actions undertaken to care for African wildlife. Whereas many of the problems which the animals face in Southeast Asia are linked to the tourist industry, here in Africa, it is very much a local problem and tourism has absolutely nothing to do with it. <br />
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Wildlife covers a huge territory and obviously knows no boundaries. As such, cheetahs, leopards, hyenas and other predators are often found trespassing into private game reserves and killing local livestock to feed themselves. A common reaction to this is to kill the animals in question by ensnaring them or poisoning them. By their educational tours, the rangers at Moholoholo try to encourage people who find these injured animals to get in contact with the staff at the Rehab Center who will then come and get the offending animal, treat it and nurse it back to health and attempt to release it in another private game reserve willing to take it. This is a great part of Moholoholo's activity. As such, the animals do not end up spending the rest of their lives here unless they cannot be released in any way. The ones which cannot be released serve as “ambassadors” for their species by taking part in educational tours in the center and out, raising awareness. Poaching is also a huge problem. One example is the poaching of rhinos. Last year alone, 330 rhinos were poached in South Africa for their horn (and not for the meat) among which 174 in Kruger Park alone. Poaching is obviously illegal. There are anti-poaching squads within the Park but with the overall surface of the Park, catching the poachers 'in flagrante' is almost impossible. <br />
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Another aim here at Moholoholo is breeding. Whereas I have come to understand that in certain countries or with certain animals, breeding in captivity is questionable, here the aim of the breeding is to reintroduce into the wild animals which are on the brink of extinction. For example, the Serval Breeding Project has been very successful with over 160 servals bred and released into areas where they had become extinct. Reports have been received by the Center that quite a few female servals had mated with wild servals which is a sure sign of success. <br />
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The management and staff here are dedicated conservationists and their primary concern is the welfare of the animals, preservation of wildlife and the respect of the ecosystem. Now that I am here, I am able to “compare” the two situations (Southeast Asia and Africa) and I can say that they can't be compared, that each rescue center deals with the situation of its country in the most appropriate way possible and that, what is right for one would be absolutely inappropriate for the other. We shouldn't judge.<br />
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After reading this short introduction, you can perhaps see that things can change radically from one day to the next here at the Center and you never know what the next day will bring. Last week, 85 bats were brought in from a nearby Park because their enclosure collapsed killing a few on the way. Since then, we have been syringe feeding them (they are babies) every two hours up until midnight, which has been disrupting considerably the normal routine of the center (i.e. caring for the “Maisy” the Sable, “Dela” the Rhino, all the birds in the aviary, all the vultures and owls, the lions, cheetahs, leopard, hyenas and so forth). The volunteers have been tired, irritable and a bit short tempered at times as a result and we are looking forward to the bats learning to be self sufficient in terms of feeding. All animals get equal treatment here at Moholoholo! <br />
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On a more mundane level, we are lodged in very comfortable rooms, in my case, two to a room, with hot showers, water we can drink and fabulous breakfasts and dinners served in the nearby lodge where visitors stay when they come to visit. In the evening, a drive through the bush will take us to Ya Mati lodge for dinner, and we might encounter on our way a couple of white rhinos (huge) and even snakes (which I am not fond of as everybody who knows me will attest to and that is a huge understatement!). For security purposes, we are quite fenced in here and this, to prevent other wild animals living in the reserve to enter our natural compound. This can feel a bit claustrophobic at times as we have no days off and very few opportunities to get out of the Center. <br />
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I will try to keep you up to date with more info but things move at a slower pace here so postings might not be as frequent as for my Thai adventure.<br />
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Please note that I now have a Facebook page. This is not to share personal info for which I favor email, but rather to raise and spread awareness about animal welfare issues as much as I can. So please come and take a look every now and then for updates on that and of course, as soon as I get back from my trip, I'll put my photos on there as well. If you would like to become FB friends with the purposes of helping me in that endeavor, you are most welcome to!<br />
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Cheers,<br />
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DellaDellaAnimalFriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09082991843938988614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5018442804072027451.post-31397046128834486202011-03-01T00:57:00.000-08:002011-03-01T00:57:39.082-08:00Last days at WFFT<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>TH</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:ApplyBreakingRules/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--> <m:smallfrac m:val="off"> <m:dispdef> <m:lmargin m:val="0"> <m:rmargin m:val="0"> <m:defjc m:val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent m:val="1440"> <m:intlim m:val="subSup"> <m:narylim m:val="undOvr"> </m:narylim></m:intlim> </m:wrapindent><!--[endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR">Final days at WFFT....</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span>Well, four more work days and it's back to freezing Strasbourg....and it's a good thing I have the next volunteer project to look forward to or I think I would be quite depressed!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span>The past few days have been much busier than I expected them to be. I mentioned in my previous posting that working with elephants was much easier than working with wildlife, the pace was slower and all that...delusion, delusion...that was until I went harvesting! That day was an easy harvest: banana trees. We didn't actually have to chop them down, the mahouts took care of that. But we did have to strip off the bark and carry them to the truck through mud and ants. And this for over 2 hours, or 2 truck loads worth. I was already rather pleased with myself for having withstood the physical effort of all this work for the past 6 weeks but that was the icing on the cake, as it were. I have never carried anything remotely as heavy as banana trees before, now I have :-) Will the next one be corn? I hear that one is lethal!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span>Today was my day off so I went around the centre in a leisurely manner to have a look at all the animals once more as I may not have the time to do it again before leaving in a few days. I realize how much I loved being here and how attached to the animals I have become. I also took our little resident golden retriever Winnie on a nice long walk outside the centre and that was special. We went before the sun got too hot and I let Winnie off her leash and just watched her run and bounce happily along, free of all constraints, a happy dog. And I thought to myself, I would like all the animals to be that way and not in cages or behind bars. But at least here they are safe from human predators. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span>Before coming here to volunteer, I knew nothing of all this world of animals and volunteering. I have learned a lot in these 6 weeks and now know that there is a whole world out there of people and centres trying their best to help all these animals. And I have decided that I definitely want to take an active part in this world. I'm not sure in what way as yet but am giving it a long, hard think and gathering information here and there. Unexpectedly, I have fallen in love with the bears and am looking to volunteering in a centre sponsored by Free the Bears fund in Cambodia, where they care for 110 bears. As soon as I get back, I will also be looking into Veterinary Assistant online courses and possible employment in the field. It's a daunting thought to change careers in such an extreme way but it is an exciting prospect and for once, age doesn't seem to be an issue. If I do decide to go that way, it will take quite of bit of planning, organizing, but I feel it will be a worthwhile endeavor which I could pursue for a long time. Food for thought: in any case I have decided to go about it in a slow and methodical manner, gathering experience and knowledge as I go along before doing anything rash. I intend to get more experience volunteering, earning references along the way. We'll see where that takes me.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span>My next posting will be from South Africa in about 2 weeks time, so I will say 'lah gorn' (goodbye) for now and talk to you soon.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span>Cheers</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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A 'rear-view' picture of yours truly between the old ladies Bua Ngun and June.As you can see, they are very used to humans. <br />
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Bringing banana tree refuse to compost. Did I ever suspect before doing this that elephants eat SO MUCH? Unbelievable how much we clean up all day, all for the good cause though.<br />
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June being showered down before her veterinary treatment. <br />
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Khan Kluey (left) and Somboon <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCA0k5aZp_VsGNAuIlicY06hnyUJ_uc8TnKQYnOkAOoHM-b22-CTOWrzj2zrnChV6WmFBSoWPaMaXLlMv53Rk9W49CCF_RPSOOniRhBp5Fff0DG5TcUG05Bb5z-ZkyxY4CI7sHPgvg0f_Z/s1600/IMG_3642.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCA0k5aZp_VsGNAuIlicY06hnyUJ_uc8TnKQYnOkAOoHM-b22-CTOWrzj2zrnChV6WmFBSoWPaMaXLlMv53Rk9W49CCF_RPSOOniRhBp5Fff0DG5TcUG05Bb5z-ZkyxY4CI7sHPgvg0f_Z/s320/IMG_3642.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Bears are so funny! They're like giant teddy bears but one must never forget they are wild animals even if they look so cuddly....<br />
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This is how we looked before harvesting..... <br />
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during...... <br />
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.....and after.....considerably dirtier and very tired! <br />
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A well deserved stop in the nearby river before going back to the centre for lunch <br />
