August 6, 2007 Monday night (Frances, UK)
Wow- I had the most amazing experience tonight! I slept in Cleo, Pride and Hannalee’s enclosure. They are the most affectionate cheetahs. As soon as we put down our sleeping bags they came to join us. Having a cheetah sleep next to you is an incredibly intense experience. Although it was freezing cold the cheetahs kept us warm. I woke up to find Hannalee chewing my hair but I didn’t mind. We all saw the sunrise together- how can you put a price on that?
August 7, 2007 (Sarah and Lynsey, Scotland)
We started our day by having our breakfast between 7 and 8. There was a meeting held by Frikkie at 8am after breakfast. He told us, that we would be moving two of the female lions into a new enclosure as one of the females (Sara) was being bullied by the other two lions. After the meeting we had until 10am to prepare food and feed our groups animals. The animals that our group is responsible for are: Two baby caracals, Mr. Nelson who is a Southamerican monkey (squirrel monkey), Audrey, who is a blind vervet monkey, Poepe and Hoemie (vervet monkeys) and the bat-eared foxes called e removed. He, Re, Ro. At 10 am we all met to up and clean an empty enclosure which had been set aside for Sara and another lioness called Elsa. The whole group of 34 working guests prepared the new enclosure. Some of us took away old bones. We hade to they remove them but normally they would be taken by scavengers. Others only removed dead bushes and trees which were put into piles to be burned. In all it took around 2 hours to clean up the enclosure. Then it was time for lunch. After lunch the whole group moved out to Sara’s enclosure.
Schalk and Frikkie and four of us drove into her enclosure with an empty Landrover.
They took a prepared sedative dart and dart gun. The others waited for roughly an hour. It took so long because two other ions were to close to Sara to dart her. They used a stretcher to load her onto the Landrover, then transported her to her new enclosure. We then went up to Elsa’s enclosure. She was closer to dart as came right up to the fence. She was transported in the same way and out next to Sara. Schalk checked them both after , they were de-ticked and had put antiseptic spray in any wounds. There was a real sense of team spirit on this day and we felt privileged to be part of it.
August 10, 2007 Enclosure patrol (working guest author unknown)
This involves a walk around the outside of enclosures, checking the animals and checking for holes. It was very hot, so most of the animals seemed to be hiding. The first one we saw was a wire snake coming out of the leopard’s enclosure, shortly before we saw Missy Jo, the leopard, rubbing her head against the fence, expecting food. She was purring contently looking as harmless as a pussy cat. Walking past the next enclosure Helen almost stood on another wire snake which was quite amusing.
As we passed the cheetahs they were hissing and jumping at the fence, trying to scare us; but as we passed the lions they couldn’t be bothered to be scary and sat in the shade. As we came back from our patrol the cheeky mongoose were there to greet us.
August 11, 2007 Survival (Karen, UK)
We’d heard the rumours about ‘survival’ and ‘fear factor’. Strange as it may seem I didn’t feel overenthusiastic about drinking pond water, eating baboon food or spending the night in the dense African bush. Our glorious leaders decided ‘survival’ was our challenge meaning that our stomachs would probably safe from animal food!
However it did mean that we had to equip ourselves for the worrying possibility of a night under the stars with snakes. Frikkie and our group leaders were rubbing their hands with glee about what was in store for us; their preparations had been like a full scale operation- so much that we didn’t set off on our expedition until 2.50pm. I should mention of course that we were treated to a real feast beforehand as promoted by Frikkie which consisted in a dry slice of bread. We were split into groups of 8 or 9 with the first group setting off over 30minutes before the last group (us). Each group was dumped in a different location within Harnas with no map, only a compass and a sheet telling us which direction to walk and for how many kilometers.
The first section of 2000m was easy of course and we marched enthusiastically along the sandy road where we knew our next instruction would be. We found ourselves at the dam house where fruit, drinks and our next instructions were waiting. Again our next instruction was easy, a walk about 1000m along another sandy road in a westerly direction, munching fruit and sipping our drinks. Again, the next check point was easy to find and we began to feel quite buoyant and confident. But the next section was the real test. Awaiting us was a wheel barrow and 3 enormous logs – the instruction was to turn into a northerly direction with our new additions.
Fine except it was straight into the dense bush with a very faulty wheel barrow and extremely heavy logs. The first hour was fine, it was tough but we managed with great gusts. We tackled the thorns and the dense African bush with enthusiasm and felt confident about reaching our destination. Frequent checks of the compass confirmed that we were still in a northerly direction and we heard the odd hum of a car proving we were in close vicinity to the road we were trying to find. But another hour on and it was 5pm the sun was beginning to sink and our energy levels were flagging.
The bush seemed to be getting thicker and pricklier.At 5.15pm we made a team descision to dump one log to avoid a night in the bush.
