You want to find out more about life on Harnas? - Enjoy it!
Monday 26th February
Dear Diary,
Today we had a real Harnas experience. The twenty of us who had yet to experience the Harnas Fear Factor challenge were divided into two teams of ten for a chance to win a lapa breakfast; a highly sought after prize!
The challenge consisted of seven events and the team who won the most of these events was deemed victorious. The first two events were eating contests, one of the main dishes being dog food: mmm, mmm our favorite! Other events included taking a cat for a swimming lesson, running from wild dogs, daring to climb a tree in the lion’s den, chasing a crazy zebra and for the tie-breaker, a painful battle in paintball. In the end, the two teams were extremely close but it was the blue team who was the lucky winner.
Overall, this was one of our best days here. We were able to conquer our fears and at the same time create stronger bonds as a group. Thank you to Harnas for providing us with this fantastic experience.
Monday 5th March
Dear Diary,
Today our newest volunteers had their first real Harnas experience of the bush.
Departure: 3.30pm
Distance: 7km
Destination: The Tree House
Mission: To Learn Survival Skills and to find to new members by Tracking them in the bush.
This Mission Proved POSSIBLE!
The members were located successfully despite some cunning tactics involving walking backwards to throw the other members off of their trail (Sneaky Girls!). While on their trek, the volunteers also had a visit from a Horned Snake, which according to Frikki, is apparently poisonous! After completing their trek, the older members greeted the new members, and having no time to recover from their travels, the initiation games began. Some of these included answering various trivia questions about Harnas (knowledge which they should have gained), a tug-of-war match versus the senior volunteers, a spitting contest involving Eland poo and finally drinking a noxious concoction consisting of many ingredients, the main being Tabasco. Overall, the evening was quite a success. Everyone ate well around the campfire and bonded as a whole group. The night came to a pleasant end with an uplifting and motivational speech from Frikki underneath the beautiful African sky.
P.S. Must remember, we are all ‘unique and beautiful people’.
Tuesday 8th March
Dear Diary,
Zebe to most is a bad tempered male zebra with attitude! Recently one volunteer called Rachael has befriended him! She decided before fear factor to find out if he was really the bad, grumpy, biting & kicking zebra that everyone says he is. This really was a wise move!!
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Since then their relationship has blossomed. He comes to visit her every morning and night, for a treat, brush and cuddle. If she calls him he will run to her. She has even been able to treat his swollen leg and remove ticks from him. However the biggest challenge is to get other people to change their attitudes towards him. P.S. Zebe is just misunderstood so try and be his friend and DO NOT throw rocks at him |
Monday 12th March
Dear Diary,
In the last few weeks, a lot has changed in one of our enclosures: the bird enclosure.
First of all: our little owl DooDoo has moved in the enclosure, so he is out of his small cage next to the family’s house. Our little owl is becoming a real big owl; he is eating a lot and he is even eating a mouse every Sunday evening.
We have a new bird to feed in the enclosure. It’s a falcon and his name is ‘ Sultan’ because of his golden plumage. The first few days we didn’t realize he was in our enclosure, until he started stealing Dikkop’s evening food. Sultan is a real naughty falcon, a few days ago we saw him with a bird in his mouth…
A few other new member we have (had?!) in our enclosure: the cutest little baby rabbits. The beginning of this week we saw them first and one day we even had the chance to pick one up.
Unfortunately on Harnas we also have mongooses. And as you can imagine, 50 mongooses against only a few rabbits and guinea pigs: unfair. So our sweet little baby rabbits are tragically six feet under. The mongooses also stole Asem’s food (vulture) so it was time to warn Frikkie and Schalk. Together with them we chased the mongooses out (which wasn’t the most easy thing to do). The next day the bushmen fixed the enclosure so that the mongooses can’t go in the enclosure any more.
Happily for us, but not at all for the 5 girls that stay in the Wendy Schabu; the mongooses found their new home under their Wendy. So nobody knows what the future brings…
Tuesday 13th March
Dear Diary,
Harnas doesn’t just give you an animal experience; it also provides a survival adventure. An adventure where you can apply the skills that you have learnt in life and during your stay at Harnas.
Each team was dropped at a different point along with directions and a compass. The purpose was to work as a team and reach certain base camps at which we found further instructions to reach the final base camp where we would be sleeping for the night under the stars.