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</div>DellaAnimalFriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09082991843938988614noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5018442804072027451.post-59076333394678324802011-02-21T02:33:00.000-08:002011-02-21T02:33:04.415-08:00First impressions once again...<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>TH</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:ApplyBreakingRules/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--> <m:smallfrac m:val="off"> <m:dispdef> <m:lmargin m:val="0"> <m:rmargin m:val="0"> <m:defjc m:val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent m:val="1440"> <m:intlim m:val="subSup"> <m:narylim m:val="undOvr"> </m:narylim></m:intlim> </m:wrapindent><!--[endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object height="266" id="BLOG_video-FAILED-0" class="BLOG_video_class" contentid="FAILED" width="320"></object></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR">We have 5 elephants here at the centre: June and Bua Ngun, the old ladies (approx. 75 and 70 years old), </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR">Pai Lin (approx. 65 years old), Somboon (approx. 35 years old ) and the young and unmanageable Khan Kluey (approx. 2-3 years old).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR">Here in Thailand, elephants belong to their mahouts. Added to that, owning a 'pet' elephant is legal and begging in the streets with it is legal as well. Therefore, there is no reason for a mahout to want to part with his elephant unless he is offered a very good price or the elephant is too old to work. (See Elephant Manifesto in previous posting). So, to summarize, Edwin, the man who started WFFT, has purchased these elephants. In the case of Somboon, she was in a very bad car crash which happens frequently with begging elephants as they are taken through busy streets in big cities. Khan Kluey was unmanageable as I said, and couldn't be broken.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR">The other evening I was walking through the village during the festival and there were three street begging elephants with their mahouts. When I approached it to caress its trunk, the mahout asked me if I wanted to feed it (I would of course pay for the 'priviledge' of doing so..) I said of course not. While caressing the elephants' trunk, the elephant grasped my arm and immediately the mahout raised a stick with a big hook at the end to frighten the elephant. I yelled at the mahout. I think he must have been a bit dense anyway as I was wearing my WFFT T-Shirt where Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand is written in Thai. Ohhh, what a world we live in.....</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR">Anyway, back at the 'ranch' and happier moments, yesterday was my first day working with June and Bua Ngun. What did I learn?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR"><span> </span>a. Elephants eat ALL THE TIME! We spent most of the day cutting fruit for June, which we <span> </span>also had to peel because she no longer has teeth and has a very poor digestive system. And I <span></span>must say that although June had a very tough life until she came here last year, she now lives <span></span>a very cushy life with an endless supply of food, medical care on site, caring people, not unlike <span></span>being in a resort really:-). The other food we prepared were bowls of pellet balls made of<span> </span>pellets (sort of like dog food but for elephants), calcium powder and bananas, all of that<span> </span>mashed up and hand fed straight into their trunks or mouths. That was fun and not at all <span></span>dangerous as they are so used to humans. And then I went on to...</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR"><span> </span>b. Cutting banana leaves with a machette....have I ever used a machette in my life?? Nope, <span></span>but never too late to learn I guess :-)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS1E0McrLfyEdwnQCi-8snEhdtGshKbZGDvmHwP_Uj1rqBv6psdOM-7S16hUYUXKSLjk5Ik8hPFYRf5VwYiOF-ilnGiPfL2OhlM0AetcERysAyhGbqr44yVjFQ9B5TfeYKla7NxFpX9VsL/s1600/IMG_3566.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS1E0McrLfyEdwnQCi-8snEhdtGshKbZGDvmHwP_Uj1rqBv6psdOM-7S16hUYUXKSLjk5Ik8hPFYRf5VwYiOF-ilnGiPfL2OhlM0AetcERysAyhGbqr44yVjFQ9B5TfeYKla7NxFpX9VsL/s320/IMG_3566.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> June<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_YL0McYAXzU6Cs3eKyuTO9v4RO6RMK4yIchkf0sQrVkUZTTyM0blNImZIIAGu7_AH7Rs7DbnGWFRs6oP4GbPFHaodP79mEm1NGzSjkcCJgdiQs_whqu_ZdeSj_u7L8aCXhCSVY0zQrfBR/s1600/IMG_3574.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_YL0McYAXzU6Cs3eKyuTO9v4RO6RMK4yIchkf0sQrVkUZTTyM0blNImZIIAGu7_AH7Rs7DbnGWFRs6oP4GbPFHaodP79mEm1NGzSjkcCJgdiQs_whqu_ZdeSj_u7L8aCXhCSVY0zQrfBR/s320/IMG_3574.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> In the truck taking banana tree refuse to compost. I am SO grateful for my rubber boots!!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9vZgvotblFkryI-buG2_jbyxhSqrzZ1Oxqu4TEC31flEKKUlM8r3ZEZiBVEFtWn-y84mDJPlyGxgTxGe29hTD1CDXSCnARh4jzmfM1o9znpONzzqcaDvjw1bNgSaSsLvqNcaZ9T3240Ob/s1600/IMG_3583.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9vZgvotblFkryI-buG2_jbyxhSqrzZ1Oxqu4TEC31flEKKUlM8r3ZEZiBVEFtWn-y84mDJPlyGxgTxGe29hTD1CDXSCnARh4jzmfM1o9znpONzzqcaDvjw1bNgSaSsLvqNcaZ9T3240Ob/s320/IMG_3583.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Pai Lin feasting on a tree:-)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgypAuCR7x9WiKOOtOWltF7QCqbnvLRe99cv7wfaNRqAcUNYGQTCKOVIEK7JRk5y7aeGytr9H-jVSedjG4Rv7vdACKR03-pilTfxHPfevcnAuIkpgVVFYyM9UbcDNXg1-YgvgR_egZAAV17/s1600/IMG_3584.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgypAuCR7x9WiKOOtOWltF7QCqbnvLRe99cv7wfaNRqAcUNYGQTCKOVIEK7JRk5y7aeGytr9H-jVSedjG4Rv7vdACKR03-pilTfxHPfevcnAuIkpgVVFYyM9UbcDNXg1-YgvgR_egZAAV17/s320/IMG_3584.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibT8LNqaippV3YxO4q03jEnDo5DMU0v8vx-4hq3f0flWUIv5PvvxW1XOd5TmmgyQtQr3lSaioz1lzhchiBWNwKqjwzOX0PpNSo47FKIM4mIBDgmr3xwNtrNtHVV8n7sj72gho8VZQEa-CO/s1600/IMG_3590.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibT8LNqaippV3YxO4q03jEnDo5DMU0v8vx-4hq3f0flWUIv5PvvxW1XOd5TmmgyQtQr3lSaioz1lzhchiBWNwKqjwzOX0PpNSo47FKIM4mIBDgmr3xwNtrNtHVV8n7sj72gho8VZQEa-CO/s320/IMG_3590.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Pai Lin bathing<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpcAvcHVehYJmCaeamowVcwO058exzoJ7jLm_2eWv0pULx1z0yRPHMGUbIQUNmUC-FniY8tMD-yaqwyrv3eocahSzDWatziSpOpZ5U8MaeldZI6ETQHFNPswcPFs7AWsZ_D5bpUd5ksCDR/s1600/IMG_3560.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpcAvcHVehYJmCaeamowVcwO058exzoJ7jLm_2eWv0pULx1z0yRPHMGUbIQUNmUC-FniY8tMD-yaqwyrv3eocahSzDWatziSpOpZ5U8MaeldZI6ETQHFNPswcPFs7AWsZ_D5bpUd5ksCDR/s320/IMG_3560.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR"><span> And from the biggest to the smallest and just because I couldn't resist including this pic, this is one of our SLOWWWWW Loris, a nocturnal animal, but luckily for me, wide awake one morning when I went to clean his enclosure. They are just the cutest!! Back to elephants.....</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR"><span> </span>c. Elephants don't poo as much as I thought and it is not unpleasant to pick up their poo, it is <span> </span>quite dry actually, kind of like mud....so not nearly as unpleasant as the bears'. And useful too as it is used here<span> </span>for compost for the trees.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR"><span></span><span></span> d. I assisted Lucy, our resident veterinary nurse, in cleaning the elephants' wounds and scars,<span></span> now, that was exciting for me, and gave me an inkling of what I might like my future job to<span> </span>be, ha, ha.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span lang="FR"><span> </span>Today, I am with Pai Lin although this morning, I started by watering trees which is quite pleasant early in the morning before it gets hot. We were supposed to do harvest, but Eck, our senior mahout, decided we had enough fruit for now, so the next harvest is 2 days from now. Instead, we took Pailin on a really nice long walk which ended with her going for a bath.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span lang="FR"><span> </span>Then we did some clearing of the refuse of banana trees and brought a couple of truck loads to a compost area in the forest. Pretty disgusting work to be honest....And then, unexpectedly, it rained! Now, that may seem like a normal occurrence to all of you who are going through winter weather at the moment, but here, it felt decidedly odd. What happens after rain, which only lasts under one hour, is that it gets even hotter, so we're back to our normal sweltering heat again.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span lang="FR"><span> </span>And that's about it for now. The pace on elephant duty is so much more calm and slow than on wildlife duty that it almost feels as if I'm on day off. Yesterday morning, I was almost begging to go back to wildlife duties, but now, I'm actually starting to enjoy the slow pace and I think it's a nice way to end my stay here.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span lang="FR"><span> </span>Cheers for now ;-)</span></div>DellaAnimalFriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09082991843938988614noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5018442804072027451.post-65369265325943839232011-02-18T02:38:00.000-08:002011-02-18T02:38:42.672-08:00Moving on to other forms of wildlife<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>TH</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:ApplyBreakingRules/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--> <m:smallfrac m:val="off"> <m:dispdef> <m:lmargin m:val="0"> <m:rmargin m:val="0"> <m:defjc m:val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent m:val="1440"> <m:intlim m:val="subSup"> <m:narylim m:val="undOvr"> </m:narylim></m:intlim> </m:wrapindent><!--[endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR">I haven' t posted anything in a few days and this is actually my last posting as volunteer with the wildlife...indeed, on Sunday, I start my two week stint with the elephants. Yes, elephants are wildlife too of course, but here at the centre, they are divided into WRC (Wildlife Rescue Centre) and EREC (Elephant Rescue Centre).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR">As I'm typing away, I'm trying to remember all the things I did in the past week. It was a week of mixture of pleasure and work. Pleasure as in I got to go to the beach with a couple of friends here from the centre. We spent a nice full day in Hua Hin, half at the beach, mostly in the water, and the other half just roaming around the night market, drinking cocktails (they are unreasonably cheap here!) and basically just relaxing. I returned from our outting with a massive sunburn which is now pealing suitably. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR">I must tell you all that working at the centre has been one of the more physically challenging things I have done in my recent years. We work long hours<span> </span>in rather intense heat (the warm season has just begun, so it's close to 34° C every day now). Most of our work is in the sun and involves sweeping, scrubbing, climbing sometimes, pulling this, pushing that, cutting and chopping this and that (the blisters on my hands attest to all the fruit cutting), carrying heavy water buckets. All I have to do is look at a broom and I start to sweat! And I am VERY DIRTY all the time!! Along with the black and red ants, the zillions of flies and other pesty creatures, perhaps you get an inkling of what it's been like so far. So to make things clear, just in case any of you out there thought I was on a prolonged vacation, that is not so!! In fact, I've finally shed those 3 kilos I couldn't get rid of ;-)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR">Again, on the pleasure side, I also got to go back to the Petchavarin Resort for a much needed foot massage and lounging by the pool. And the festivities in the village (which I mentioned in a previous posting) have begun for 5 days so I've been out a couple of nights for dinner, a very simple affair here in Thailand as you can see from some of the pics below. I've sampled a lot of Thai food since getting here! All very spicy indeed which I particulary like. