July 30

July 30, 2016

Want to know why a leopard can't change its spots??  Because they are actually on their skin as well.

Kevin is working on making haylage for the animals... It is a mix of-

Spent grain (mases- also used for fishing to attract fish)

Molasses 

Dicrostatis cinerea (sickle boss) (in South Africa used in horse feed to prevent gas colic) cut down tree and out through a wood chipper and then through a hammermill, very invasive species due to overgrazing of cattle, used for firewood and wood chips  

Acacia pods (milled)

Wrapped since May 

We darted one of the Vervet monkeys because she got in a fight with one of the other females and had her tail almost bitten off and broken.  We applied an eslatrator band above the wound so the damaged area would fall off.  

July 30

July 30, 2016

Want to know why a leopard can't change its spots??  Because they are actually on their skin as well.

Kevin is working on making haylage for the animals... It is a mix of-

Spent grain (mases- also used for fishing to attract fish)

Molasses 

Dicrostatis cinerea (sickle boss) (in South Africa used in horse feed to prevent gas colic) cut down tree and out through a wood chipper and then through a hammermill, very invasive species due to overgrazing of cattle, used for firewood and wood chips  

Acacia pods (milled)

Wrapped since May 

We darted one of the Vervet monkeys because she got in a fight with one of the other females and had her tail almost bitten off and broken.  We applied an eslatrator band above the wound so the damaged area would fall off.  

July 29

July 29, 2016

Today we visited another local schools.  It is One of 2 out of almost 50 schools that offer computer classes.  The computers were desktops and would have been considered outdated by our standards.  They had a Water harvesting technique for when it rains the water from the run off is contained in ditches that goes from plant to plant.  Most of the water is collected from the roof.  They also had a School garden where each class gets a bed and they use it for their aquaculture lessons.  They Soak manure in water to use as fertilizer for the gardens.   They also had a New design on the hand wash facility so the students don't have to touch the knobs to turn on the water after they go to the bathroom.  The Goal of the school is to produce children who can fend for themselves regardless of the level of education they finish.  All of the students also help Raise chickens that are sold for meat and eggs.  Behind the school They have a garden for the students who do not eat prior to coming to school and for lunch.  This is a problem due to the parents only having enough money to pay school fees.  

The School fees per child per term is $40- there are three terms per year.  So $120 per year.  Some families don't even make that much money a year.  

Any upgrades to the buildings come from fundraising efforts.  

There are about 750 students in the school and they do not have enough classrooms for all of them  so they have some new ones under construction that they are currently using for teaching as well.  

All schools in Zimbabwe have to wear uniforms, both government and private.  All of the students seemed to help with keeping the outside areas of the school clean including sweeping and raking.  They loved the lessons that Natalie's students made for me to bring with me.  

The baboon cage was finished today so we could move the male back into his own cage!!  He was so excited!  

While filling up water dishes one of the female lions grabbed the hose from a volunteer.  She was not happy to have it taken away from her at all!!!

All of the volunteers went to get pizza and watch Ryan's soccer game tonight.  

July 28

July 28, 2016

Today I Spoke w Kevin about projects to continue at home and in school....  Get ready Cindy and Natalie!!  I have some projects for you!!!!  I would really like to be able to give some presentations to different groups when I get home so anyone that wants me to come talk let me know!!!

Little excitement with the jackals today.... We made a new den for one of the jackals and the one in the pen next to it had dug a den under the fence.  Apparently the new stuff in the enclosure was enough to motivate him to come through his den into the other enclosure.  We also put together some food enrichment things for the jackals to make them work for their food.  

I hung up a Tire for the lions and they love it!!!  

We also filled some pvc pipes full of fruit and veg and biscuits for the monkeys and breezer to play w and work for their food!! 

One more day of work...  Then a day off and then I can't believe it that I come home!  

July 28

July 28, 2016

Today I Spoke w Kevin about projects to continue at home and in school....  Get ready Cindy and Natalie!!  I have some projects for you!!!!  I would really like to be able to give some presentations to different groups when I get home so anyone that wants me to come talk let me know!!!

