September 2, 2016

Today was my last real day in Malawi. 

Started with my traditional peanut butter and banana sandwich.

Finished with a traditional veggie burger and fries.

The first work I was scheduled for was Animal Care. We chopped kilos and kilos of cabbage, corn, and sweet potatoes. Step 2- throw it all over the fences. Monkey breakfast.

The second chore I had was to scrub the lion enclosures. The were napping like big lazy cats. Bella eventually came over to watch us work. 

Then, parasite class! Ana and I had to have our class schedule all twisted around due to a baboon issue last week. Today we finished up the very end of our course. 

Parasite class was paralyzingly for me. It was difficult to stay focused. Fecal-oral transfer of parasitic eggs truly stresses me out. It was a great lecture though.

We then went into the clinic to check out some microscopic organisms who basically wanted to invade my being. For those who may not know, the first step in trying to figure out if an animal has a parasite is to look at its poo under a microscope. Everything was fine until a dirty messy pre-vet student gave us a too-long tutorial on creating poop slides with solutions & centrifuges. My skin was crawling out the door and away from this disgusting dung-flinger. She spilt most things and contaminated the other things. She had no idea that she was being gross and touching things with poop on them and then showing us the parasites in that poop and I just couldn't handle it. She was oblivious. I was covering my fecal-oral pathway with my shirt and she giggled because she thought I couldn't handle the smell of feces. No, I'm trying to save my intestines from your clumsiness. 

But I digress.

Then, we learned how to do lion observations. It was good to see those two one last time.

Tonight the power has been out for hours. I catch a plane tomorrow to Addis Ababa, then to D.C., then to home. My ride will grab me at 10:30am. 

September 1, 2016

The highest kwacha bill is 1000kw and that is equivalent to about $1.50. The 1000kw bill was only added a few years ago... Before that, 500kw was the highest bill. There's some perspective. 

I wish you could see how dirty my feet are after washing them with my water bottle because there is no water anywhere to be found. Now I lay in bed with my feet drying outside of my covers. 

Yeeeessssss, today was my day off. Ana and I opted to spend our day in town. I ran out of money. Haha multiple times if you ask the venders around the market... But at the end I really was out of money. 

Ana and I caught a minibus easy. No need to panic. Easy as pie. We hopped in the front seat of an over-packed minivan. I just don't want you picturing a bus in your mind. It's important that you picture a very jam-packed van instead. 

Took it to town for 27¢, got out, and started our exploring. 

The first place we went was to a place called Dapp. This is where all of those clothes Americans and Europeans send to Africa are sold. I bought a pair of H&M pants for $2. It was set up just like a Goodwill except the clothes were nicer and had more wrinkles somehow. 

Ana and I left Dapp and pulled out a map drawn by our volunteer coordinator that should have led us to the mall but it totally left us turning around in circles scratching our heads. A man who looked like John Legend in came up to us and told us we looked confused and asked if he could help us find where we're going. Then, he walked us halfway there! Thank you!

The mall was fancy! But no one was shopping. It was just Ana and I. We were headed to a shop called African Habitat. The mall was small as well, <15 shops. African Habitat was all the way in the back. And it was PACKED with amazing little pieces of art and cloth and photos and trinkets, hats, clothes, carvings, everything. All art and souvenir stuff. I had a headache when we left from thinking so hard. But before we left we talked to the store owner. He was a  Italian man with a good thick accent. Said he was born in Tanzania. Y'all, this man was amazing. He was a true traveler. He knew everything about everywhere, even the secret places. Mainly all the places he's never even been! Even knows where the parking lots are at the Grand Canyon even though he's never been to America. Even the differences in all of the Hawaiian Islands. Even how many lodges are available inside of Yosemite. He drew maps! He knew every single place in Portugal, every place in New Zealand, and every place in Oregon and France! Down to the weird details. Finally I had to ask how the hell he knew all of the things. He said traveling is his passion; even if he can't physically GO somewhere, he researches it down to the very smallest detail. He plans and studies everywhere he thinks of going. Said he decides whether or not to go after he's done... Sometimes he feels like he's already been there so he doesn't need to anymore! One thing he hates though: TOURISTS! Haha! By avoiding tourists he knows all the super special local places. 