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR">As I said, Sunday, I start working with the elephants. I am really looking forward to that because the pace is much slower than the pace I've had to keep up until now and more importantly because there is so much interaction with the animals. But of course, I will tell you all about that as I go along. It feels rather strange actually to be moving on to the elephants because it means that one part of my volunteering here is already over. It's been 5 weeks already, it's gone by incredibly fast, I can hardly believe it. I have learned so much over these weeks starting from scratch and now eagerly looking forward to more volunteering in the near future. I have mixed feelings of course which will only intensify when I have to leave altogether, but the nice thing is that I have that fantastic project in South Africa to look forward to, so I think I will leave here fulfilled and looking to the future. I have enjoyed first and foremost discovering the world of the animals and learning about their plight and some of the ways I can be of help. I have enjoyed working outdoors all day in weather which suits me. I have enjoyed getting dirty (yes, even that!). I have enjoyed the fact that some of the work is completely mindless, repetitive, manual and enjoyed the fact that I have had to use my brain for alot of the work too.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR">There have been those magic moments when I saw Miauw walk, or when I saw the Lorises playing in their enclosures at night (they are nocturnals), or when I saw the deer run by me when I was feeding the Gibbons in 'the jungle'. I will sorely miss the Gibbons' singing which accompanies our work all day long. I have fallen in love with the bears and their funny attitudes of sleeping on their backs or running around like overgrown teddy bears...</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR">I have not enjoyed the moment when Mami, our Siamang Gibbon, who is incredibly powerful and hates women, pulled my hair and scared me to no end because I didn't know what to do to make her let go. (I now know but it's after the fact, maybe it will serve me at another time). I have bumped my head any number of times going into or under low enclosures, I have got bit by a bear and electrocuted by the wires surrounding the bears' enclosures...and despite all that, would I do it again? Yes, in an instant....after a few days' rest:-) It is very rewarding work and I have come to the conclusion that there is no end to the misery that animals are made to endure from the hands of man, but every little bit of volunteering helps to make<span> </span>a slight difference and I can only encourage all of you reading my blog to go out and do your bit, may it be with animals, children or nature....we all contribute to make world a better place.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggQIri4bDPKBUQMJ9UA55ZbOtvdrpdCYnYRVrfS57R21kEqk84dPOA0UdvZ9EH_wdZd2Zr61wD3-MHBoYqO5lZ3mY1TfB_Y4PIv5wLP8jX2oR0gmmbLtK04DMqe-KY5s6fww9HRbL0gbCD/s1600/IMG_3401.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggQIri4bDPKBUQMJ9UA55ZbOtvdrpdCYnYRVrfS57R21kEqk84dPOA0UdvZ9EH_wdZd2Zr61wD3-MHBoYqO5lZ3mY1TfB_Y4PIv5wLP8jX2oR0gmmbLtK04DMqe-KY5s6fww9HRbL0gbCD/s320/IMG_3401.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiqskFVD5Lv5hnZSS_8bItZijvVnDAHDqhC7HLTo_eenq7ZlK0W_DdyFM3LyLrV30J5Xs8kJMSh4WVudBo6br7iAPleLY7TsioJPmFj8_Mo4-Mk_DfQU5_Q3yomeMGA0aSQI7rfBBKEXdq/s1600/IMG_3405.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiqskFVD5Lv5hnZSS_8bItZijvVnDAHDqhC7HLTo_eenq7ZlK0W_DdyFM3LyLrV30J5Xs8kJMSh4WVudBo6br7iAPleLY7TsioJPmFj8_Mo4-Mk_DfQU5_Q3yomeMGA0aSQI7rfBBKEXdq/s320/IMG_3405.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> A baby flying squirrel was brought to the centre. As such, some of the volunteer babysit him and feed him 4 times a night, 3 AM (!) so here I am syrins feeding little Steve....<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL61qOjqckbA2hnor0oyRUCtXYwhI1E8gHfP4-X1Yygd3l7NT3G7QH6GgTGLqRssWqD_ENEC9042SKg-yzsGWxuJmld14wcD-Tu_fp0YSEUMsQbRJcDGh4uDpGNPi5K5g6WFQ3LJHFw3-a/s1600/IMG_3428.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL61qOjqckbA2hnor0oyRUCtXYwhI1E8gHfP4-X1Yygd3l7NT3G7QH6GgTGLqRssWqD_ENEC9042SKg-yzsGWxuJmld14wcD-Tu_fp0YSEUMsQbRJcDGh4uDpGNPi5K5g6WFQ3LJHFw3-a/s320/IMG_3428.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> A fish foot bath.....does it work? Not sure, really.....<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSB_6nb0uvvNmazu6Mv7783D5e1UZz_QlstGkVaRwSRvT0Dvho3ZwhP2Snlf4ejwQjQa-89liA6HOK3zd3DE6iQssDP74H2hiqL8GkNZOgdK2ld6gYq_e2w7Do1lwwpR7OLqEeRS2lIowY/s1600/IMG_3429.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSB_6nb0uvvNmazu6Mv7783D5e1UZz_QlstGkVaRwSRvT0Dvho3ZwhP2Snlf4ejwQjQa-89liA6HOK3zd3DE6iQssDP74H2hiqL8GkNZOgdK2ld6gYq_e2w7Do1lwwpR7OLqEeRS2lIowY/s320/IMG_3429.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbPcGc-D4uulNeWqYHG4HW8vHqCUzoJwbsO-O7y3f1tt_1m5IjSuQjozpcD0vOCpXpzuDzm6xHEMiDacbzuWAugEqdhd87GGK-CsxG5cExx1F04yg8tKBViCqLlkXHRyPJ3EBPD00FkoUH/s1600/IMG_3440.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbPcGc-D4uulNeWqYHG4HW8vHqCUzoJwbsO-O7y3f1tt_1m5IjSuQjozpcD0vOCpXpzuDzm6xHEMiDacbzuWAugEqdhd87GGK-CsxG5cExx1F04yg8tKBViCqLlkXHRyPJ3EBPD00FkoUH/s320/IMG_3440.jpg" width="240" /></a></div> One of my favourites....he has the most gorgeous eyes, don't you think?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqOURll31jliMtRGba-SFZsSrzU8tvZzsrk52pGDfUKrsKcvOGStD4uhWhl5NPNR_Kq1iJRsJEB73Ffxo50T0qsreMcGBTQIK-yrOzA0svEAvppleKshfP8KntZ4XtbRvNW7LF6MhWawGK/s1600/IMG_3458.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqOURll31jliMtRGba-SFZsSrzU8tvZzsrk52pGDfUKrsKcvOGStD4uhWhl5NPNR_Kq1iJRsJEB73Ffxo50T0qsreMcGBTQIK-yrOzA0svEAvppleKshfP8KntZ4XtbRvNW7LF6MhWawGK/s320/IMG_3458.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Food House 2: food preparation for 106 primates twice a day, every day. From the board to the basket and on to feeding...<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOqYOXF1naUuhQvsi2_brcmRe0wGhZLUB4M5WmdAncVuxq6H-ZGtzWDoNdMCXyKjlcwI8eRa9OqBQMgdK1x98o2fosIiJeXmC4y6oeGk1BR9lL2IXTf_j0O6SqMWpeyh2_gVmFgZArmRPi/s1600/IMG_3502.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOqYOXF1naUuhQvsi2_brcmRe0wGhZLUB4M5WmdAncVuxq6H-ZGtzWDoNdMCXyKjlcwI8eRa9OqBQMgdK1x98o2fosIiJeXmC4y6oeGk1BR9lL2IXTf_j0O6SqMWpeyh2_gVmFgZArmRPi/s320/IMG_3502.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFRRQmh7IUfUaDxa8ldWaDWIhvUNJtLWOPrn9HrCPMRqSrqqQIKdF8HB3mFsMSQZDbxEPL2xyDxD4srbH8XUM84F6dz9OMcbYVBZnUimY675R_Yv4KjL7MHAuMTfb0KTx3DBbLr2XNTDSS/s1600/IMG_3503.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFRRQmh7IUfUaDxa8ldWaDWIhvUNJtLWOPrn9HrCPMRqSrqqQIKdF8HB3mFsMSQZDbxEPL2xyDxD4srbH8XUM84F6dz9OMcbYVBZnUimY675R_Yv4KjL7MHAuMTfb0KTx3DBbLr2XNTDSS/s320/IMG_3503.jpg" width="240" /></a></div> Mocha...<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrKFLjaHnTCVKmqPC-XGcDKbnBqjJZVQD_Rl_Veob53z5ZF3mi8Y8X7sBQp2G05NjIP8MRO9wHYELx97yqhowGgm8Gag5UhrLE4mokdxhC7Y43gKr0ZuPtR275gcNGGpdaGDwIgEigkWpi/s1600/IMG_3507.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrKFLjaHnTCVKmqPC-XGcDKbnBqjJZVQD_Rl_Veob53z5ZF3mi8Y8X7sBQp2G05NjIP8MRO9wHYELx97yqhowGgm8Gag5UhrLE4mokdxhC7Y43gKr0ZuPtR275gcNGGpdaGDwIgEigkWpi/s320/IMG_3507.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Being picked up to be taken to the resort for my foot massage:-)<br />
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Did I mention? Thailand is great!!! Sawadee kaaa.....<br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR"><span> </span><span> </span></span></div>DellaAnimalFriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09082991843938988614noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5018442804072027451.post-63536079934831454092011-02-08T06:07:00.000-08:002011-02-08T06:07:42.381-08:00Reflecting on things....<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Well, I've been here almost one month now, I can hardly believe it. At times, it feels like my second home! </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Days go by so fast, the pace is set by the various tasks, and before you know it, another day has gone by. We get up so early in the morning and convene in the volunteer house before setting off on our duties for the day and very often the conversation you hear at 6:30 AM sounds like : » what are you on today? « « I'm on Bears 2, how about you? » « I'm on Primates 3 » and so on....</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">We are divided into teams of 2 to 4 people and we have a set protocole of things to do and the order in which to do them as well as the hour at which these tasks should be started and completed. And, as many of our duties depend on the duties of others, it is relatively important that we stick to the schedule.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">It can be a little stressful at times, for example team Primates 1 needs to have 106 bowls of food prepared by 7:30 AM and the same by 3:30 PM. They have one hour in which to get the bowls prepared for teams Primates 1, 2 and 3 who all go off in different directions to feed the primates. In other words, if they are late preparing, then all three teams are late feeding, and so forth...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">For the past couple of days, I have been leading team Bears 1 which is quite an easy one. What we need to do firstly is get the bears out of their enclosure and into their den, so that we in turn can go into their enclosure to clean it. It can be tricky at times as bears are either stupid or pretend to be stupid, in any case, they are stubborn, and sometimes we can waste 15 minutes trying to entice them into their den with food! The other day, I was doing Bears 2 and getting a bit frustrated because one of the bears just wouldn't move.....so I did exactly what you're not supposed to do which is throw food to them by putting my hand through the bars. Good thing I had my working gloves on! One of the bears tried to get a little taste of my hand....And as if that weren't enough and I had not yet learned my lesson, I put my hand through again (am I totally stupid or wreckless, or both??) and gave myself an electrochoc on the electric wires surrounding their enclosures....Apparently that had happened once to a volunteer who couldn't let go for a fraction of a second and her whole arm went blue, so I guess I was lucky, I only jumped back, very surprised...Oh well, no harm done, I'm still around to tell the story...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Anyway, to get back to the bears....we feed them fruit mostly which we scatter all around the enclosure, trying to hide it in a hole or up on high to get them to use their sense of smell and work a bit for their food. As most if not all of these bears have grown up in small cages with people hand feeding them chocolate, candy and other inappropriate foods, they have never had to use their natural instincts to search for their food, so we try to encourage that. It is really fun watching them eat, they absolutely love their food! And then they go take a nap, often lying on their backs with their hind legs sprawled out and one arm over their eyes to keep out the light.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I did get a day off a few days ago and went hiking a bit in a nearby national park. (see photos) It was a very beautiful setting, a tropical forest and the hike to the waterfall was quite challenging as it was mostly downhill all the way and then of course, all uphill on the way back. I hiked for about 3,5 hours, hoping to see wild animals but none were to be seen that day unfortunately. Was good exercise though.