African Dawn and Skotia

The last week has just flown by. I arrived at African Dawn (Eventually!) on Monday morning. It is located about 30 minutes drive from Jeffrey's Bay and is in the middle of nowhere. I had the day to look around and settle in. The sanctuary is home to Cheetah, Lynx, Marmosets, Squirrel Monkeys, Wallaby, Spring Buck and hundreds of birds amongst other things. The location is stunning. I was staying in the wooden lodge which is a short walk from the sanctuary down a pretty steep hill. All of the other volunteers were stating in the backpackers attached to the sanctuary. I loved the lodge. Outside the window I could see Giraffe and Zebra grazing in the distance. There were also wild Leopard but I wasn't lucky enough to spot one. As it's winter here it goes dark around 5pm and after dinner there really isn't that much to do so I've been having some pretty early nights! On Tuesday morning I realised that this isn't such a bad thing as the cockerels start crowing at 4.30am and don't stop until 9. If I could catch one I would have throttled it! I start work at 7 and work consists of preparing meals for the animals, this could be seed for the birds, fruit for the monkeys or meat for the big cats. The prep room is pretty grim and a lot of the same knives and chopping boards are used for the staff/volunteers food prep which turned my stomach a little but I had to not think about it. The meat used is often off and I had to choke back a gag on more than one occasion. I got stuck in and tried to be as quick as possible when working in the prep room. Feed runs were really good fun, I had the chance to feed all of the animals (Except the crocodile and the adult cheetah as they would more than likely have had a go at eating me!) The Lynx were really friendly and I spent quite a bit of my free time in with them. I also really liked the Marmosets. They have the cutest little faces!
One of the other volunteers had mentioned Skotia, a nearby reserve they had the opportunity to go and work at. I got the contact details and managed to get accepted for a few days work. I didn't have to pay to volunteer and all transport, food and accommodation was provided. I left African Dawn on Friday morning and after about 2 hours arrived in Skotia. It was just incredible. Such a stunning location. We drove about 30 minutes into the wilderness where we stopped outside a large collection of Bush Trees. This would be my home for the next few nights. Inside the collection of trees was a small wendy house style cabin and a tiny outside shower with 2 tin walls. No electricity, no hot water and no noise whatsoever, I was excited. I spent the rest of the afternoon with Edward, a ranger who would be looking after me during my stay. We drove out to a nearby watering hole where I saw crocodile and Hippo basking in the sunshine. My first job was to dig a trench. They had a severe drought this summer and the water from the mountains was bypassing the watering hole so by digging a trench it would allow the water to run straight to the watering hole which was running desperately low. I hopped off the truck, a little nervous as we were only 20 meters from the crocs and hippos. Edward was on the truck watching out for animals which made me feel a little better as they were everywhere! I think he actually took great pleasure in telling me that Hippos kill more humans than any other 3 animals in Africa put together. He was a pretty funny guy, but I never knew if he was joking or not. He kept winding me up about lions saying that he could sense they were close. After a couple of hours I was really focused on my trench digging and started to ignore his constant attempts to scare me (I couldn't get 'The circle of life' out of my head!!). Then, in the calmest voice (I didn't even hear him at first) he said to me 'Don't turn around, don't run, don't make a sound'. I wanted to laugh but took one look at his face and I knew exactly what was behind me. My heart started to race and I actually thought I was going to faint. ' Slowly walk back to the truck. Do not run'. I did exactly as ordered and now idea how I managed not to run. I got back on the truck and then was safe to look behind me and see the biggest fuck off lion I have ever laid eyes on. Edward told me that if I had run, the lion would have killed me. They can go from 0 to 80 kilometers per hour in about a second, I wouldn't have stood a chance. Back on the safety of the truck we headed away from the Lion. To add insult to injury I was covered in pepper ticks. I counted 42 in total! Arms and legs.... not so bad, but the 4 on my eyelids 2 under my fingernails and one up my nose hurt like a mother..!
After a surprisingly good night's sleep I just about managed to pluck up the courage to get off the truck again. (I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm scared of lions!!) I spent the majority of the day chopping down dead trees for firewood. Edward convinced me that there were no Lions in this area but I spent the whole time looking out for them!
During the night I could hear the Lions roaring in the distance. It was pretty surreal but incredib;e to witness, I was just happy listening to it from the safety of my wendy house cabin! The third day made all the ticks, blisters and dicing with death worthwhile. In return for my hard work I was treated to a 6 hour game drive. I saw Hippo, Giraffe, Rhino's (These one's weren't cows!), Wilderbeast, Zebra, Spring Buck, Warthogs, Kudu, Impala, Inyala, Spring Hare and Lions, lots of Lions. We actually saw the lions catch, kill and eat a warthog as well as hunting wilderbeast which was an incredible experience. They really are beautiful and so powerful. Edward told me that a couple of months ago 3 Japanese tourists had been on a game drive without a ranger and saw the lions sleeping under a tree (They sleep between 19-22 hours per day) because the lions looked all sleepy and cute they got out of the car to get closer to them and all 3 of them were killed instantly. Bloody idiots. Yes, they are incredibly cute when they sleep but you won't catch me trying to get a closer look... ever.
After my last night in bushcamp I headed back to Jeffreys Bay where I will remain for the rest of my trip here. My next placement starts on Monday and is in a Foster Home just on the outskirts of the township in Jeffreys Bay. For the first time this trip I'm happy to hear there's no chance of me seeing a Lion in Jeffreys Bay

African Dawn and Skotia

Jeffrey's Bay, South Africa