Finally, he gave me a discount and we left him. Farewell!

Time for lunch. We ate at an Italian restaurant called Mamma Mia's. This was recommended to us by Alma. A delightful lunch. Very fancy. Overstaffed. A wonderful terrace lunch indeed. As we were finishing up, the owner came by with his hands clasped behind his back and asked us how everything was in the most DEEP VOICE so seriously deep and hollow but at the same time wholesome and warm. 

(That was a note for my later self for to make sure I don't forget because I love when owners ask that and I loved his voice.)

Then we went back to the center of town to change out some money and do a couple other chores. It was then that Ana and I split up for a few. She didn't want to go where I needed I go- the haggler craft market! 

See, yesterday there were two guys who followed us and found us an hour later out in front of a grocery store. The guy begged and begged to show me his other paintings. I told him no and to stop, but he insisted- this is a major part of why people don't like this hobby. I actually decided to entertain the man since the person we were waiting in the grocery store was taking forever. 

He quickly squatted down and flung open all of his tapestry paintings. He went through each one. HAHA all of them are amazing! But ya gotta act calm. I stopped him as he flipped past a long beautiful sunset with two silhouetted women standing in front of it. Gorgeous. I told him I loved it but I asked if he had one with an elephant instead... I really wanted an elephant. He said no :-(. He begged me to just buy this one with the women. But I didn't like it enough to spend that much on it. I said no. He begged. Back and forth back and forth. I said, "if those ladies were elephants, I would buy this right now." He said he would paint me one with elephants. I told him if he did, I would buy it. He told me to pay half now, half when I pick it up. No way! Back and forth. I promised 1000 times that I would be back the next day. He left without much faith in me. White people always say that.

So, like I said- that was yesterday. Today is tomorrow. And now I need to go to the craft market for many other things (I told myself), and I had very little faith in this dude with the sunset. On my way, I am approaching an alleyway that's close to the market when I hear shouts coming from it! And then I saw him! The guy from yesterday!! He had a huge smile and another guy with him, his brother! Both huge smiles. Haha I smile back. "You came back!" "I told you I was gonna!" His brother unzips his backpack and pulls out a roll of paintings. Quickly flips to the back and pulls out two totally beautiful paintings of elephant silhouettes in the sunset! We had another back and forth, "I can't believe you painted it!" "I told you I was gonna!" The guy said he told his brother and his brother painted them in the night and let them dry all morning. They were still, not damp, but not stark dry like the others I'd flipped through. Oh I was so stoked. I picked one, flung open my wallet and gave him almost everything in it. The equivalent of a little less than $20, I think. He didn't say a single word to hassle, not a breath of bargaining. It was settled in an instant. We were all smiles. They both shook my hand, we chatted, I shook both of theirs again, and they thanked more than once and repeated several times, "thank you for keeping your promise." Gosh, I was so thrilled. It's hard to write the specifics of it all... But it was one of the coolest little human interactions I've experienced in a while. Idk, we were both just too skeptical of the other. Plus, I almost missed them because they were completely leaving the market for lunch... I wouldn't have even seen them if I hadn't left Ana exactly when I did.

I left the market then because they were my reason for going.

Ana and I then went to a pub Alma recommended called Alexander's. Just your average little sports bar. Very relaxing. Ana and I had a drink and I finally asked her age. Turns out, she's 36. Flipped my world upside down.

We also talked about airport security and I said at a point, "Hm, Portugal hasn't had any terror attacks." She, being Portuguese, replied, "Nope! That's the good thing about being a forgotten country."

Then, we went to the craft market on accident because we were looking for a place we never found and then got sucked in. You can't stand within 30meters of that place as a white person without getting sucked in by a vendor. I bought many things and had a charismatic overload. I won't expand further on that though. 

Then, home. We got a tuktuk again and it broke down while I was filming the ride. We had to switch tuktuks. 