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Many volunteers have left this week, many new ones have arrived and the atmosphere changes constantly. The ones which were here the past 2 or 3 weeks have been quite young and I have found it a challenge to communicate with them or share anything with them in any significant way. This was quite unexpected for me. I didn't know what to expect really and I thought that by coming here, I would meet and communicate in a positive way with many like minded people. That has not been the case and in that respect only, the experience is disappointing. The crowd this week is a bit older so I am finding that easier to deal with, but basically I concentrate on my work and all the things I am learning which was really the reason I came in the first place, and I have indeed been learning lots...a whole new world is opening up for me.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I have been using some of that recently acquired knowledge to give tours to visiting tourists which is really fun and a welcome change to the work.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The week after next, there will be festivities at the temple in the village as they will be celebrating Chinese New Year. In Thailand they celebrate everyone's New Year, not only their own. For those of you who are interested, it is the year of the rat so up until recently, there has been a huge (and very tacky) paper maché rat in the centre of the village with blinking eyes, but I think they moved it to the temple area now in preparation for the festivities to begin soon.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I will sign off now and just to make you a tiny bit envious, I send you « warm » greetings from Thailand where the weather is above 30°C and we are sweating in the daytime. And to refresh ourselves, we go and jump in the nearby lake. Sleeveless Tshirts in the evening and flip flops on our feet at all times. Ahhhhhh, great stuff! What a life! </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Rumour has it that it is freezing in Europe and the US. Sorry my friends. I don't miss it.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cheers</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYL2OEYqVMdIMpJW-9ft3fOf2FfmanYf8ZUioJLtOzqDqnlu0rrhnMBPaNL8r3TZGhMPRnuKi0ylEN8intLymTAY3xyPOoFpEEw5vL1HcWfVJHsKBxlOPo0Bvoq5C5iMI7smn4xTrtBQhL/s1600/IMG_3311.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYL2OEYqVMdIMpJW-9ft3fOf2FfmanYf8ZUioJLtOzqDqnlu0rrhnMBPaNL8r3TZGhMPRnuKi0ylEN8intLymTAY3xyPOoFpEEw5vL1HcWfVJHsKBxlOPo0Bvoq5C5iMI7smn4xTrtBQhL/s320/IMG_3311.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhar0V6omcDXpbjNhLlk2xluCjfjv6zqsc-5ocDg-9djd4tnZHQEEl-0LhMtapmZUb21iTvTakhEUfHpVrlSp2VlRm1veoGzeHHn40qY97FVARUqnBAY-5Aky8XRGljZp0eheZoMWgu7CoI/s1600/IMG_3312.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhar0V6omcDXpbjNhLlk2xluCjfjv6zqsc-5ocDg-9djd4tnZHQEEl-0LhMtapmZUb21iTvTakhEUfHpVrlSp2VlRm1veoGzeHHn40qY97FVARUqnBAY-5Aky8XRGljZp0eheZoMWgu7CoI/s320/IMG_3312.jpg" width="240" /></a></div> Tropical forest type vegetation<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Vs6Ap61OpOoaKkG9KOVrUS6MEba0NwA4KQkzYI7fQ0eyLm8I19L0-jybTm8hreBREGLemPPiRFsxi3R0JXzShUYD2MwnEUXJZDHbI5QA6V7jRRpZ22iv5Q7yQRMJwV4fZJKLjH8g_NGF/s1600/IMG_3315.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Vs6Ap61OpOoaKkG9KOVrUS6MEba0NwA4KQkzYI7fQ0eyLm8I19L0-jybTm8hreBREGLemPPiRFsxi3R0JXzShUYD2MwnEUXJZDHbI5QA6V7jRRpZ22iv5Q7yQRMJwV4fZJKLjH8g_NGF/s320/IMG_3315.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-fq8zLp64ZWAAfnzi1FgJVY_fG_-cyQLYd8cEgFCuN7pHCqjqW8O-pZ7jsqIidddTtbJMtJaje0L6fcusrqMPNFK2ZYr9e2SGjyFMPJheowNAp7rCCwPlmT44yRNDXFJevWA1grAI_6zK/s1600/IMG_3318.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-fq8zLp64ZWAAfnzi1FgJVY_fG_-cyQLYd8cEgFCuN7pHCqjqW8O-pZ7jsqIidddTtbJMtJaje0L6fcusrqMPNFK2ZYr9e2SGjyFMPJheowNAp7rCCwPlmT44yRNDXFJevWA1grAI_6zK/s320/IMG_3318.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtbQiv8T9rHnSZz24U0rXZsoM166cT1G7xMJmeKOQB7z7kc4qHx-TrloTOfrjHJx4WxHQs3RFmHIpOJRZmwyMjajp4-OreJZcv2dXhVQRkx4AqB_hw9SzpX5_CKh3iqCqDlyfohQAtXZ0l/s1600/IMG_3325.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtbQiv8T9rHnSZz24U0rXZsoM166cT1G7xMJmeKOQB7z7kc4qHx-TrloTOfrjHJx4WxHQs3RFmHIpOJRZmwyMjajp4-OreJZcv2dXhVQRkx4AqB_hw9SzpX5_CKh3iqCqDlyfohQAtXZ0l/s320/IMG_3325.jpg" width="240" /></a></div> Self portraits....<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmTbX3Y_tG7Q3ZeRU4cC4yvFb2Szcifc9103gzB5NdlTmaxc3m267i-5ix77fuFL6pKdT5q6jQJD48QHkfPxjTq0TcbmZPL5B9oj8wCHUjlrBxknW6cD6VZ7uR-QIkcF1nQelPV3riCO96/s1600/IMG_3326.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmTbX3Y_tG7Q3ZeRU4cC4yvFb2Szcifc9103gzB5NdlTmaxc3m267i-5ix77fuFL6pKdT5q6jQJD48QHkfPxjTq0TcbmZPL5B9oj8wCHUjlrBxknW6cD6VZ7uR-QIkcF1nQelPV3riCO96/s320/IMG_3326.jpg" width="240" /></a></div> Waterfall at the nearby national park<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg01ofKB4G5g3zDeYmp6sWWzOhHqLL_Bk2pwdrUs0bR9BpyQoXEx-i-03jyL-NHT9vJR9ItlIRk9sb-MTMSzqHZx_2wJPLV8-GbHy0uxw10bMHompwq-Iujl9z-krTwA0fzyjdMkmBaIoWT/s1600/IMG_3368.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg01ofKB4G5g3zDeYmp6sWWzOhHqLL_Bk2pwdrUs0bR9BpyQoXEx-i-03jyL-NHT9vJR9ItlIRk9sb-MTMSzqHZx_2wJPLV8-GbHy0uxw10bMHompwq-Iujl9z-krTwA0fzyjdMkmBaIoWT/s320/IMG_3368.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Life at the centre...preparing enrichments for the bears...a mixture of papaya, banana and sunflower seeds, yummyy!!! (then we stick it inside rubber tubes or tyres and they go on a food hunt.....fun!!)</div>DellaAnimalFriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09082991843938988614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5018442804072027451.post-60052080690607243182011-02-04T02:59:00.000-08:002011-02-04T02:59:09.866-08:00A feast for the eyes...photos only this time...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXnJslPk9LE_QBwf3JGtJ0W1p6Y-Xv5RIW7MMK-7-FlNne_o_YG_oZsuq88xrkAK6023Ivy4x1K5SHkx0drDVAPHQ9XOegen1TmfNjboiK7M1z45TjpzvcavSy6z6jOqwI2ZnDy24dM9w8/s1600/IMG_3334.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXnJslPk9LE_QBwf3JGtJ0W1p6Y-Xv5RIW7MMK-7-FlNne_o_YG_oZsuq88xrkAK6023Ivy4x1K5SHkx0drDVAPHQ9XOegen1TmfNjboiK7M1z45TjpzvcavSy6z6jOqwI2ZnDy24dM9w8/s320/IMG_3334.JPG" width="240" /></a></div> Not only working with animals, preparing their enclosures as well...<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguEEFG19IzX-hZ30EUGFAc6rWabliWDcmbzCBdXVWnPXNrnfN5UmwHKk1Owt5DfMGnCpcGL1XS8_zTr7UlbrXggvdlAFComYZhC8mpldFGTW2M4aHgydeJ5ZuAz2tVmroF3_NS1XnJGjhh/s1600/IMG_3343.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguEEFG19IzX-hZ30EUGFAc6rWabliWDcmbzCBdXVWnPXNrnfN5UmwHKk1Owt5DfMGnCpcGL1XS8_zTr7UlbrXggvdlAFComYZhC8mpldFGTW2M4aHgydeJ5ZuAz2tVmroF3_NS1XnJGjhh/s320/IMG_3343.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> It is love indeed!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrHxcGRQEM1nXzj7lyQGQLi02i4RGN4aOU2tmF8HgPNREh022dMYYL_1aSVD4bDiLobaORDNjootvDu-W9im5_YSlHv5RiEX4CUEr9gQLTXAthzl8u3yxEinYhe5Xo533qjEIUaSUZ-Oll/s1600/IMG_3345.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrHxcGRQEM1nXzj7lyQGQLi02i4RGN4aOU2tmF8HgPNREh022dMYYL_1aSVD4bDiLobaORDNjootvDu-W9im5_YSlHv5RiEX4CUEr9gQLTXAthzl8u3yxEinYhe5Xo533qjEIUaSUZ-Oll/s320/IMG_3345.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Takes two macaques to groom one ;-)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmZTYEz6zBvW5nWW1dsOiGj_GMf-iROzBCTvwgHtQSGL4uVBPXoUvFj6oyMvMdQzbAZ3EjEzDARFil91TY72mm3jvzHzKIx84YM2M-IsjFt1w8JsobXSV31DUe4dQV6Jc6NXJDfuI_7JeH/s1600/IMG_3347.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmZTYEz6zBvW5nWW1dsOiGj_GMf-iROzBCTvwgHtQSGL4uVBPXoUvFj6oyMvMdQzbAZ3EjEzDARFil91TY72mm3jvzHzKIx84YM2M-IsjFt1w8JsobXSV31DUe4dQV6Jc6NXJDfuI_7JeH/s320/IMG_3347.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> A thoughtful moment...<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpT-JQ3tT6texOvUSfdUr2lwAx3ZPBxAq6uoZPMk5Z6nwL7kysjYGZKUWmOr55vzdddX0s-ihVx1DkvytPN8bkAX8h5kNOTqpoDgGn5yrbAxke_PqLXggV4AIYBFm9C6qQrzXqFn-W6m9l/s1600/IMG_3350.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpT-JQ3tT6texOvUSfdUr2lwAx3ZPBxAq6uoZPMk5Z6nwL7kysjYGZKUWmOr55vzdddX0s-ihVx1DkvytPN8bkAX8h5kNOTqpoDgGn5yrbAxke_PqLXggV4AIYBFm9C6qQrzXqFn-W6m9l/s320/IMG_3350.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> A moment of intense concentration!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5fUWlIDuAF1GCDR9VuRRIhAc2WSfP3_8rynoNiLwRfTjHdbr5XKmGl8k738ri8w8qlPV39R9oO1kxi35JN6ukQw5H6rqm1owEZpZjYcHjpXrB7kNOiBp6K9DIK241y8iAGtDEhc2i2dq-/s1600/IMG_3352.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5fUWlIDuAF1GCDR9VuRRIhAc2WSfP3_8rynoNiLwRfTjHdbr5XKmGl8k738ri8w8qlPV39R9oO1kxi35JN6ukQw5H6rqm1owEZpZjYcHjpXrB7kNOiBp6K9DIK241y8iAGtDEhc2i2dq-/s320/IMG_3352.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> I love his face...<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBASxphE_Yu8L0RJGX_Lj4akCKjzNd3OTRpuQeXYqelcg1OKEDl2abz97rz40CIQ58VyKJdaR9ZbkR9BGqz7VO7SRPBlEgYB7aXdUplLZkdrCTN8CPFV863T3KI8tL45R_c-4E4lx9sTfT/s1600/IMG_3353.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBASxphE_Yu8L0RJGX_Lj4akCKjzNd3OTRpuQeXYqelcg1OKEDl2abz97rz40CIQ58VyKJdaR9ZbkR9BGqz7VO7SRPBlEgYB7aXdUplLZkdrCTN8CPFV863T3KI8tL45R_c-4E4lx9sTfT/s320/IMG_3353.JPG" width="240" /></a></div> And I adore hers...grandma...kind of looks like Abraham Lincoln, no? Must be the sideburns ;-)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRu4NSvcA3jtOraVfRwWOekEvuR9tbbLbPYqIE-tFrYjv2vQZa8weYanMsAPuczDrEsVVmsrQhvdiP3qITwAp4w8zTYnE6Ovieafah8K5eNPnh3hlWrYg9kA_4lj9_rmSSb9IN8hegjDd9/s1600/IMG_3354.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRu4NSvcA3jtOraVfRwWOekEvuR9tbbLbPYqIE-tFrYjv2vQZa8weYanMsAPuczDrEsVVmsrQhvdiP3qITwAp4w8zTYnE6Ovieafah8K5eNPnh3hlWrYg9kA_4lj9_rmSSb9IN8hegjDd9/s320/IMG_3354.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWGWas5hyphenhyphen1nfzgb0oCuOgLkH9W2sER9MDwVwAMCUbOW-HiLUkScRp3WUmICGh2MSuDcg5yzc9PVS7EpoYoThwe-kIq9unq18Ekt_2vJfSmWpxOJERvSqW9PvKeW8tQJJPa3TjOku-Ij-1d/s1600/IMG_3356.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWGWas5hyphenhyphen1nfzgb0oCuOgLkH9W2sER9MDwVwAMCUbOW-HiLUkScRp3WUmICGh2MSuDcg5yzc9PVS7EpoYoThwe-kIq9unq18Ekt_2vJfSmWpxOJERvSqW9PvKeW8tQJJPa3TjOku-Ij-1d/s320/IMG_3356.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ghKy3TA3SkUr4AoD2Cl0TRzYtZOoQ1PVmm-QxgVWvos0j5NLt2tG-Ud2hAuNk-mAQU_S58hyF6qB4fbxyBBzMOK5KEQAmQkhYCanUr8CgfAhIkaiszc3jJZctv-oIzp2fw_Xp2YAxjNX/s1600/IMG_3363.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ghKy3TA3SkUr4AoD2Cl0TRzYtZOoQ1PVmm-QxgVWvos0j5NLt2tG-Ud2hAuNk-mAQU_S58hyF6qB4fbxyBBzMOK5KEQAmQkhYCanUr8CgfAhIkaiszc3jJZctv-oIzp2fw_Xp2YAxjNX/s320/IMG_3363.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Baby langurs recently arrived at WFFT<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbYnS7GHvH34X3qcJFJlglA9Wa9ghXyOmtNsLchJFrFSd2gnttbC5ZxzwwNXLicZEfFCvqZvt8LvsNXwSyggctLVDnEm-eSHrD4oqDpSeBYusK1klCpOe19dTOex2MsG4GFvRkMbFMnWda/s1600/IMG_3371.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbYnS7GHvH34X3qcJFJlglA9Wa9ghXyOmtNsLchJFrFSd2gnttbC5ZxzwwNXLicZEfFCvqZvt8LvsNXwSyggctLVDnEm-eSHrD4oqDpSeBYusK1klCpOe19dTOex2MsG4GFvRkMbFMnWda/s320/IMG_3371.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Cooool.....<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh6eKYQRXOgx5w9jxhoW45p1IZanwoUiNvs5kIRIq0YqQLipeX9EpsgDVZCDo90XcDcVbTBxrOHO8pkmtPBCrXxAiByY1h5bJR0CqqxKr-HyUnvqU8Ea-L_5N5MyfIBA_ey2XL2Q5yihIu/s1600/IMG_3377.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh6eKYQRXOgx5w9jxhoW45p1IZanwoUiNvs5kIRIq0YqQLipeX9EpsgDVZCDo90XcDcVbTBxrOHO8pkmtPBCrXxAiByY1h5bJR0CqqxKr-HyUnvqU8Ea-L_5N5MyfIBA_ey2XL2Q5yihIu/s320/IMG_3377.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Ollie our beloved otter<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCggxow5nFVuSXnDQ_TiWBCBi8iJZVJkhDC9tiWiFjfubDW7CU6IMHOf3_jEgKCXdSLVxvShn6Xobzlexn1hS4jhaFCzx8sPtL7Sc4rqIXOx6gEvHMVrPaPzQLBzimlFFoZG7mIcq9-qwS/s1600/IMG_3368.