At our first base camp we were rewarded with snacks and beer after defeating an unusual obstacle (Climbing a windmill). We carried on our journey taking in the beautiful surroundings as well as transporting a giant log that we had to pick up along the way.
No one that took part would deny it was hard and both physically and mentally tiring but we all felt a sense of achievement. After a small rest we had a few drinks and barbeque with our baby baboons and our favorite dogs from Harnas.
P.S. To fall asleep under the diamond sky was absolutely breathtaking.
Wednesday 21st March
Dear Diary.
Today’s afternoon activity was to take Pride and Cleo for their daily walk. Skalk drove us to the airfield where he equipped us with a radio, a tennis ball and left us to our own devices.
We started by throwing the tennis ball that they happily chased for 10 minutes until their attention was distracted by a more interesting target. Tanya had decided now would be a good time to go jogging and catch up on her fitness. It turned out the cheetahs were keen to join her and they both snuck up on the unsuspecting Tanya from behind, sprinting towards her playfully and crashing into her purring and out of breath.
| Once pride was bored of this game he then decided to climb the biggest tree he could find. At first we were excited, this was a great photo opportunity, but it soon became clear Pride hadn’t quite anticipated how he would get back down. After much encouragement from us he made his way down safely but not before he had scared us all half to death by attempting to climb higher onto a branch that looked like it might snap under his weight. |  |
Craig then went looking for the tennis ball, as we were due to leave shortly and discovered, much to his dismay, three large warthogs wondering the airstrip! At this point we wanted Pride back up the tree, you can imagine why, but we managed to chase them off just as Skulk appeared to pick us up.
It was a rather more eventful cheetah walk than we anticipated…
Thursday 22nd March
Dear Diary,
Our lions are getting big and more adventurous…
It was about 2 weeks ago on a cold and windy afternoon when Trust thought that it would be a good idea to climb the tree.
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This was as far as they went for a few days until Zion thought that he would go that bit further and climb onto the roof where Trust soon followed his big brother. They are getting up to this as they are getting restless, as we sadly are unable to play with them anymore! |
Friday 23rd March
Dear Diary,
A few members of our group spent three days working on a special project concerning the African Wild Dog. For this project, our objective was to identify each of the dogs from a group of twenty-six and compare them to pictures that were previously taken.
This was no easy task as the dogs were always on the move and at first glance, they all look fairly similar. Therefore, our group had to get up close and personal with the pack by entering their enclosures. Overall, it was a great experience getting to mingle with the dogs and study their unique characteristics and behaviors. |
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Although they can sometimes be quite vicious, we were surprised to note that they appeared quite calm when in close proximity to humans. This is not always the case; therefore, we were quite lucky.
Wednesday 4th April
Dear Diary,
It has been a battle of the species today, starting with Duma the cheetah making sport of the humans in the Jeep. The Duma Run consists of Duma chasing the empty water bottle attached to the back of a speeding vehicle. Every time Duma put her mind to it, the bottle was hers for the taking. Animals 1- Humans 0.
Kevin and Mimi, the two teenage baboons, once again schooled the humans in the match of the wits over the string. After a piece of metal was inadvertently attached to a toy, the humans demanded it back. Never, said the juvenile monkeys. After 30 minutes of toying with the humans, Kevin and Mimi made a fatal error that the humans capitalized on, retrieving the string from pure luck alone.
Animals 1 – Humans 1.
The finale was Corie, after 3 weeks, Donovan, the delightful baby baboon, had stolen her heart. Corie spent her last precious evening in the bathtub with Donovan (plus Sophie and Moses) for the ultimate bonding between the animals and humans. Truce!
Thursday 5th April
Dear Diary,
Today we visited the Lifeline Clinic (Harnas medical clinic for the local bushman who can receive free medical treatment).
The reason for our visit was to present them with some medical supplies which were donated by two of our volunteers who collected them from an Austrian hospital - General Hospital, Linz. They supplied needles, surgeon materials, tapes and gloves.
When we opened the boxes of supplies, it felt like Christmas because this would help them for quite some time.
Harnas Wildlife Foundation operates the clinic independently so they receive no Government funding.