Ha! 

August 31, 2016

First and foremost, Happy Birthday to my lovely Brooke. 

Second and nextmost, I walked around town today FINALLY!! 

The first thing I did today, though, was Chichewa lessons. One of the interns here at the Centre met with most of us to go over a few basics in the language. I really enjoyed this... And it made me wish I could have stayed longer...

After that hour lesson, Ana and I were on Animal Care duty. This chore was new to us! The first thing we did was feed the vervets and the baboons. Each get a few buckets of corn, cabbage, and a potato-like vegetable called uhhhhh I'm not sure. 

Next, to clean a couple of enclosures. Coming from where I work back home, these enclosures were incredibly spotless. Usually I have poo all over my shoes and even up to my knees by the end of the day. Here, I only found a few droppings... So cleaning was a breeze. We cleaned a monkey enclosure and a serval enclosure. Then- we made straw beds for the lions!! I hope they sleep comfy tonight.

Looking back, this morning was pretty uneventful. Sorry about that boring paragraph. :-(

Maybe I'll talk about town now. Several of the newbies went together with the volunteer coordinator to have a town tour in order to get us aquatinted with the city. After this, we can go by ourselves.

The mini bus mass transit system in this city is notable. Here are three pictures of my bus ride to the center of town: 

This bus ride was a hoot. First thing that happened was the sliding van door fell slap off as the door guy opened it for us.

There aren't any bus stops here; just flag a driver down! I think that's convenient! Also make sure you tell them where you're going. Don't pay over the price because they won't give you change. And you may need to sit in laps. 

Our driver dropped us off next to a mega grocery called Shop Rite. Step one, help people exchange money. Two, withdraw money. Step three, pharmacy. This was neat. Step FOUR- my favorite step!!!! The craft market.

The craft market involves many craftsmen trying to sell their crafts. Trying HARD. SO HARD! Harder than I've ever experienced it. I loved it.

I've discovered that I have a love affair with haggling and bargaining. It's a psychological tango, in a way. It's fun to me. The major note with this is make sure you know how much the money is worth. From there, have a blast. Oh, I could do that all day!! The others here at the Centre HATE HATE being there- hate the the trouble, the haggles, the pressure, the lies and price surges. But I thoroughly enjoyed it. I felt like I was holding our group up, so I stopped. Guys followed us and found us another whole hour later, which I actually thought was impressive.

Next- the grocery store. YES!! That was exciting... I inherited a fancy for grocery stores from my father. I love just looking around kind of like a theme park. But, I'll say... This store was so close to those at home. Seriously. I have no further notes there. Maybe just that most things come from South Africa. (I've heard SEVERAL times this trip that South Africa is not really considered by the people as a part of Africa.) 

We took a tuk-tuk back. Which was a BLAST. Open air, loud Malawian music, and cool traffic!! 

Tomorrow we have the day off. Ana and I are going to town for the whole day! 

August 30, 2016

Today Ana, my roomie, said "ugh, *sigh* and at 6 o'clock, ugh! we'll have antelopes!" 

Today we have our first day of pure volunteering. We started with Orphan Care, which we basically knew how to sort out from previous classes. The schedule called for 3 hours of OC. We had a water shortage, so some things were postponed. But, even so, we got everything done within an hour! Cleaning this and that, and mainly laundry. Here is a pic of the laundry station:

Then, we had a long break before we had to do baboon observations. Finally, I got to spend quality time with the baboons! I haven't had time to really sit and watch their behavior, so I was thankful. Ana took a pic of me doing this:

I like the baboons so far! They are much slower than the monkeys I'm used to. The females are in estrus, so we had some dominance questions to answer.

I also don't really understand their method of data entry.... Like at all. But, like I always say- not my monkeys, not my circus! 

Then- a lunch of egg sandwiches and salad. Obviously I put the salad inside the sandwich. 