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCggxow5nFVuSXnDQ_TiWBCBi8iJZVJkhDC9tiWiFjfubDW7CU6IMHOf3_jEgKCXdSLVxvShn6Xobzlexn1hS4jhaFCzx8sPtL7Sc4rqIXOx6gEvHMVrPaPzQLBzimlFFoZG7mIcq9-qwS/s320/IMG_3368.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Preparing enrichments for the bears<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5dDhQm-SBawaXsHtRsGb66Pa55clYoSlLkzcNS6j5CfOcpFaI6mXWVpRaT_-OOxaYcYfnPNvwJtpjOYomeNEJikv2NfB97dqtmwXeuPIo3rqei9NHPSRVWCNo8JFayTG5NE-liT4lbJ2m/s1600/IMG_3362.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5dDhQm-SBawaXsHtRsGb66Pa55clYoSlLkzcNS6j5CfOcpFaI6mXWVpRaT_-OOxaYcYfnPNvwJtpjOYomeNEJikv2NfB97dqtmwXeuPIo3rqei9NHPSRVWCNo8JFayTG5NE-liT4lbJ2m/s320/IMG_3362.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Winnie, our adorable stray dog, is up for adoption. She is gorgeous and soooo sweet!DellaAnimalFriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09082991843938988614noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5018442804072027451.post-80264952039596130282011-01-30T03:03:00.000-08:002011-01-30T03:03:18.240-08:00June in the air<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzODpGLs372-b8Fq4rSKYXojoLuN2a7YD-vcw-cDLPf7stdAGMaEpO7G_FgK2ACB12ENT1nbzpntQoJzWNxDCXgG3bEjG1jmvofoRDDbNLncGgf_XQppksGc5UJqVIfJbTrnY2GUHQekrt/s1600/IMG_3189.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>TH</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:ApplyBreakingRules/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--> <m:smallfrac m:val="off"> <m:dispdef> <m:lmargin m:val="0"> <m:rmargin m:val="0"> <m:defjc m:val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent m:val="1440"> <m:intlim m:val="subSup"> <m:narylim m:val="undOvr"> </m:narylim></m:intlim> </m:wrapindent><!--[endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span>I promised I would tell you about my massage and elephant safari. The massage was at a lovely place called Petchvarin Resort (</span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://www.petchvarinresort.com/">www.petchvarinresort.com</a></span><span>). I was picked up for free at the centre, taken to the resort where I had absolutely the best massage I ever had in my life. Plus I had the whole resort to myself as it is very quiet there on weekdays. So I lounged by the pool, had a light lunch, lounged some more, had a swim, and then was driven back to the centre where I got myself prepared to go on our elephant safari.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span>The safari is perhaps not the right term for what was in truth just spending a couple of hours going up and down the same road in the hope of seeing some wild elephants. We did see a couple and I have to admit that it was a rather impressive sight. This is a very large piece of land and forest where the elephants are protected and free to roam. There are between 100 and 200 individuals there. A couple of them crossed our path and actually started running after our car, a little scary as they run very fast which is something one wouldn't expect from such a large animal. So..an interesting moment there...And we also saw a large group of stumptail macaques with funny red faces....there were babies there too, all white and very small.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0zSep3UO2BLrxx0Zi_A08rAfp9klKRMKkZTC8YFQgpwjc0NWrVFbq3n9Csn222ezf8rv_FXy2zXMGauxYG9q2yivXS3A_d7EIaOAz76dHA7UmfPVX_05268mB2oaqKCWI5Es93bsgyTqK/s1600/IMG_3213.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0zSep3UO2BLrxx0Zi_A08rAfp9klKRMKkZTC8YFQgpwjc0NWrVFbq3n9Csn222ezf8rv_FXy2zXMGauxYG9q2yivXS3A_d7EIaOAz76dHA7UmfPVX_05268mB2oaqKCWI5Es93bsgyTqK/s320/IMG_3213.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTKzZ60x9JcHZ5FnQp0V7ohkHqc9_uT_GbP-hp951NaM2wzX7NSSv80mzZr8ywHVt02h1O2kTrwUTau4pRV0kwvGDmM4J8eS-NLyAwQOfaAf728YMnICUEdWR96jSOz21ROg9uTlZ2fOR5/s1600/IMG_3217.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTKzZ60x9JcHZ5FnQp0V7ohkHqc9_uT_GbP-hp951NaM2wzX7NSSv80mzZr8ywHVt02h1O2kTrwUTau4pRV0kwvGDmM4J8eS-NLyAwQOfaAf728YMnICUEdWR96jSOz21ROg9uTlZ2fOR5/s320/IMG_3217.JPG" width="240" /></a></div> <span>I also had the good fortune to work with the bears this week. I've done it before and it is not a job I relish because it is mostly maintenance, i.e. cleaning and sweeping their enclosures. But they are beautiful animals and it is very exiting to be so close to them so I wanted to share a few photos with you all.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHaPdqKX-rjYO7RxtWy-nDx8QEzKvgBaJ9MSke2MAmNWFZ7BulHpKk59OS-0tfP7l80WhWnCF1gcXvMQuCQ9akQncWPBVYWk2d4Svmv83RZIW36Wa_vKIZV11p8mlO2dYD8HGGFPf7N6qz/s1600/IMG_3225.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHaPdqKX-rjYO7RxtWy-nDx8QEzKvgBaJ9MSke2MAmNWFZ7BulHpKk59OS-0tfP7l80WhWnCF1gcXvMQuCQ9akQncWPBVYWk2d4Svmv83RZIW36Wa_vKIZV11p8mlO2dYD8HGGFPf7N6qz/s320/IMG_3225.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizW7CredHYr7kynl5I5AjvYRs70UTKSmsfnkx0qJwcd_XBwWoDOBpC2D38JBin5ysP0AQNe8HWqrteQR2t8uy244ILGqiIW6TAocllL_GvFlC3QNyatkZ8ieEGUBU1BapHcUBzStN54ZsX/s1600/IMG_3232.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizW7CredHYr7kynl5I5AjvYRs70UTKSmsfnkx0qJwcd_XBwWoDOBpC2D38JBin5ysP0AQNe8HWqrteQR2t8uy244ILGqiIW6TAocllL_GvFlC3QNyatkZ8ieEGUBU1BapHcUBzStN54ZsX/s320/IMG_3232.JPG" width="240" /></a></div> June again basking in the sun.<br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO1dT2oroXuMedfO-sISXXKuY9SdhakFdIk9NiuO5K1icsGgBNeEGc68FrbBcZefo3jejHMBnOaVZjmvoPShVM8Yh7F2kOqkshFb8fU-WFjU6Zxs7oJUwaKFR9_gqAI6GBLmtAxjGTxbhW/s1600/IMG_3246.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO1dT2oroXuMedfO-sISXXKuY9SdhakFdIk9NiuO5K1icsGgBNeEGc68FrbBcZefo3jejHMBnOaVZjmvoPShVM8Yh7F2kOqkshFb8fU-WFjU6Zxs7oJUwaKFR9_gqAI6GBLmtAxjGTxbhW/s320/IMG_3246.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span>I did have my sad moment this week. I hadn't yet seen our resident tiger, Miauw, so having a little time off between two jobs and as it was his feeding hour, I scampered over to Miauw's enclosure. And what a shock I had! This very beautiful animal reduced to the state of pussycat. Rumour has it that when Miauw was castrated, it was done so badly that the spinal cord was tampered with and he basically lost the use of his legs. Added to that an infection and Miauw was pretty much an invalid. Seven years have gone by now and with proper medication, food and physiotherapy, Miauw can now get along on his own with difficulty but he can walk. It is a very sad sight to see and I was almost in tears but I was reminded that there was a time when he couldn't walk at all so now he has a very cool life. He also happens to have the largest single enclosure of all the tigers in Thailand, so all in all, a lucky tiger indeed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span>There are many such animals here at WFFT (such as a blind gibbon or two, a one armed macaque, a macaque with only one front arm and no legs)<span> </span>and while it is sad to see most of these animals who will never live in the wild again, it is also encouraging and hopeful that there are centres such as these with 'crazy' entrepreneurs such as Edwin, who founded and runs WFFT, where these animals can have a safe haven. And these animals are incredibly resilient and adaptable. And have lost nothing of their cheekiness! </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span>This morning we had a very intense moment at the centre. Sometime during the night, June, our old lady elephant previously mentioned, probably wanting to get some load off her feet, 'collapsed' onto her side. She's done that a few times before. The only problem is that she doesn't have the strength to get herself back up. I leave you to imagine the weight of a full grown elephant.....manpower alone is not sufficient to get her up. So the crane had to be brought in. Unfortunately I was not there to witness it, but apparently it was all very dramatic because they didn't harness her properly so she was up in the air, all askew as it were, and twirling around. Of course, she was very scared and screaming and the volunteers were crying, they were so upset. Maybe it's a good thing after all that I missed it....Well, they eventually got her back on her feet and now she is being pampered all day by all the volunteers so all's well that ends well.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span>Life at the centre is going on as usual. I am perfectly comfortable here now and am enjoying the experience fully. It is sort of like time out of time. We are pretty much cut off from everything and our entire days revolve around the animals and their schedules. For example, today I am leading the team 'Primates 1' which is a group of about 60 primates. There are four of us on the team. It involves getting up at 6:30 AM, spending about 1 hour cutting loads of fruit and spreading it in a very specific way over all the bowls, distributing the food at 7:30, getting back, washing the bowls and setting up for the afternoon feed. Then we have a special project at 9:00. This morning it involved cleaning the leopard cat pools. Then we have a bowl pickup and wash, a water bucket refill. Then lunch. Short rest time until 1:30 PM. And then the same thing all over again at very specific times once again.<span> </span>My day finishes with closing up the feeding house making sure everything is in place for the next morning, waste management (fancy name for emptying the garbage) and locking up the gate after Sam, our horse, has been brought in. After the day's hard work, we usually go to the internet cafe or have an activity such as this evening, swimming in the lake. Tough life ….;-)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span>Cheers</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>DellaAnimalFriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09082991843938988614noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5018442804072027451.post-44599937232197657802011-01-25T03:01:00.000-08:002011-01-25T03:01:04.465-08:00Elephant manifesto and other matters...<a href=""><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>TH</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:ApplyBreakingRules/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--> <m:smallfrac m:val="off"> <m:dispdef> <m:lmargin m:val="0"> <m:rmargin m:val="0"> <m:defjc m:val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent m:val="1440"> <m:intlim m:val="subSup"> <m:narylim m:val="undOvr"> </m:narylim></m:intlim> </m:wrapindent><!--[endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR">Wildlife Friends of Thailand is a safe haven for abused wild animals. In Thailand (but not only, to be fair), gibbons, macaques and others serve as photo props for tourists who are unaware that, by asking for or accepting that service, they are seriously stressing and endangering the animals. I will tell you about the primates in a future update but for now, please take a moment to read the following manifesto:</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span lang="FR" style="font-size: 14pt;">ELEPHANT MANIFESTO: SAY NO TO STREET-BEGGING ELEPHANTS!!!</span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR">By gi</span><span>ving money to mahouts (elephant handlers) tourists are contributing to <b>elephant abuse</b>:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span>to perform, the elephant has to be 'broken' using the cruel Pahjaan process – the elephant is <b>starved, burnt, stabbed and systematically tortured to make it obey humans.</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span>elephant obedience is based on <b>FEAR</b> and <b>PAIN</b>. If commands are disobeyed, the elephant is beaten. If tricks to entertain tourists are not learnt, the elephant is beaten.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span>The elephant is often <b>starved</b> to keep it looking small and 'cute' for tourists, so it is hungry for tourists' food.