Little excitement with the jackals today.... We made a new den for one of the jackals and the one in the pen next to it had dug a den under the fence.  Apparently the new stuff in the enclosure was enough to motivate him to come through his den into the other enclosure.  We also put together some food enrichment things for the jackals to make them work for their food.  

I hung up a Tire for the lions and they love it!!!  

We also filled some pvc pipes full of fruit and veg and biscuits for the monkeys and breezer to play w and work for their food!! 

One more day of work...  Then a day off and then I can't believe it that I come home!  

July 27

July 27, 2016

Sarah and I spent some time this morning trimming sheep hooves.  After lunch I had the opportunity to visit one of the schools for a presentation.  This was a "high school"- so 12-17 year old kids.  At all of the schools the kids where uniforms so there is no indication of how much money someone has by what they are wearing.  There were about 200 students at this school.  When we got there there were groups of kids carrying water and others tending a garden they had outside the buildings.  All the student assembled in a courtyard type area for a presentation on tortoises, hedgehogs, and a python.  None of the presentation was an English though!  Our job as volunteers was to help hold and display the animals.  This school was in much better shape than the elementary school I visited a couple weeks ago.  The buildings looked fairly new and they seemed quite proud of their bathrooms.  Unfortunately I did not have a chance to see any of the classrooms at this school like we did at the elementary school.  

Fun crocodiles facts...  You can accurately estimate the power in the jaws of a croc by multiplying the weight by 22 and adding pounds per square inch.  They are also the only reptile that can adjust their heart rate independently of the weather.  

July 26

July 26, 2016

Today I worked in things for some of the cages.  I put wire frames to hang branches  on in two antelope cages, built a ladder and a hammock for some of the monkeys and Sarah and I dug and made a pond for the servals.  Those things pretty much took up the whole day.   Tomorrow I will be trimming sheep hooves. 

Sorry for the short post!  

July 25

July 25, 2016

Today we had the opportunity to visit The natural history museum.  Here are some of the things I found interesting...

The Matobo- the Matopos grant is traversed by two main joint systems which control the landscape formation.  Great bare "deal as" are formed when successive layers of rocks are detached by exfoliation along huge curved joints.  Blocky "castle kopjes" occur when erosion along the rectangular joints predominates.  The distinctive Matopos hills are the result of Aeons of erosion along natural lines of weakness caused by jointing in the granite.  

Victoria falls- the Victoria Falls flows over basalt rock which is traversed by two sets of faults.  The waterfall has eroded along these weaknesses leaving a series of zig zag gorges in its retreat.  

Zebras and wildebeasts have a symbiotic relationship ...  The zebra graze and trample the vegetation which allows new, more nutritious shoots to come up which the wildebeest them consume.  Grazing my zebras also opens up lower layers of leafy vegetation for other smaller ruminants. 

There was also a display about the digestive systems of the ruminants and hindgut fermenters and the information was totally backwards....  

There are over 2000 species of bugs in Zimbabwe.    

A true insect

3 parts of the body

6 legs attached to the thorax

2 antenna or feelers

Often 2 or 4 wings attached to the thorax 

Compound eyes and often simple eyes

A breathing system consisting of a branching network of tubes opening at apertures or spiracles along the side of the body 

A spider is not an inset because

Only two parts of the body are seen

There are three legs attached to the cephalothorax 

No antenna

Never any wings

Only simple eyes

Breathing is accomplished by gill like structures called lung books 

There are two parasitic protozoan sin Africa that affect humans...  Plasmodium which is the malarial parasite and typanosomes which are carried by the tsetse flies and cause sleeping sickness.  

Honey badgers are extremely aggressive, relying on their powerful jaws, remarkably thick skin, and offensive odor.. 😀😀😀😀

July 24

July 24, 2016

Fairly quiet day today. We only had to work a half day.  I was on carnivores today so we spent the morning cleaning two of the leopard cages.  We had to empty one of their ponds because she insists on using it has a toilet and put all new pond reeds in it.  After that we worked in moving some things around the male leopards logs and things for him to lie on and play with.