Saturday 7th April (Easter Weekend)
Dear Diary,
Today all Harnas guests, workers and volunteers dropped their usual jobs and all took part in a mini Olympics to celebrate the Easter weekend.
The games consisted of many old traditional Namibian games such as spitting springbok poo as far as you can and a relay race whilst balancing a potato on a spoon and a painful game of a electric shock while trying to get coins out of water.
In the evening we were entertained by the local Bushmen and enjoyed a buffet dinner at the Lapa. Everyone was on the dance floor getting into the party spirit (especially Juan who decided to dress up for this occasion).
Sunday 8th April
Dear Diary,
Just as 13 eager new volunteers joined the teams, Harnas gave a sad goodbye to Ayala, the awesome veterinary student from Israel who nursed Savannah and whose boundless enthusiasm touched everyone. Ayala will be greatly missed.
Despite dancing the night away on Saturday, the new volunteers were ready for work and getting their hands dirty on Sunday morning. The baby baboons provided entertainment with games of tag and hide and seek on the lawn on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
Alice, the lonely springbuck after her companion Peter Pan died in a sudden accident, has been spending a lot of time rooting around the Volunteer House. Finally, the volunteers challenged the staff to a game of football, ending a beautiful Easter weekend and ready for another great week at Harnas.
Monday 9th April
Dear Diary,
Today we didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to Jackie who was sadly taken away from us without warning.
Jackie was the boisterous, happy, loving and unlucky (with La La) Jack Russell who arrived at Harnas three months ago with Joany the cheetah.
Jackie will be remembered as the dog that was obsessed with stones and anything she could pick up with her mouth. If she couldn’t find a stone or camel thorn to play with, a toilet roll, razor, lotion, earplug holder was always good enough for her. As long as she had someone to throw the object, she was happy!
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Unfortunately, in the last few weeks, she didn’t get on with La La who had taken to biting Jackie, once involving surgery. Because of this, Jackie would venture no further than the Volunteer House so was often missing out on the fun we were all having around the farm. Over the Easter weekend, part of the Van der Merwe family decided to adopt Jackie in order to give her a better quality of life (away from La La). P.S. We all miss you Jackie! |
Sunday 15th April
Dear Diary,
Today the Blue team had breakfast in the Lapa and didn’t have to do food prep or feed the animals as they won the fear factor yesterday!
Members of the red team had to do food prep and feed animals they were not familiar with which was a good experience and made a nice change!
In the afternoon everybody rested after a hard week of work and we played football against the bushman (Except Juan thought it was rugby as usual).
Monday 16th April
Dear Diary,
With all of the exotic and special wild creatures at Harnas, man’s best friend often gets overlooked. So Group 2 initiated a program of dog treatments. Brolix and Pickles, the young darlings of the Volunteer House, tend to get by on looks alone. So, they were enlisted into basic training: sit, down, stay, and come. Part two consisted of grooming and pedicures. Bubbles and Ouma were bathed and all nails were trimmed, with special attention on Perkie, hopefully lifting her depression and improving her poor body image. Finally, the food prep dogs (Blackie, Mo, and Diego) got a special walk out to the airstrip, plus a little fun chasing birds.
We have had a lot of excitement with the three meerkats (Tallulah, Stark, Stock) and their squirrel friend Carol escaping from their enclosure. These impromptu games of chase, hide and seek, and tag keep us all on our toes.
On Monday evening, all volunteers toured the game enclosure and were treated to wonderful viewings of the three giraffes plus all of the other beautiful game in the park.
Tuesday 17th April
Dear Diary,
Today the new working guests attended Frikkies Riding School where they were able to get familiar with the horses under Frikkies watchful eye. Some of them were getting concerned that Frikkie was going to make them fall off when he would slap the horses rump to make them trot or canter.
Those who hadn’t ridden before all did very well and seemed to enjoy themselves. Lots of laughs were had especially at those girls who only wore bikini tops to hold themselves in place.
P.S. They were lucky to escape with out getting black eyes!