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span>Making elephants perform on dirty, unhealthy streets is <b>illegal</b> to do and causes road traffic accidents. Tourists can now also be fined for supporting street-begging elephants.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">DON'T SUPPORT ANIMAL ABUSE</span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">DON'T PAY TO FEED A STREET ELEPHANT</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span>The mahouts are <b>NOT</b> poor people (this is a myth)- they earn the Thai equivalent of a small fortune every night from exploiting elephants and tourists who are unaware of the cruelty involved. By feeding it, you are not helping the owner's elephant, just its owners bank balance.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span>A handful of elephants were lucky to be 'saved' by WFFT and will finish their life safe and secure from the cruelty of the mahouts. For obvious reasons, it is very difficult to get the mahouts to hand over their elephants. As a result, the one and only way to stop this abuse is to not support it. If there is no more demand, hopefully the abuse will stop.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: 16pt;">PASS THE WORD!!!!!!!!</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR">OK. Enough gloom.....</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR">Days have been flying by, I have been so busy!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR">I was on bear duty (more on that later), nocturnal duty again, and happily back to primates yesterday and today....</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR">Yesterday, one of the things I did was to clean the hanging baskets we use to put their food in: a menial task indeed and a neverending one as the baskets will be needing to be cleaned again in a day or two. But what I really enjoyed about it was the interaction with the primates. Coming up to their enclosure and taking the time to scrub the basket meant 'risking' having them come up to us and grab us (I've already had my hair grabbed twice;-). It was great fun though, trying to outsmart them and I did succeed a few times when they realized that I wasn't scared of them....and staring them straight in the eyes. They are very funny and very, very clever.<span> </span>Imagine this: there are two baby macaques in this one enclosure. They actually figured out that a. they are in a closed enclosure b. if they want to get out, they have to open something and c. and this is the amazing part: they have figured out that it is a lock that is keeping them in (mostly because they see the staff locking and unlocking the lock several times a day) and that by removing the lock, they could then get out. I, for one, find that amazing because it means to me that they understand the consequences of doing certain things such as removing a lock to be free.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR">Included is a photo of some of the enclosures here. Bear in mind that most if not all of these primates have come from situations where they were kept in very tiny cages and some of them did not even know how to swing until they arrived at WFFT, so it's good stuff indeed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR">And to conclude on a note of zenitude, this is a photo of a reclining buddha a short way up the road. It is absolutely massive and very beautiful and is set in lovely and calm surroundings of grass and trees.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR">Tomorrow, I'm due to go on an elephant safari...will tell you all about it in a few days.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR">Cheers</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY2326bbfvlidrZU-pCvGqm8Rpd9pGw4Uff-R9FKwdBPZ6nopJvA1dTX1D8u0XU6L19uMtQdEeqcR6kXN3ajFYVNjmhtQvYQBsx9VW47VJ3In4piqwhDtxAmrD-j8uFUOtJJocOCgSSpgG/s1600/IMG_3112.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY2326bbfvlidrZU-pCvGqm8Rpd9pGw4Uff-R9FKwdBPZ6nopJvA1dTX1D8u0XU6L19uMtQdEeqcR6kXN3ajFYVNjmhtQvYQBsx9VW47VJ3In4piqwhDtxAmrD-j8uFUOtJJocOCgSSpgG/s320/IMG_3112.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Large enclosures with the feeding baskets on the outside<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhunqagV6DjLsvEslCzkuJwIAl80mFmzICq4rZbjQIg3q-3QgLKUbqrXBXOSJRYpaNc0wj0Zq0JOrFlAcxr8x4Bal7jT2nEtm4O7mOEdukSjwlOxoL5NLDp6Zd1YgO6s6MsBlR9OCdd9woc/s1600/IMG_3137.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhunqagV6DjLsvEslCzkuJwIAl80mFmzICq4rZbjQIg3q-3QgLKUbqrXBXOSJRYpaNc0wj0Zq0JOrFlAcxr8x4Bal7jT2nEtm4O7mOEdukSjwlOxoL5NLDp6Zd1YgO6s6MsBlR9OCdd9woc/s320/IMG_3137.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Elephant "June" th eoldest elephant at WFFT, she's about 60. You can see the wounds she has on her backside. She is now safe from all of that and leading a quiet life much loved by all the volunteers.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpEhRV17FkvXNg-RTvlO1DkZnZaMOmCMQ047f44MCm1iYq7nlI8FHZzJbSGSXZS65aLYA66-JPGjcQg8A6FL2G3uLaar1VOurafYrr4WX1eEmFDjhT-nNXbep5CgR8WuV_nqAD8cnu6IYR/s1600/IMG_3139.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpEhRV17FkvXNg-RTvlO1DkZnZaMOmCMQ047f44MCm1iYq7nlI8FHZzJbSGSXZS65aLYA66-JPGjcQg8A6FL2G3uLaar1VOurafYrr4WX1eEmFDjhT-nNXbep5CgR8WuV_nqAD8cnu6IYR/s320/IMG_3139.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLe9fliPdm6J3RFOIDZxDZJk6anmIa_kbunD6jjokPzY-M50nhi8lJPGHgropCTJvmKQKaiFarcapxZXeUedp_sZM5TzbwFZtKgelcwH7ltzbpWJ-bdBRF4moiescKqTtpaRdIbnyIy7-P/s1600/IMG_3147.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLe9fliPdm6J3RFOIDZxDZJk6anmIa_kbunD6jjokPzY-M50nhi8lJPGHgropCTJvmKQKaiFarcapxZXeUedp_sZM5TzbwFZtKgelcwH7ltzbpWJ-bdBRF4moiescKqTtpaRdIbnyIy7-P/s320/IMG_3147.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR"> That's me standing in front of the Buddha.</span></div>DellaAnimalFriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09082991843938988614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5018442804072027451.post-27865324951013904612011-01-21T01:07:00.000-08:002011-01-21T01:07:34.980-08:00January 21 photos at WFFT<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhad8zQt_GDSHFv89g5wuJ197wd-QcjEBSO9rSjvm02tR0sPfFArXicE-2HSfh0KtHjgm86cB46k7b3jnQF6HEgkKYdz1uafjC0u3X5zNeJSfbERy45LCOyQLcI7u_NKLs46s_mL3aFjJoA/s1600/IMG_3076.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhad8zQt_GDSHFv89g5wuJ197wd-QcjEBSO9rSjvm02tR0sPfFArXicE-2HSfh0KtHjgm86cB46k7b3jnQF6HEgkKYdz1uafjC0u3X5zNeJSfbERy45LCOyQLcI7u_NKLs46s_mL3aFjJoA/s320/IMG_3076.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Gibbon<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYIhZDzYwcZEDb2nag_jJWT8VwtLE33lUj6pFkhzRwQeQf30gNyzabR2L0eZg7hnCv3LLSuBkbe5Fu448oNSknpFlvuNdaoi8b2jsjHztq9Rt7fgJZpd5-aA0X7f-dOMkMHp7U4qmbDFmq/s1600/IMG_3091.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYIhZDzYwcZEDb2nag_jJWT8VwtLE33lUj6pFkhzRwQeQf30gNyzabR2L0eZg7hnCv3LLSuBkbe5Fu448oNSknpFlvuNdaoi8b2jsjHztq9Rt7fgJZpd5-aA0X7f-dOMkMHp7U4qmbDFmq/s320/IMG_3091.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhODV6XqB0nRQdrabhMRE1AZ6m5cWmUqdK3DVpURtLnykYeWQcsT1hocvC5QzNgIDXVIHxx-QSlXtvczW1yREnZSRcTVSUhFesY3FcuypOKoa9ow3m4zXBrZ708CfxlopGjB_sBepRbnQ4h/s1600/IMG_3105.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhODV6XqB0nRQdrabhMRE1AZ6m5cWmUqdK3DVpURtLnykYeWQcsT1hocvC5QzNgIDXVIHxx-QSlXtvczW1yREnZSRcTVSUhFesY3FcuypOKoa9ow3m4zXBrZ708CfxlopGjB_sBepRbnQ4h/s320/IMG_3105.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi82wjaitnsdg_eEifsyHd1ksYUd6xyZMfydt-ZlxrwqGfHYD8SdKDOKhEm3iEQhlkAqkZL0ur55liwaAeB-Z9HW74UPI5cD22p4hpPm5mYOu3qiLQbsnylSYdGrxV51Bb9hD2snjGJ_YR0/s1600/IMG_3118.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi82wjaitnsdg_eEifsyHd1ksYUd6xyZMfydt-ZlxrwqGfHYD8SdKDOKhEm3iEQhlkAqkZL0ur55liwaAeB-Z9HW74UPI5cD22p4hpPm5mYOu3qiLQbsnylSYdGrxV51Bb9hD2snjGJ_YR0/s320/IMG_3118.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Binturong ( only found in Asia)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu9U1JUhTCWDr7LfOEY0Ys9LkEnQSoB4fOq1ZIBU7-aId0fK4rUt3LFQ0s_IKFPpIMy_iySDDglfGEmDCraggP8ek6sNVaD_E5kBhX1DWb_7CYjhuMSoLbIQX3e_4ANkwQN7XptCJty3wR/s1600/IMG_3124.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu9U1JUhTCWDr7LfOEY0Ys9LkEnQSoB4fOq1ZIBU7-aId0fK4rUt3LFQ0s_IKFPpIMy_iySDDglfGEmDCraggP8ek6sNVaD_E5kBhX1DWb_7CYjhuMSoLbIQX3e_4ANkwQN7XptCJty3wR/s320/IMG_3124.JPG" width="240" /></a></div> Macaques (my favourites)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7PcOS3W-AbANRPbxvQVV_Sgbac80d5JabtIH-nZKjWOrbh_sXl3w2anZVbrsfVJNAqmgDm_Q2URkLGmj3YjsnmC3QdCtMNVJR3lhsdwtBVCTbEjS0iy-zwJmB0vYFm8L81rVMt-mne-lt/s1600/IMG_3125.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7PcOS3W-AbANRPbxvQVV_Sgbac80d5JabtIH-nZKjWOrbh_sXl3w2anZVbrsfVJNAqmgDm_Q2URkLGmj3YjsnmC3QdCtMNVJR3lhsdwtBVCTbEjS0iy-zwJmB0vYFm8L81rVMt-mne-lt/s320/IMG_3125.JPG" width="240" /></a></div> This macaque was bitten by the other macaque in his enclosure so Edwin took her (Mia) to the hospital and because she was so good, he brought her back to the volunteer house for a treat ...<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw2356DllkeBU2UQXvnQ8yPpth13MWwRBnaKTq9oOJA4wDNhDjrCKWYIEzYhUCgIeloaMDSaR4dQqC0kEua5nupzG5t23ZiPyJ7tht_rpmwFHRL-ZtbMV0pGOPEP5eW1ymXxql6iBxmQ1C/s1600/IMG_4385.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw2356DllkeBU2UQXvnQ8yPpth13MWwRBnaKTq9oOJA4wDNhDjrCKWYIEzYhUCgIeloaMDSaR4dQqC0kEua5nupzG5t23ZiPyJ7tht_rpmwFHRL-ZtbMV0pGOPEP5eW1ymXxql6iBxmQ1C/s320/IMG_4385.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUVWEo_P4_0566y-G_8r4PKwA_v_oszkwsU8j8SA79GyR3P6zWUEyGU6THwzt27sNwQM4W9CrKiR-gFGVKOFDYgd1kCb9zMvA6pfCbdNdPn-2iyLXmYi74W5KX9CKzUuqVBgC4XC96Fu4Z/s1600/IMG_3114.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUVWEo_P4_0566y-G_8r4PKwA_v_oszkwsU8j8SA79GyR3P6zWUEyGU6THwzt27sNwQM4W9CrKiR-gFGVKOFDYgd1kCb9zMvA6pfCbdNdPn-2iyLXmYi74W5KX9CKzUuqVBgC4XC96Fu4Z/s320/IMG_3114.JPG" width="240" /></a></div> Baby langur<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJF0as8CZWBZO8txQXnegiGXKjlnxpuvilYscO7bYB3Ub84TS1EgqK__sjqlP1olgV4a5UvWDwSJY7pWRRRDnqMf55dKSAPZJnM2Qu-lunoRMyiN-thAkEMoMhwWnmsy3i08i2xJl9l4s9/s1600/IMG_3128.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJF0as8CZWBZO8txQXnegiGXKjlnxpuvilYscO7bYB3Ub84TS1EgqK__sjqlP1olgV4a5UvWDwSJY7pWRRRDnqMf55dKSAPZJnM2Qu-lunoRMyiN-thAkEMoMhwWnmsy3i08i2xJl9l4s9/s320/IMG_3128.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcMtrqylh_yyCFuxxSmAVWLsq6hITu4baymp3m1bnizWts8nBetypO_I00nSuTUQbL_TbswjeIrOReHBkoZ_l8iIp5adfeZ4AK_sS7CdgbBeW-z7p_n-abZLDUCDsjh7UV59W7ioyNglLb/s1600/IMG_3130.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcMtrqylh_yyCFuxxSmAVWLsq6hITu4baymp3m1bnizWts8nBetypO_I00nSuTUQbL_TbswjeIrOReHBkoZ_l8iIp5adfeZ4AK_sS7CdgbBeW-z7p_n-abZLDUCDsjh7UV59W7ioyNglLb/s320/IMG_3130.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>Thank you all for your lovely messages! Keep them coming and enjoy the photos. Now that I know I can do it, I ll put more on regularly...DellaAnimalFriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09082991843938988614noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5018442804072027451.post-4205672161652871112011-01-20T02:41:00.001-08:002011-01-21T01:12:07.308-08:00January 20 update<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"> at Wildlife Friends of Thailand</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;">Well, my first week is almost up, unbelievably, and while the first couple of days were a bit rough, as I mentioned in my previous posting, things have improved enormously for me and I am enjoying it fully.