After lunch I started collecting things to make enrichment activities for the animals!!  I am going to start working on that tomorrow and Tuesday and get things in cages before I leave next week.

I can't believe this time next week I will be coming home already!!

July 23

July 23, 2016 

This morning I got to help treat the rock pythons for mites.  They probably came from the hay or grass in their bedding.  We scrubbed them w ivermectin to get rid of them.  

Afterwards we worked on cleaning out the antelope pens and then I started working on some enrichment activities for the animals.  We are using some the activities that my students came up with.  I started walking around collecting things and recruiting some people to work on the activities with me!  I am super excited to start putting some things together and getting them in the animal cages.

The lamb is still doing ok.  She still isn't thrilled about taking the bottle and has on and off diarrhea but she is still holding her own.  

During animal time I was in with Prince, the serval.  He comes up and purrs and runs against your hands and legs and drools everywhere!  Today he laid down in my lap for a little while and then when he got up he sat down in front of my and licked my face and walked away.  I think him and Carla, one of the female leopards are my favorite.  I love to sit with Carla and she comes and rubs against my hands and drools and licks and makes rumbling noises. 

Matopos research trip

July 20, 2016

This afternoon we left for Matopos to check traps that are set for leopards and hyena. It was about an hour and a half trip to get there.  And we are camping!  After we set up the tent and got everything settled we set out to start checking and rebaiting some of the traps.  We had to put new meat in two of the traps and change SD cards in a bunch of the cameras.  Tomorrow we will rebait the rest of the traps.  The daughter of the owners of one of the properties the traps are set is a veteran of the British Army and she was a canine handler.  She was able to adopt one of her dogs who was patrol and IED because he was afraid of gun fire.  She is in the process of training him as well as several other dogs for the anti poaching task force.  So the animals are trained to sniff out snares as well as track animal spor.  Some of them are trained in apprehension as well.  It was interesting to talk to her because there are not ENOUGH homes for retired military dogs here.  Hard to imagine when there is an 18 month waiting list at home.  She also said they are not careful at all about when one is adopted out, they do not spend the time evaluating the animal to decide how suitable it is for adoption like it is done in the U.S.  Nor do they give them any disclosures about what the dog has done and any possible triggers.  They basically shove them out the kennel door and say here you go! 

It does get cold here at night as soon as the sun goes down!  Matopos is known for its Rock formations.  There are rocks that look like they are going to come rolling down on top of you any minute-  they are balanced so carefully.  Other ones look like a child piled them on top of each other like building blocks.  

July 21, 2016

Today started out early!!  5 am!  We made breakfast and then set out to check the traps and change some more camera cards.  When I first arrived in Africa it was a lot unnerving to hear the lions while you where falling asleep and then last night it was so quiet and odd NOT hearing the lions!  While we were checking the traps we saw zebra, wildebeasts, and giraffes!  All before 730 am!  

We spent the morning rebaiting and resetting traps.  We also looked at some of the SD cards to see what animals were around the traps.  On one there was a leopard about a half hour after we left.  

We ate lunch and watched a group of baboons and warthogs running around.  The amount of wildlife you see here seems surreal, especially when you think about what we we at home...  Squirrels and raccoons and rabbits....

I don't think the pictures of the scenery will do it any justice.  You can see forever!!!  You feel like you are on top of the world and the only person for miles and miles.  The air is so quiet,  there is no background noise or light pollution.  The rock formations in Matopos are just beautiful. 

As we are driving around changing SD cards we are dragging the hind end of a calf to create a scent trail....

The sunsets here are beautiful.  The colors are indescribable and I tried to take some pictures but the camera could not capture the colors.  

July 22, 2016 

Another early morning today!  We started out again checking the traps and cameras.  We were able to see zebras, giraffes, and wildebeasts grazing first thing too!  The zebra are very naughty!  Yesterday we watched them chase some warthogs around, this morning they were chasing baboons.  We came across a dead female wildebeast but the owners of the property said they have been watching her for a little while and she was not doing well.  There are guards on one of the properties at night and during the day because of the poaching problem.  The police don't do much about it, they have other priorities so the chances of them responding, between the stay aways, lack of transportation and cost of fuel.  