THEN- DRUMROLL PLEASE!!- I present to you a major highlight of the trip:

Outreach! The Lilongwe Wildlife Trust (this title refers to the organization as a whole, rather than just the Centre where the animals are cared for) runs an adult literacy program all over the country. It's a woman-focused class that provides free reading and arithmetic education to those who have not had a previous chance to receive it. Today, my roommate and I signed up to volunteer with the crew! I was shy about this because I'm neophobic or something. But my roomie and I signed up. We were picked up still not knowing at all what the afternoon would entail. Haha, this truly turned out to be a life highlight.

Remember the literacy stats I recited a few blogs ago? About 45% of adult women cannot read or write in Malawi. Ana and I packed up in a van with 5 Malawians, two boys, 3 girls, and headed deep into the city. They spoke a little English. Two were college students (including one of the girls), and three work with the program every day. We pulled up to a location that was completely not what I had anticipated!! I pictured them borrowing a school classroom for the classes or, I don't know. Instead, we were walking into a lean-to hanging off the side of a woman's house. No one was speaking English, but instead, everyone was singing in Chichewa. We walked into the lean-to and took off our shoes and put them with the others before standing on the group's mats and joining in on the songs aka just clapping because I can't sing in Chichewa. The last clap was one clap before I thought it was going to be, but I don't think anyone noticed. 

There were an estimated 20 women of all ages sitting on these mats ready to begin class.

Our Malawian counterparts then explained to Ana and I what we would be doing.

Each woman was handed a worksheet with three standard math problems and one word problem. The math problems were like this: 301+456, 3270x14, and 692-238. The word problem said in Chichewa, "20 men cut down 400 logs of wood together equally. How many did each man cut down?"

Each woman had to do these problems on their own and then have them checked by us.  One by one they turned their papers in after a long work period. Each time a paper was handed in, I would check it, then explain to the woman how it's solved if she gets a question wrong. The first time a staff member asked me to explain a problem to a woman, I was very nervous! The language barrier is intense! But, I tried and realized that I may be ok at it! It was tricky to figure out how to convey some things... But resolving this was fun! 

I eventually took over alphabet practice with a young woman who just started the class. We practiced writing, reading and singing the alphabet. It was truly an amazing experience.... She was visibly proud of herself when she got things right! This was such a rewarding experience. I'll never forget it. Here is a picture of us together:

On our ride home, we listened to Drake and Lady Gaga remixes.

I ate dinner when I got home, then fed the antelopes their dinner (this has to be done after dark so that the wild monkeys don't swoop in and steal all their food). 

Good day.

August 29, 2016

We woke up at 5:30am to walk around the huge pond. We were frozen. Hot tea helped. Cake for breakfast because no one is in charge of us!

Now, the thing I keep wanting to call a pond isn't a pond. I don't know what it is. It's actually formed by a dam the Park people made. Basically, if the dam hadn't been made, the water would be too spread out in the dry season (now) for any of the animals to use. Especially the deep-diving elephants! 

 

We started to walk after the sun was up and Mandy had picked up our trusty scout. The things seen on our two-hour walk are in chronological order below:

-Elephant tracks in the sand

-Hyena tracks in the sand

-Puku tracks in the sand

-Elephant/Hippo digging holes (they like to dig to find more water and mud)

-Hippo paths from the bush into the water. They basically file in one-by-one in a straight line and it's comical in my mind

-A hunting kingfisher!

-a half-eaten bird (hyena)

-white hyena poop; it's white because they crunch on so many bones that the calcium turns their poop totally white

- Fishing eagle 

-More hippo trails over the dam

-the monumental view of the other side of the dam

-Actual hippos up close and probably a little bit too close 

I actually thought the hippo bit would be my last few minutes on this earth. It kinda scared me. But then I remembered that I'm probably going to die of a plane crash, so I was in fact safe at that moment.

Here is a hippo trail:

The walk was good and we had to stretch after.

We then had a habitat assessment practical wherein we learned to assess randomized transects and estimate many different characteristics of trees and how these relate to the suitability of a given habitat for the release of different species. 

We checked our camera traps. One cam had a neat video of a hyena! But the other two cameras were blank! That's good for only 12 hours of time!