</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;">My days are very full with all sorts of tasks: preparing the food for the animals and feeding them and refilling their water buckets (animals being gibbons, macaques, langurs, nocturnal animals like slow loris, civets and a binturong-only found in Asia, leopard cats) maintaining our trails through "the jungle", scrubbing and cleaning various pools, the pig pool, the dear pool, the tortoise pool, the macaque pool and painting a green wall for the new iguana enclosure. </span> </div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;">And through all of that, the gibbons are singing, "Oli" the otter is screaming for food, "Randy" the Great Hornbill doing his thing and "Dundee" the crocodile also doing his usual….nothing ;-)</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;">During the first couple of days, these "menial " tasks made me wonder what I was doing here and feeling very guilty that I wasn't at work!</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;">Then, the day before yesterday, Edwin and the staff went on a rescue mission and brought back to the center 4 Gibbons and 4 Macaques with 3 more coming in the next day. One of the Gibbons was so traumatized by her previous experience, she hadn't been out of a very small cage for her entire life (!) that as soon as she was released into her new "huge" enclosure, she immediately went to hide in a corner with her face turned toward the wall and her arms over her head. She was a very sad sight for us. Added to that, she is all skin and bones and her eyes are very sad. Two days have gone by and she is out and about, starting to swing a bit, coming to the sides of her enclosure when we come up to say hi or when we feed her, she is so obviously more peaceful and reassured in the two short days, that it makes it all worthwhile and suddenly, you know why you're here.</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;">All of our little tasks make up a whole. Maintaining the trails makes it easier for those who come into "the Jungle" with baskets of food and buckets of water to go from one enclosure to another without tripping over roots. Cleaning the pig pool makes it fresher smelling and pleasant for all, painting the iguana enclosure ensures that it will be a permanent and welcome addition to the scenery at the centre. It all comes together and everyone pitches in wholeheartedly no matter how difficult, repetitive or boring a task may be.</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;">I've been learning tremendous amounts about Gibbons, Macaques, their behavior, their diet. We have strict feeding hours so that they have a regular and balanced diet. According to their needs, they have single, double or triple portions, enrichments of various sorts, calcium powder for the mommies and daddies. Some eat eggs, others eat chicken, some eat only fruit, others fish. And we have so much to memorize, who eats what and how much. The more experienced volunteers become group leaders to help the new volunteers with all this information. I should be a group leader next week maybe...hopefully I'll be able to remember everything!</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;">Haven't had the pleasure of taking care of the bears yet but I will soon hopefully! And then, there's the daily running of the centre. There too we have a routine. Cleaning the volunteer house, cleaning our rooms and bathrooms..and there too, I lucked out, it appears my room, which I'm sharing with 3 other girls, has the only flushing toilet in the centre...</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;">We went to visit the night market in Cha Am yesterday. Cha Am is a resort town for Thais so the feel was really local. On Friday evening we go to visit the night market in Hua Hin which is a lot more touristy.</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;">I haven't overdosed on Thai food yet, still enjoying my rice twice a day (with a beer, yes...) and am looking forward to discovering the pleasures of a massage as we have VIP entrance to a very nice local resort with pool, etc...But that's for my day off next week and you will of course, be able to read all about it!!</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cheers</span></div>DellaAnimalFriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09082991843938988614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5018442804072027451.post-34541409707805435912011-01-17T03:15:00.000-08:002011-01-21T01:13:00.494-08:00First days in ThailandWell, here I am at Wildlife Friends of Thailand, having finished my second day of work. It is a culture shock in every sense and much more challenging than I imagined it would be.<br />
As most all of you know, this is the first time I am away from home volunteering and therefore, I had no idea what to expect.<br />
I am rooming with three other girls who, fortunately, are very nice. The room is quite basic with a couple of overhead lights, a couple of fans, a basic bathroom with a cold water shower, which we have to clean ourselves, as well as our clothes.<br />
There is a communal room for all the volunteers (35 at the moment) where convene for our daily tasks which are varied and numerous. It is also the room where we take our meals. Always rice, which should bring back to Leah fond memories of her trip to China, veggies, great for vegetarians, and to drink, only water, so for beer, we have to go to the village to pick some up as well as any other goodies we feel like having.<br />
Well, who are the volunteers here at the centre? Mostly, young people doing their gap year busy deciding what they want to study at university next year. Others travelling around Asia, stopping at the centre for one, two or three weeks. In that sense, I feel a bit lonely as there aren t really any other people in my age group, but overall everyone is nice. Getting a lot of reading done....<br />
As far as my tasks are concerned, well for these two days it s been mainly with the gibbons, the macaques, the langurs, feeding them, refreshing their water 4 times a day, sweeping under their enclosures. They are amazing and the set-up at the centre is very impressive. The monkeys are rehabilitated in stages, as they have been seriously abused, some of them will never be rehabilitated enough to live in the wild. You can see it from their behaviour which is at times aggressive but for the most part, they certainly seem to adjust to each new environment they are offered. They go from being low on the ground, which is what they have been used to, to learning to swing a bit, which should be their natural behaviour, to swinging contentedly higher and higher up, which is what they are encouraged to do by having their food placed higher and higher. At times, they are able to share an enclosure with another monkey of the same species, and at other times, that isn t possible because they steal food from each other or are too aggressive.<br />
There are also quite a few bears, a crocodile called Dundee, ha, ha, who moves although we never actually see him doing it, and a tiger who we have yet to see as he is kind of shy and hides in the bush in his huge enclosure.<br />
Other duties include maintenance work, planting and watering trees, sweeping and other such jobs. <br />
Very strange feeling for me, I haven t yet decided if it s for me yet, but I think it s probably too early to say,<br />
I m still too much in the homesick phase to totally enjoy...<br />
I ll try and post photos next time, but for now, I just wanted to let you all know out there, that I m alive and well.<br />
LoveDellaAnimalFriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09082991843938988614noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5018442804072027451.post-56012199892730714442010-12-19T02:51:00.000-08:002010-12-19T02:51:26.265-08:00<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, today is Dec. 19 and the countdown has started...less than a month to go! While I was feeling apprehensive for awhile, friends and family have rallied 'round and been so encouraging that now, well.... I can't wait! </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A very dear and wise friend in Chicago told me to let go. Let go of what I am leaving behind and be like a sponge, absorb all I can, because it's a unique experience which might not come my way again and what I am leaving behind will be here when I get back...she is so right and I will try to keep those wise words in mind at all times...</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All the last minute shopping is done, in particular the anti-mosquito products for which I spent a small fortune! Indeed, if there is a mosquito miles away, it will find me, so better safe than sorry, I now have all I need! And I understand that mosquitoes are present year-round in Thailand :-(</span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The weather there at the moment is upwards of 32° Celsius, the sun is shining and another really cool feature is that I'll be getting two hot Thai meals a day and that is a real treat!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The trip will be quite long between the train to Frankfurt airport, waiting 3 hours before take-off, over 10 hours flight (on Thai Airways...can't be bad...) and then a 3 hour drive to WFFT, it will be a long day. Fortunately it's a night flight, so with a bit of luck, I'll be able to get some sleep...</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk-xR5g5EsYMV23SJL9V14djmxD3sTxAwx37hoPOlCllMwrfG1HEVTSwJHZvu2snBMQ7JyEGAthVyx_pp9BHSnEgYxH8t-6_x0kgekzSn30a0LWgnXSaV9tuGA-QU2otrVaZREwL7JcUjW/s1600/latest_img4.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk-xR5g5EsYMV23SJL9V14djmxD3sTxAwx37hoPOlCllMwrfG1HEVTSwJHZvu2snBMQ7JyEGAthVyx_pp9BHSnEgYxH8t-6_x0kgekzSn30a0LWgnXSaV9tuGA-QU2otrVaZREwL7JcUjW/s1600/latest_img4.gif" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY7gJXdO5Xxg22SZa-hWLTWGZojurOYxr7V6qrKXY16jlTdpA4Su7cWxxPYF_UaWmtx7EEPsOSQkl0c0MiNtkLYat5IYkxShGenllVrAWOd9b-jKNBXmqhPmBqGWYBYm8epBiU1UTtGS4I/s1600/latest_img3.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY7gJXdO5Xxg22SZa-hWLTWGZojurOYxr7V6qrKXY16jlTdpA4Su7cWxxPYF_UaWmtx7EEPsOSQkl0c0MiNtkLYat5IYkxShGenllVrAWOd9b-jKNBXmqhPmBqGWYBYm8epBiU1UTtGS4I/s1600/latest_img3.gif" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk6SqLFF37g9M0R-ux3DhCHxZrhGxwFnWADUFINoohCxcen5HXypsWH973GH2xh5PIrszrp6jhX38BE36lNj7cuAUI9hb7Mr83pnmYK7S7B2Pib-0mityOPZ8i2umVK3i65AHY0Zlvuhok/s1600/latest_img2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk6SqLFF37g9M0R-ux3DhCHxZrhGxwFnWADUFINoohCxcen5HXypsWH973GH2xh5PIrszrp6jhX38BE36lNj7cuAUI9hb7Mr83pnmYK7S7B2Pib-0mityOPZ8i2umVK3i65AHY0Zlvuhok/s1600/latest_img2.gif" /></a></div><br />