Most the of the vehicles here are diesel, it is cheaper for them and they are longer lasting and sturdier.  

We are back at the orphanage!!  Checked cameras and traps this morning.  Having a bar b q for Ryan's birthday tonight!  

July 19

July 19, 2016

Today one of the female lions had to be darted to give her a contraceptive injection.   They tried giving the contraception to the males but it caused them to loose their manes.  So while doing the males would be more cost effective they do not want the males to not look like males.   Kevin does all of the chemical immobilization and they need to get all of the drugs into the animal in 3 ml or less.  It took about 25 minutes for her to go down and she also needed a backup dose of the drugs.  Once she was down, she was weighed.  Then I was in charge of monitoring her temperature every couple of minutes to make sure there were no drastic changes- either getting too hot or too cold.  The contraceptive chips were inserted and she was also vaccinated for rabies and feline flu.  Her teeth and body length were all measured as well.  Once everything was done she was given a reversal drug and put back in her enclosure. Her paws were huge!  Such an experience to be that close to an animal like that!  I wish I could start sharing all of my pictures with you but most of them are on my camera and I have limited wifi so you will all need to wait!!

We unloaded two truck loads of chips as well today.  Chipangali gets an expired chips from one of the stores and they are fed to the animals.  It is truly amazing that nothing here goes to waste.

Tomorrow I will be going to Matopos on the carnivore research trip until Friday so I should have a lot to post when I get back but will have no access to wifi while I am there.  

The lamb is still doing ok, she still is not keen on drinking from the bottle but gives in and drinks a little bit when she realizes I am not going away. 

Miss everyone!!

July 18

July 18, 2016

Monday's are our day off so pretty quiet around Chipangali.  But, Today I had the opportunity to go out to help track a collared hyena.  She was collared and released almost a year ago and they were able to get three months of data and GPS points and then nothing for 7 months until a few days ago and then the collar sent out a mortality signal and then started sending out more points but were staying in the same general area.  So a few options....  She was stuck in a snare or dead and something was playing with the collar.  So we went out and fortunately found her collar which had only been chewed off.   We think it moved around just enough to hit the chewed wires together and send out a signal.  

The lamb is doing really well!  She finally started willingly taking her bottle through the night last night.  Funny how I am at a wildlife orphanage taking care of a lamb...

We have had a lot of power outages the past couple days.  Apparently the government will just decide to cut off the power to save money.  There are some areas of the city, near the airport and hospital that never have their power cut off for obvious reasons.  These areas are more expensive to live in.  

July 17

July 17, 2016 

Not a very eventful day here...  Sorry!!  We are still working on the baboon cage but it is getting closer to getting done!!

I am still taking care of the lamb.  She still absolutely hates taking the bottle but she does love to lay in your lap and cuddle!  It's going to be a long night taking care of her.  

Tomorrow we have the day off.. They take us into town to get some snacks to keep here and then we are going to the natural history museum as well.  Also going for a walk in the game park tomorrow morning to see the zebra!  

The sky here is beautiful at night.  It is so clear and here are no lights to interfere with anything.  Everything here is so big!!!

Can't wait to get home and share all my pictures with everyone! 

July 16

July 16, 2016

 Today I helped with the baboon cage again.  Having a farm is totally coming in handy with pounding fencing staples and fixing stuff! I have also been helping take care of a lamb whose mom died yesterday morning so I spent the day trying to get her to take a bottle.  Hopefully she has been sneaking milk from some of the other mamas!!!  Another day of rebuilding the baboon cage tomorrow!

Sorry for the short post!  

July 15

July 15, 2016 

Today I worked with the primates.  We were working on fixing one of the cages.  We had to take out the old poles and then cut new ones.  Again sounds easy enough right?  Nope...  We had to cut the new poles with a hand saw and they are mopani trees which are super super hard so it took forever to cut through them.  That basically took up most of the day.