Lunch of veggies and bread.

We packed up and left. Without Mandy, me and three other girls drive off. The first and only issue we encountered on this trip was the elephants in the road.

The dude flopped his big foot out into the road completely unannounced 20 meters in front of our moving vehicle. Alma slammed on breaks, of course... And we stood still for a minute before Alma backed us up several meters. The elephant didn't even acknowledge us for a split second, which I found kinda rude, but instead ate leaves off the trees from across the road. It took only 3 minutes for him to find his slow way up into the woods on the opposite side of the road, but we waited a little longer before slowing approaching with our measly Toyota car. We inched up the road, trying to find the big guy, when all of a sudden another big lady broke through the woods and onto the road just ahead of us again! No warning! Alma switched the vehicle in reverse so quick! As the animal snacked and moved along, one of us was assigned with watching one side of the road for more elephants, while the others focused on trying the find out if the passed elephants were facing us or walking away in the woods. We inched one step forward and two steps back for ten minutes, I'd guess. Finally, Alma went for it and we scooted on by. It felt like Jurassic Park except with mammals who were just enjoying a leisurely snack.

I couldn't get a picture.

The drive home took forever, but Alma and I talked a lot about all kinds of stuff. So that was cool! I had to give the, what I like to call "Implications for Autism" speech when she asked about my work, but otherwise, we talked about Africa and I learned a lot! 

Our pathetic little car made it home with all of the hub caps it left with! We were surprise and relieved. I took a 120-second cold shower, as one does, and then dabbed into some bug spray in prep for dinner out on the town. Apparently it's customary at the end of the Rehab Course to go out to dinner with the organizers. Technically we still have a few classes left because of some shifts that occurred earlier this week, but we went ahead and did the dinner. We also got our certificates, which were really cute. The dinner was otherwise quite awkward because Jasper is too awkward to handle. 

I had fish and chips for dinner, with French fries. The restaurant was called Ad Lib and was filled with people from all over. It was fancy, but still so incredibly cheap! 

This was my first trip to town... It looked good! Of course, I really couldn't tell because it was SO DARK. Everything was basically pitch black. The roads had street lamps every few meters but they don't work, Alma said. I was fearful while driving because at times it was impossible to see. I'm really ready to see the city in the light. 

Then, deep sleep.

Woke up with mosquito bites. 

August 28, 2016

Today was the best day.

The main thing that happened today was that I saw wild elephants. 

We woke up earlier than normal in order to start out on our 3.5 hour road trip to Kasungu. It was just me and four other girls. I loved the drive. We passed through tons of little towns and villages. Alma's driving scared me. 

We drove 2 hours on a paved road before we diverted to a dirt road. Malawi reportedly has 5 main paved roads shooting throughout the country. The rest are dirt offshoots. We drove another 1.5 hours on this dirt road. That's a total of 3.5 hours and 1 turn. Alma and Mandy switched driving in the meantime.

Arriving in the park we crossed a single security guard and his little fence. No problems there, Mandy is in and out of the park all the time. She has started a huge research project to monitor the Centre's radio-collared vervet monkey group that was released from rehab care recently. 

As we pull up to the research camp (that doubles as a tourist spot that virtually zero tourists visit), we notice that we are supremely in the bush. Very remote, very secluded.

 I think there are monkeys fighting on my roof right now. 

Which would be fine! But as we do the house tour, Mandy instructs us to not walk the 70 yards to the communal bathrooms in the middle of the night, but instead to pee outside of our hut if we must go. 

The reason, as it turns out, is that this camp is a very popular spot for animals including the following in order of my fear level: Elephants, jaguars, hippos, hyenas, wild pigs, and of course monkeys.

My roommate and I stayed together in a twin room/hut/chalet that was quite comfy. Open air and mosquito nets provided. Two twin beds, one waste basket, one candle, and zero anything else literally. Very clean though!!! So, I was pretty stoked to camp! 

The hut was about 20 yards from the bank of a large body of water. 

