Khalula: Part One

So here’s the deal. I only go into town every Monday and Friday here aka I only have internet access twice a week. I tried to upload a blog entry on Friday, but I failed miserably. Now I know there is wifi and I will just bring my own computer to Mugg & Bean and upload while I’m eating (Mugg & Bean is a DELICIOUS restaurant chain here… yumm), which I’m doing right now! I have a lot to fill you in on. First, I’ll explain the pictures from my last blog.

The last two days of Nsikazi were spent doing game capture on a farm about two hours away from ours. We were there to catch blesbok, eland, and red hardebeest. Before we got started on the first day, we had some time waiting for the game capture specialists to pick where the boma would be built. So we snapped a group picture. Love these girls and I miss them so much already. Then we went to work on the boma. A boma is an enclosure without a top, as I was explained. The only problem is, they use boma to describe an enclosure made of wood logs as well as this type of boma in the second picture. It was made of plastic curtains and was in the shape of funnel leading to the truck. Then there are curtains running across it to trap the animals in the funnel and lead them down toward the loading ramp. It was a really long first day and a lot of hard work too. The next day we woke up really early to start capturing. Well, we had to hang all of the curtains first, which took a while, plus it was pretty chilly so my fingers were screaming at me to stop, but we were on a schedule! That day we ended up capturing about 50 blesbok and 20 red hardebeest, which was not near enough, so they continued capturing after we left the next day. While we were capturing on Tuesday though, I had the opportunity to run a really low curtain, meaning I was really close to the truck. It was pretty scary because the closer you get to the loading ramp, the more the animals get antsy and try to run backward. At one point, I had blesbok jumping on my back through a curtain. It was INSANE! Then once all the animals were on the truck, we had to run in there and put pipes on their horns before they could hurt themselves or each other. Sadly, we didn’t get there in time for the blesbok in the third picture. There was a wound right below her front arm and appeared to puncture her lungs. I even got to stick my finger in the wound to see where the damage was done. How cool!? I also had the opportunity to go up in the helicopter used to herd the animals. For mass game capture, a helicopter is used to lead the animals into the boma and then the pilot sounds alarms to let the curtain runners know when the animals are past their curtain and can close it. It was an incredible experience!! After the day was done, I was filthy and exhausted. I don’t think the fourth picture does it justice, but my hands were disgusting.

The next morning Kirklin and I had to say goodbye. It was absolutely dreadful. I started crying when I had to say goodbye to Kaitlyn since we’d been through so much together! I also had to say goodbye to Kelleigh, the intern from Canada. She was also so sweet and absolutely hilarious. Then after we were dropped off at a shopping center to catch our next transfers, I had to say goodbye to Kirklin, which was really tough as well. Ahh I miss them so much! But it was bittersweet because I was reunited with Celine and Tegan at Khalula! I was thrown straight into things at Khalula. I was put into the rhino group, meaning I’m in charge of feeding and cleaning the rhinos, horses, antelope, and zebra. The other girls in my group are so sweet. There’s Chelsea from New York, Georgina from New Zealand, Catie from California, and Samantha from Colorado. We get along great and are quite efficient. Storm and Lunar are the “baby” rhinos, but are quite big, bigger than Valentino. So we’re not allowed to go into their enclosures with them. We feed them from the outside. Then there’s Didi, who’s even bigger than the babies so we definitely can’t be with her and we feed her through the fence. Here’s a picture of me feeding Didi… She got impatient and went for my shirt instead. 

Love those big babies! We also feed the antelope. We have an eland, bushbuck, and diker. Here is a picture of Nunu the eland. Elands are the largest species of antelopes. She’s just a baby, but she is absolutely gorgeous already. 

We also have LION CUBS! I am officially a mother. I’m responsible for a little boy named Kovu. I am head over heels in love with this cub. I also have some pretty good scratches from him as well. He is always hungry and will suckle on pretty much anything, including my face. Here’s a picture of me, Kovu, and Charlie the caracal. We have caracal kittens too!

I plan to upload all my pictures when I get home of course, but it just takes too long to do it in town. So I’ll stick to three at a time. My days here are full of feedings and cleaning. I never really get to sit down which is really fun and very different for me. I’ve definitely learned so much about hard work and how rewarding it is to get your hands dirty, especially for a cause like this.

Overall, my experience here so far has been so amazing. There are so many animals and I think this operation is incredible. All the animals were either orphaned or rescued. Petronel, the woman who runs Care for the Wild, has such a big heart for these animals and wants them so badly to go back to the wild (or game farm, since sadly nothing is truly wild anymore). Today in town we’re grabbing a bite to eat and doing some shopping. It’s nice to get off the farm for a bit.

Love and miss you all,

Llewy