I am going to work on getting a wish list of supplies they need here and how much they cost so that i can do a fund raiser when I get home and people can identify what they want their money to go towards and then we will get the money to the orphanage.  Everyday I see more and more how lucky we are and how much we take for granted at home.  People in Zimbabwe don't know any different so this is just how things are done.  It is so eye opening.  There is no running to Tractor Supply or Home Depot or Lowes for new saw blades or a chainsaw or nails or anything like that. 

I also had the chance to talk to Kevin about chemical immobilization and how they have to get all of the drugs into an animal in less than 3 cc.  He was also very interested in how we trap the Bears and using the foot snares.  He actually has some but they are apparently very controversial for trapping animals.  But he does want me to show him how to set them and use them.  I am also going to sit down with him tomorrow finally and talk to him about the enrichment ideas my students came up with before I left.  

July 14, 2016

July 14, 2016

Sorry no post last night.... Basically spent the day traveling back from Victoria Falls and was so tired and had a headache and after dinner I went to sleep. 

So the houses here are very interesting...  Most of the buildings are not entirely closed in and they usually have thatched roofs.  I don't think anyone has a washer or dryer as most houses have clothes hanging in clothes lines or fences outside.  The water comes from bore holes so if one runs out someone won't have water in their house.   The water here is heated here by building a fire underneath it and heated.  There are only certain places where we can drink the water as well.  

I love the vervet monkeys.  There is one male named Terrance and the other day I had just put hand sanitizer on and he grabbed my hand and tried to pull it into the cage- which you can't let them do because they will bite you- but then he sniffed his hand- I think because of the hand sanitizer.  Now every time I walk by the cage he reaches out for my hand and then sniffs his hand. 

Today I went to Siphezini primary school - a local school down the road.  There is no free education in Zimbabwe.  Students have to pay between $40-60 per term, there are three terms in a year.  This is a lot of money for people in this country.  Books are shared usually by at least 3-4 kids and the teachers cover them in whatever kind of plastic they can find to help protect them and make them last as long as possible.  The Blackboards are smooth concrete painted w chalkboard paint.  There is No running water or electricity in the school.  They have to get water from fairly far away and they have a system w jugs of water rigged up so the students can wash their hands.  There is a house next to the school where student teachers live and there is electricity in the house and they have one computer to share.  

They don't have bathrooms either- instead they have something called a Long drops- which is a big hole in the ground.  Behind the School they also have A Culture hut - which is a round hut, and is used as the kitchen.  Most homes have a culture hut so that the people do not forget how they used to live.  

We brought cardboard boxes and cereal boxes etc for the students.  I was also able to leave some of the lessons that were prepared by Teacher Academy and Early childhood education students and was able to distribute some of the pencil cases full of things for the students.  Any posters and decorations in the classrooms must be made by the teacher.  They have so few supplies.  I don't think I will ever complain again if I don't have money in my budget to purchase something at school....  It was incredible to see what these teachers could do with such limited supplies.  The students are so polite. When we walked into the classroom they all stood and in unison said hello how are you today. We visited a class that was students about 5 year olds and then also the 5th and 6th grade classes.  

July 12, 2016

July 12, 2016

Last night we went to a restaurant called the Boma.  It was so much fun!  They had people doing African dancing and singing and music as we walked in.  The food was buffet style and like nothing you get at home!     I am a super picky eater but I am pretty proud of myself at the things that I tried....  Crocodile, Impala, and warthog.  Yes I am eating meat here....  Most of you know I won't eat commercially produced meat at home because of the way the animals are raised and the things that are fed to them.  As well as the age that they are slaughtered due to them being fed such an unnatural diet.  The conditions for the humans and the sanitation in processing facilities is horrendous.  But I will eat locally produced and processed meat at home.  Everything here is what we consider grass fed, free range, or organic.  And you can taste the difference... It has a taste.  But don't worry, as soon as I come home I will not be eating US meat!  They also taught us how to play the bongo drums and all I kept thinking was the episode of Big Bang Theory when Sheldon can't get a haircut and he starts playing the bongos in the middle of the night because the world is going crazy!  We had a great time at dinner!