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<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here are some of the friends I'll be meeting, are they cool or what? The tiger is Miauw, a declawed tiger (!) hence a permanent resident of WFFT as he can no longer live in the wild of course.. These are photos taken from their website, but soon, hopefully I'll be able to download my own photos ;-)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'be back soon, all my love,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Della</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div></div>DellaAnimalFriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09082991843938988614noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5018442804072027451.post-81681533249046473032010-11-10T01:15:00.000-08:002010-11-10T01:27:10.102-08:00November updateWell, it's been awhile since my last message, so time to keep you up-to-date with my project.<br />As planned, in July, mom and I went to Israel for three weeks. Unexpectedly, I absolutely fell in love with this totally crazy country! I stepped off the plane at Ben Gourion and the first sign I saw was "Welcome to Israel" and it felt like I was coming home...amazing.<br /><br />We did so many things together over the three weeks, it would be difficult to describe everything here and I can only hope that one day, you too will go there and discover a vital, dynamic, warm in every sense of the word, on the edge place and love it the way I did.<br /><br />More à propos to my project, when in Tel Aviv, I went to visit the volunteer organisation I'm using for my South Africa and Israel projects and having spent some time talking with them, have changed my project just a bit. I am still going to South Africa, that's set in stone. However, I was advised not to do the long term Hai Bar project for several valid reasons so the way the project stands now is that I will be on Kibbutz Lotan for 6 weeks (and will come back quite the environmental specialist as I will learn loads about sustainable energies, eco-friendly living and many other things which I'm very excited about) and 1 week on the Coral Reefs in Eilat.<br /><br />From there, I will proceed to Jerusalem where I will be signing up for their summer ulpan (hebrew course), an intensive 5h per day course for 5 weeks.<br /><br />All my projects are now paid for, my shots are taken care of, I have my flights, travel insurance, so everything is pretty much taken care of... just need to pack the bag and that will be a chore indeed, trying to figure out absolutely everything I will need and not forget the essentials...<br /><br />Only 2 more months to go;-)DellaAnimalFriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09082991843938988614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5018442804072027451.post-51630072774324254542010-07-02T00:36:00.000-07:002010-07-02T01:57:10.901-07:00Health matters and other significant issues english et françaisAs I sat down to write this article, I realized that I didn't know which language to write it in. Obviously, this will be an ongoing issue so I'll try to write it in both languages each time so as to be able to share the news with all my friends.<br /><br />Firstly, let me tell you that I had a WONDERFUL birthday! Mom, Leah and I, along with my dear friends Josiane and Steve, Susan and Jean-Michel, went to this great little italian restaurant where we overdid it on Prosecco and wine and fantastic food. Leah treated us to a bottle of Prosecco and treated me to the most beautiful gift (a Swarowski crystal necklace) which I shall cherish for ever- I can tell that she has grown up indeed as she paid for it from the money she has been earning over the last 9 months and was rightly proud about that. Mom's gift to me is also monumental! Imagine this: in a little over two weeks, we will be going on a three week trip to Israel, my first time there, and I am incredibly excited, thrilled to go on this trip with mom, thrilled to get to know this amazing country. I have no idea what awaits me, but I do know it will be intense... More on my return, I promise.<br /><br />In terms of my personal "animal" project, well things are moving along smoothly. I booked my place on the Thailand and South African projects, booked my flight to Bangkok, and have started making all sorts of purchases. Mosquito net, mosquito repellent, short and three quarter length pants to work in, trekking boots, travel alarm clock, you name it, the list is long and I musn't forget a thing! Good thing they sent me a check list! And of course, I've also started getting the relevant shots: diphteria, tetanus, polio, hepatitis A and B, typhoid, rabies and more (japonese encephalitis?? ) And believe me, this is only the tip of the iceberg so to speak..I also need to rent out my apartment, hopefully to someone who is cat friendly, hence pack up what needs to be out of there for my tenents' benefit, and all of this while doing a full time job at the shop, and so forth... never a dull moment, I tell you!<br /><br />Je disais donc que lorsque je me suis attelée à la tache d'écrire cet article, je me suis rendue compte que je devrai l'écrire dans les deux langues afin de partager tout ceci avec tous mes amis... Donc autant que possible tous les articles seront bilingues ;-)<br /><br />J'ai passé un MERVEILLEUX anniversaire. Ma mère, Leah et mes amis Josiane et Steve, Susan et Jean-Michel, m'ont aidé à passer ce "cap difficile" dans la joie... Nous avons partagé un repas magnifique dans un petit resto italien où nous avons un peu exagéré au niveau du Prosecco, offert par Leah, et le vin à 15°, et enfin le Limoncello offert par la patronne. C'était génial!<br /><br />J'ai été royalement gâtée par Leah qui m'a offert un superbe collier en crystal Swarowski, fruit de son travail depuis 9 mois, et preuve qu'elle grandit à vitesse grand V. Maman, quand à elle, m'a aussi fait le cadeau du siècle. En effet, dans environ deux semaines, nous partons toutes les deux à la découverte d'Israel. Grande première pour moi et je suis vraiment très excitée et impatiente. Je ne sais vraiment pas ce qui m'attend mais ce que je sais, c'est que ce sera fort en émotions, très intense et passionant! Je ne manquerai pas de vous en parler à mon retour.<br /><br />Et enfin, s'agissant de mon projet perso, eh bien, les choses se mettent en place doucement mais surement: j'ai réservé ma place sur les sites en Thaïlande et Afrique du Sud (eh oui, il faut réserver, et longtemps à l'avance en plus car c'est très demandé, les anglophones faisant souvent ce genre de choses durant une periode sabbatique entre le lycée et l'université, ou comme moi, pour faire une pause dans leur carrière professionnelle...). J'ai également pris mon billet pour Bangkok et prendrais celui pour Johannesbourg avant de partir en vacances. J'ai commencé à faire mes achats sur la (très) longue liste de choses de base à emmener: moustiquaire, produit anti-moustique, pantalons trois-quart et longs, rangers, gants de travail, lampe frontale, etc, etc... Et aussi tous les vaccins obligatoires (DTP, Hépatites A et B, le Rage, la Typhoïde et... l'encéphalite japonaise (!) c'est quoi, ça???). Bon, du fait que je prends un congé sans solde, il faut aussi que je loue mon appart, de préférence à des personnes qui aiment les chats, puisque Pastisse fait partie des meubles bien sûr. Bref, je n'ai pas le temps de m'ennuyer!!<br /><br />Je vous embrasse tous, kisses to all,<br /><br />DellaDellaAnimalFriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09082991843938988614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5018442804072027451.post-62583868682112645752010-06-27T03:17:00.000-07:002010-06-27T03:35:34.599-07:0027 Juin jour de mes 50 ans!Pour mes amis francophones... en ce jour de ma demi-centenaire, le moment est venu pour moi de vous parler de mon merveilleux projet que je suis en train de m'offrir...<br /><br />Pour marquer cette année et parce que j'ai encore plein d'énergie et d'idées, de coeur et de volonté, je suis en train de mettre en place le projet d'une vie... En effet, à partir du 14 Janvier prochain, je vais partir pour un long périple de 7 mois afin de réaliser un rêve... réparer un peu les horreurs commis par les hommes envers les animaux et travailler bénévolement dans des centres qui récupèrent, soignent et si possible rendent à leur habitat naturel, des animaux sauvages en tous genres.<br /><br />La première partie de mon voyage va m'emmener en Thaïlande, à 160 km au sud de Bangkok, dans un centre qui s'appelle Wildlife Friends of Thailand Rescue Centre. J'y serai 7 semaines dont 2 en particulier avec les éléphants. Ce sont tous des animaux qui ont été l'objet de traite animale, qui ont servis à mendier dans les rues de Bangkok, souvent obligés d'arpenter les rues durant des heures sans boire ni manger, des animaux sauvages comme des singes ou des lions par ex. maintenus en captivités durant des années dans des cages trop petites, traités comme des animaux de compagnie ou comme attrait à touriste. Grâce a ces centres, ces animaux retrouvent une vie proche de ce qu'elle devrait être et les personnes qui y travaillent souvent bénévolement ainsi que les personnes qui ont crée ces centres y travaillent inlassablement et avec un courage énorme!<br /><br />Après la Thaïlande viendra l'Afrique du Sud, dans la région du Limpopo, dans un centre qui fait la même chose et qui se nomme Moholoholo Rehabilitation Centre. Si cela vous interresse, vous pouvez trouver leur site sur internet, bien que les sites soient en anglais.<br /><br />Enfin, je vais passer trois mois et demi en Israel dont les deux premiers seront dans un Kibbutz qui se nomme Kibbutz Lotan, un kibbutz progressif, très avant-garde en matière d'écologie, où j'habiterais dans des maisons écolos et où j'apprendrais à vivre vert, et enfin les 6 dernières semaines, je travaillerais dans un centre pour animaux, mais cette fois il s'agira d'un centre pour la conservation et la reproduction, le Yotvat Hai-Bar, très connu en Israel.<br /><br />Voilà mes amis. Je ne serai sans doute plus la même lorsque je reviendrai et qui sait ce que je ferai à ce moment-là. Mais je souhaite passer les quelques prochaines années à être utile, donner un sens à ma vie, et j'ai veritablement l'impression que ce projet est pour moi un souffle nouveau, une grande porte qui s'ouvre sur mon avenir.<br /><br />J'espère vous savoir nombreux à me suivre dans mes aventures. Je tacherai autant que possible de poster mes articles dans les deux langues et attend vos commentaires avec joie.<br /><br />Mais, il reste 6 mois de préparation avant de partir et les merveilleux projets dans les prochaines semaines sont 3 semaines de vacances en Israel offerts par ma maman et quelques accompagnements sportifs que mes amis coureurs apprécieront.<br /><br />Je vous embrasse tous.<br /><br />DellaDellaAnimalFriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09082991843938988614noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5018442804072027451.post-44902579739986815672010-06-24T12:08:00.000-07:002010-06-24T12:26:38.526-07:00June 24....Three more days to go and I'll be a half century young!! I can hardly believe it! I've decided this is the year to do grand things and as some of you already know and hear about on a daily basis (sorry if I bore you with this sometimes my friends;-), I am about to embark on a very grand project indeed.<br /><br />In just about six months time, I will be taking a leave from work to go and live and work with my dear animals. This is a dream I've had for a long time, circumstances are now permitting me to realize this dream. Very much thanks to the support of my mom, my daughter, and my lovely colleague Justyna at the shop. Not to speak of my banker, my accountant and other useful people!<br /><br />On January 14, I will be off to Thailand to volunteer at the Wildlife Friends of Thailand rescue centre for 7 weeks followed by 4 weeks volunteering at the Moholoholo Rehabilitation Centre in the province of Limpopo in South Africa. And finally, 3 and a half months in Israel volunteering on Kibbutz Lotan, a progressive ecological kibbutz about 55km or 30 some miles north of Eilat where I will live in ecological houses and learn all about living green. That will be 2 months followed by 6 weeks at Yotvata Hai-Bar Conservation Centre where I will learn all about animal reproduction and conservation.<br /><br />For now, I invite you to take a look at the websites of the rescue centres where I will be volunteering; www.wfft.org and www.moholoholo.co.za <br /><br />The people there are absolutely devoted to the animals and are doing wonderful things to help them. They rely totally on our generosity, I can only encourage you to donate. Please read the stories of these animals which were mistreated, abused, often kept for days, weeks, months on end in too small cages, made to roam the streets to beg. Thanks to these rescue centres and the tireless efforts of those who run them, work in them and volunteer in them, these animals will end their lives in happier circumstances, closer to the habitat that is theirs.<br /><br />I will be back with more info. This is only a taster.<br /><br />Cheers,<br /><br />DellaDellaAnimalFriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09082991843938988614noreply@blogger.com1