No joke, the first animal I saw, before I even made it to my chalet, was an elephant. A wild elephant in the wilderness. And actually when I really looked, there were six! And they were SWIMMING! Swimming and playing and wrestling! This one juvenile was real annoyed by birds! He would run and chase them off, but they would just land on another side of him. He would run swinging his trunk amuck! Probably one of the top five best things I've ever seen in my life. The whole family was basically just relaxing and playing. AND I WAS WATCHING THIS ON THE FRONT PORCH OF MY ROOM. 

Turning my head a little to the right- hippos. I counted 10 at a point. All submerged and being fat and shiny. They also made noises that were very calming.

Then I dumped my stuff in my room returned to the main community area. This was a large open air concrete structure with a straw roof. The kitchen was rudimentary, no fridge, but you could drink from the tap! That made things a lot easier than at the Centre. 

There were a couple of wooden tables and many chairs. The whole park uses this area for guests, but like I said, there were never any guests. So we basically had it to ourselves on this excursion. The bathrooms I mentioned are communal, two working toilets and apparently hot water showers if the fire was lit long enough. No lights, so you have to bring your torch if you pee after dark.

I'm saying that not ten minutes after we got this tour, an elephant stomped by us. He walked right past our cars, right up the road, right past our porch. Grabbing leaves and branches off trees all the way. He paid us no mind, but simply walked on by. I lost my breath. Apparently this is normal. Sometimes, multiple elephants stroll by at once and the researchers are stuck in the kitchen! 

It's not quite the idea you get from watching 'Dumbo', but elephants can be pretty dangerous. Especially adult bulls and mommas with babies. Trampling and such can be a risk. We felt safe on this occasion. 

After the first ele walked by, ANOTHER ONE CAME THROUGH!!! This one, same deal- moseyed on by swiping yummy leaves. These creatures are obviously big, but one notable characteristic about them is their SLOW SPEED. So incredibly slow. It was humorous! 

I obviously couldn't focus well on Mandy's lecture directly after this occasion... But she spoke about GPS/radio/satellite collars, and habitat assessment techniques. Two lectures. Then, it was time to adventure. 

We hopped in the back of what you can probably picture as a typical African bush wildlife research vehicle. 

Then, with Mandy driving, we zoomed all over the park kicking up dust and bouncing all around. But our first stop was to pick up our scout. Scouts are provided to tourists/researchers for accompaniment on treks or missions out in the park. This guy was BAD ASS. He had a rifle with camo clothes (featuring a British flag logo) and army boots. Stern face, strong jaw, probably 40 years old. Unforgettable look of seriousness. His job was to shoot threats, wrestle jaguars, and probably carry us over his shoulder to safety if need be. 

After we got Scout we drove all around some more and even stopped to get out and see some things. The first thing we saw was the most recent vervet monkey release enclosure. One of the last steps of the rehab/release process is to build an enclosure in the wilderness to house the animals for the very last time in the exact environment they will be released in. So, with stray branches and chicken wire, the Centre built a huge enclosure in the middle of the woods. Mandy would feed them for a few weeks, then just let them loose! This is what's called a 'soft release'. It gives the animals time to adjust to the new environment. I think it's kind of like when you get a new fish for your fish tank from the store and place its bag of store water into the tank with your home water in order to slowly let the fish adjust to the new temperature. After released, they feed the animals in their same location for just a little while as they wean them off of support! Pretty neat! 

After this, we tried to FIND those released monkeys! Mandy pulled out her handy dandy telemetry machine and we tried to hone in on the group's exact location. Each of the monkeys is wearing a fashionable radio collar that can be picked up by Mandy's antenna. The general rule is that the collars should weigh less than 5% of the animal's body weight.

We drove down the road, antenna in hand, but it just turned out that they were too far away :-(. 

That's ok!

Next we set up some CAMERA TRAPS! They were Browning hunting cams. We got a nice little tutorial about settings and general rules of thumb. We planned to check them the next morning. 