Tuesday 22nd April
Dear Diary,
| It was a sad day today. Unfortunately someone left the gate open in the courtyard through to where Goetahs (a 23 year old cheetah) is kept and Bailey who was a gorgeous pet lamb that was bottle-fed by the working guests wandered through and that was the end of Bailey. Bailey had a rough start from the day he was born however he was a fighter. He was much loved by the working guests so many tears were shed. |
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On a more positive note two of the working guests, Ramah and Danielle were sitting in Mimi and Kevin’s (two baboons) enclosure. Ramah decided to take off his tee shirt so Mimi could groom him without making holes in his tee shirt, which was actually his wife’s tee shirt. He placed the tee shirt next to him however all of a sudden one of the teenage baboons in the enclosure behind Mimi and Kevin managed to grab it and hence took off with it. It was extremely entertaining. A lot of the working guests game over to see what was going on. There was no way Ramah was going to get his wife’s tee shirt back as the baboon thief took off up a tree with it and proceeded to tear it in half.
Wednesday 25th April
Dear Diary,
This Morning Vibeke was woken at 5am to three baboons chasing Joany (cheetah)! Following this she promptly woke Frikie who then realized there was actually a mass escape by the baboons and wild dogs!
N.B. One wild dog is still loose!!! Despite all this he was only 15 minutes late for the morning meeting with the Guest Workers!!
After all the drama, Duma and Joany went on a run with Frikies car that they enjoyed very much.
We then made an ash bath for the ostriches that they have used already!
Saturday 28th April
Dear Diary,
Today we woke up to a very cold chill in the air, which means that winter is very close, the 6 new volunteers went on morning tour as usual. We found out that Zebe was now put away out back because he caused a lot of damage to some of the camper’s tents!
The day was then off to a late start and the normal food preparation and cleaning commenced.
Rudi flew in this morning and took Helle the nurse with him to the Harnas Lifeline Clinic. There were only 5 patients because there was a festival in the village, which did not give them time to see the doctor.
Then in the afternoon we gave two of the guests a small tour around the farm showing them the tame animals so they could interact with them and take pictures. Also each group had to show the new members what animals they will be feeding and taking care of.
It was a very quiet day at Harnas.
Sunday 29th April
Dear Diary,
After food prep and feeding, Frikkie surprised us with an excursion. He took all the volunteers and the guests out to a campsite to have a picnic. But this was no ordinary picnic we took the lions Zion and Trust with us…oh and Tara their mother dog! Towards the end of the meal, the lions decided to get rather playful and picked on a few of the guests and volunteers as playmates. Trust (or Mistrust!) was particularly mischievous and decided to stick his head into the cooking pot, climb the trees, get up onto the table and tackled a number of volunteers. It was a great experience and no picnic will ever be the same again.
Before afternoon feeding, one of the dogs; Bubbles surprised Alice the springbok who turned suddenly and fell into the swimming pool. Luckily there were onlookers and one of the volunteers was quick to her feet and Alice was soon rescued.
Thursday 3rd May
Dear Diary,
Today 15 new working guests arrived and 9 of the old ones left. Quite a sad goodbye, everyone was emotional at seeing them go. The first new working guests to arrive went on a quick tour but with the arrival of the remaining new guys we were all thrown in at the deep end with a night time bush walk.
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The old guys went ahead and built a fire and prepared our dinner and we all bonded around the fire over a meal and drinks. Our baby baboons were very happy to be part of the group as well. After we ate, Frikkie took the new guys out into the bush for a deep philosophical talk and made us all realize why we are at Harnas. |
We listened to the silence of the night and heard the lions talking in the distance.
On the way back the truck broke down so we all piled into the back of the buggy to get home before falling into bed. Some of the more unlucky ones had to wait for the buggy to come back and get them. They were out there for about half an hour freezing cold but everyone made it home safe in the end.
Monday 7th May
Dear Diary,
It was an interesting morning as some of the cabins had unexpected visitors, in the shape of the adult Baboons!
They came in stealth mode and made raids on several cabins for crisps, coca cola and after sun lotion! Having eaten and drunk their fill they quickly moved on, but leaving devastation and fear in their wake!
The volunteers cheered with glee as the big truck arrived with all the goodies you could possibly need. So queuing up as only we know how it was all unloaded and packed away ready for the next day.
As a group the volunteers helped out where we could doing various tasks for the family. Such as, retyping various forms to go into the volunteer folders and artistry for the guest brochures.
A couple of the volunteers spent the night with two of the cheetahs, which proved to be fun as it had been a fasting day! But they emerged alive, victorious and whole!