At 5.30 pm it was getting murky and there was no sign of the road we dumped the other two. We were all starting lo look very nervous as the reality of a night alone in the African bush was dawning. But about 5 minutes later we heard some voices and caught sight of the fire, we’d made it! The other groups seemed jubilant but our arrival didn’t seem as victorious without our logs. Frikkie sent us back to look
for them but it was pointless. Very frustrating, as we carried them so far. We’d worked brilliantly as a team always supporting each other throughout and making decisions- that was n important part of the experience I suppose, despite it being very tough and occasionally nerve wracking. I was quite glad to get back and see pride the cheetah who purred and licked on my return.
For me, Harnas is only about the animals.
August 12, 2007 Group 3
One of the male leopards was brought into the clinic after it had been noticed it hadn’t
eaten for a few days. Schalk and Frikkie went out to dart it and brought it in. We could all have a good look at it. They were insecure of why it wasn’t eating and even feared it had a broken back but luckily this wasn’t the case and they discovered an abscess on his back. After some careful prodding an incision was made and the toxic pus inside was squeezed out and the wound washed out with peroxide a few times to prevent infection. Due to stress the leopard had a few seizures but the ‘operation’ was completed in time before the anaestetic wore off. The leopard was returned to a new separate enclosure to give time to recover. He will be fed and monitored daily by the volunteers to measure his progress.
On a lighter note the Sunday football/ rugby/ anything against Harnas and the San was in favour of the volunteers when the game was called to a halt by the arrival of an escapee ostrich.
August 13, 2007 (Helen, UK)
That evening it was my turn to sleep out with the cheetahs- Joanie and Duma. Having been warned about the subzero temperatures at night, my roommate and I were well prepared- each wearing several jumpers, trousers and pairs of socks, plus 2 sleeping bags each. We found our way out to their enclosure and as soon as we put the mattress down Joanie came to join us, purring loudly and lying down between us. Eventually Duma joined us as well- she walked over me- and unceremoniously collapsed at my side, snuggling into my arms!
She began to lick my face (the have a very rough tongue) and then chew my hair. Thankfully her curiosity was satisfied before she started to nibble my face. It was a magical experience to wake up and see a cheetahs head above my face with a backdrop of thousands of beautiful stars and the outline of dark trees on the horizon. Having a cheetah so near made me feel safe as we listened to the strange sounds of the night, some particularly loud lions. The magic of the moment was spoilt though when Joanie abruptly got up and peed all over my roommate’s sleeping bag. The downside of having a cheetah to keep you warm…
(Kat, UK)
After a relatively normal day at Harnas of feeding and cleaning our animals, and patrolling the enclosure, it was time of the fortnight for a baboon walk with the 17 teenage baboons (15 plus Kevin and Mimi). With half the group on game count there was about 17 of us standing apprehensively at the bridge as Marietta let the baboons out with instructions not to scream or run and freeze if they bite. Those with experience walking the baby baboons and scars to prove it, were waiting to see how things could be with bigger versions. However the baboons run past relatively uninterested and seeming excited at their freedom, but never staying to far from the group.
They did manage to topple a trash bin, only to find a coke can, and with the proud baboon attempt to drink from. Otherwise they followed/ led the way down the airstrip. Periodically a baboon would come over wit his hands out to be picked up, and they would sit on your back, head or like a baby in your arms until they wanted to be put down again. Amongst themselves there were squeals and fights, but except for some “poo” we remained untouched to all of our surprise. They were out for about an hour, definitely an enjoyable one! The most amusing thing was probably their fear of a plastic toy snake of which they all jumped back a mile…
August 14, 2007 Giraffe encounter- but different (Simi, Switzerland)
We were due to do the game camp fence patrol today. So we organized a shovel and took loads of water as it was already 10am. We knew that we might see the two giraffes, so I was looking forward to that. I’ve seen them before and managed to take some pictures from quite close, but I always like to watch them. Anyway, we didn’t spot them on our way. But after a while, when we reached the newly opened area, there was a strange smell in the air. First we thought it could be”cheetah poo”. But then one of us spotted the dead giraffe in the bush. It’s said that it might have died of a lightening stroke. We went closer to have a look at the huge bones. There was still fur left, already turned into leather, dried in the sun. Of course I would have preferred to see the life giraffes, but it was somehow interesting to see the body with the huge bones from close.
Middle of August (Améthyste, France)
Last night two of us wanted to have a baby baboon for the night. Only Moses and Jacob were still alone. But Jacob is the most agitated of the baboons and is used to jumoping on the other beds of the room in the morning. We didn’t know how he would behave with another baboon so we were a bit anxious when we decided to take them. To avoid as much trouble as possible, we brought Moses in first and went back to fetch Jacob. That way, with Moses already under the coiveers and Jacob in the dark, none of them saw the other. Nothing happened during the night and they both slept quietly. But then the sun rose. As usual, Jacob, who had slept with me, woke up immediately and explored the room. As I was trying to catch him, he climed on the upper bunkbed and jumped…and landed on the sleeping Moses. We all caught our breath, expecting a fight- but Moses, who must have been exhausted, kept on sleeping. Jacob didn’t notice either. So this had been the only event of the night.