They NEXT step was my favorite.... The Climbing of Black Rock. We had to ride back to camp to grab Mandy's researcher friend Rob. When I asked, Rob said his PhD was "on jaguars." This meant that literally everything about Jaguars was included in his project because, turns out, not much is known about jaguars in Africa. I think more specifically, he wants to see how these animals are coping with the disastrous man-made shift in their environment. Poaching and deforestation (Malawi has one of the world's worst deforestation rates in the world). 

Anyways, we got Rob. Rob got us drinks aka "sundowners." The plan was for us to climb this black rock and drink a sundowner.

The trip in the pack of that truck hurt my butt. It's two days later and my butt bone still hurts. 

The rock was GINORMOUS. And black, really. We pulled up and parked, but I couldn't figure out how tf we were going to climb the sucker because the edge was straight up! Like, 80 degree incline for the first 20 meters! I was wearing Toms. But Lord knows I didn't express fear. I knew for a FACT that I wasn't going to make it up.

Ok but then I tried and that black rock was so gripping that it actually bobbled my mind fully. I sprinted up! It was more grippy than skateboard grip tape. That's the grippiest surface I've ever experienced in my life. 

Anyways, climbed up that rock and made it to the top and again my breath was taken away. A STUNNINGLY wonderful view of miles and miles and miles of forest. Mesmerizing. And we popped some tops and sat admiring the lowering sun. On the western horizon was Zambia, a bordering country. The mountains in my photos are all in Zambia. That was neat enough on its own. The sun was blood red at a point. We had a great time up there. And our scout was protecting us.

Then, dinner at the camp. Rice with stewed veggies. It got cold. I peed a million times before I went back to my hut because of all the warnings about peeing in the night!! I brushed my teeth with my water bottle on the porch with the stars. The hippos made lovely noises as we slept. Haha and the candle was a hoot.

That was my favorite day so far

August 27, 2016

Today was a slow one. I didn't eat breakfast in the house. Only a Lära Bar. Fresh out of the big CO. Tell me how they make 100 different flavors only using the same 4 ingredients. Witchcraft.

   We first prepared enrichment with my enemy, Mandy. For those not familiar, enrichment is basically items/food we give to captive animals in order to provide them with stimulation. The key to enrichment in this setting is to help stimulate NATURAL behaviors, like foraging or hunting. In other settings, enrichment can be computer screens, sounds, or just flavors to help keep the animal from being bored af in their captive environments. Here, though, the care technicians want the animals to practice doing the things they need to be good at when they are finally released into the wild.

  We went with Mandy to collect branches and leaves and grass (browse). Then, we stuffed these items into cereal boxes, Coke bottles, and hoses along with rice and peanut snacks! This way, the monks could forage through the grass and junk to find their little food pieces! 

   Haha the best reaction was from the juvenile baboon. She got a coke bottle filled with browse and snacks! SHE WENT CRAZY FOR IT!!! She flung that thing all over her enclosure! Slung it every which way! Jumped here and there and smashed it and crunched it and flipped around, letting go of it at the most random times! Banging it on the walls and floors! All the while grabbing the snackies that slewed out of it! V funny.

Then we learned from Mandy about doing behavioral observations. I didn't find this as fun. 

Jasper gave us a lecture about how to release animals back into the wild. 

Lunch was veggie soup with rolls.

I had a beer from the bar up at wifi because classes ended early today. During that time, Alma strolled by. She sat down for a while to talk about enrichment! She actually asked me for suggestions from my work!! We talked for a bit and it was really cool. Then, I helped her carry stuff to the car.... And after, she walked all the way back to camp holding 30 raw eggs in the pitch black dark, so I really thought that was the last I'd ever see of her or those eggs. But people here can see in the dark. I think I blogged about that while I was in Guinea.

So, tomorrow we are going to Kasungu National Park to do a bunch of stuff that I don't even know about. I'm flying by the seat of my pans on this one, folks. I hope to see some rad animals... I'm pretty sure this will be the most remote area I've ever been to. This makes me feel invigorated. 

No wifi due to remote. 

 Warm regards,

     LA