In Victoria Falls they actually had tourist police specifically to protect the tourists.  

Today I went on a safari in Chobe National Park in Botswana.  The park is not fenced in so the animals can come and go and move as they please.  We saw so many animals!  Hippos, crocodiles, elephants, buffalo, Impala, kudu, puka, waterbuck, giraffes, water monitors, warthogs, zebras, so many species of birds.  I think I need to buy a book to name all the bird species I saw!!  I am so overwhelmed with the information the guides give us on all the animals and the names!  The animals were all so beautiful!  It is the dry season so in the middle of the river is an island that the animals can get to so they all go down to the water and a lot cross to the island during the day and they go back across to the main land for the night.   The water was so blue.  The buffalo are my favorite.  I still can't get over that they are the most dangerous animal in Africa.  There were a lot of baby hippos and baby elephants and we even saw a baby zebra and a fairly young giraffe!!  Sorry you will all have to wait until I get home for pictures of today because I was so afraid of either dropping my phone off the boat or out of the safari vehicle so they are all on my camera.  And it will probably take me a while to go through all of them because I'm pretty sure there are close to 1000 pics just from today!  I hope the pictures that I took can do the landscape justice...  The sun shining off the water and all the animals grazing and drinking everything was so peaceful.  

So far I have seen three of the big five in the wild and if you count the leopards and lions at chipangali I have seen all of them! 

Tomorrow morning we will leave early for the bus trip back to Bulawayo and Chipangali- hopefully it will be uneventful!  

July 11, 2016

July 11, 2016

This will be a short post as I am typing it into my phone instead of on a computer so it is a big harder!

Victoria Falls day!!!  The Falls were beautiful!  That is the first time I have been able to experience one of the seven wonders of the world!!!  They were huge!!  Everything in Africa is huge!!!

After visiting the Falls we went on a horse back riding safari....  Yup I came to Africa to ride a horse!!  Apparently the big game is not threatened by the horses so as long as you stay on the horse you are fine!!  We rode right through the middle of two different herds of buffalo....  Another one of the Big 5!!!  And they are the most dangerous one!  They are beautiful animals and look so peaceful it is hard to imagine that they are so dangerous.  More hunters are killed by them than by any other animal.  There was one with a tag and our guide said it was because it was caught in a poachers snare at some point and since it was rescued they tag them.  Probably one in a few hundred animals!  The one herd and a lot of pretty young calves with them as well.  They are seriously majestic animals up close and their horns are so impressive.   We also saw bushbuck and impalas and warthogs !!  They are so adorable!  There was a mom and what was most likely a litter of 5 piglets.. Not real tiny but definitely youngsters.  They run behind their mom with their tails straight up in the air.  Everyone here is so nice and polite. And Victoria Falls is very clean.  But still can't drink the water.  Tonight we are going to a restaurant called the Boma.

July 10

July 10, 2016

Short blog today!  I am in Victoria Falls for a couple days and have unlimited wifi!!  Posted some of the pics that I had in my phone to Facebook and Instagram!!  We had an eventful trip up here...  Our bus hit a cow..  Yup there was a cow in the road and we hit it.  Why wasn't I the only person on the bus that could tell them how to kill the cow by breaking its neck as it was still laying on the side of the road alive.

Prior to leaving we were working on fixing the fencing in one of the lion enclosures...  No pressure there making sure you do a good job fixing fence!!!

Tomorrow we are going to see the falls and go on a horseback riding safari and Tuesday we are going on a full day safari in Chobe !!!  So excited!!!

Sorry for the shorter post today but most of it was spend on a bus!

July 9, 2016

July 9, 2016

Today was a relatively quiet day, I was assigned to the antelope.  In the mornings we have to take out branches from the day before and then get new ones for the animals.  Sounds like it should be easy enough and quick?  Nope!  They have machetes for cutting the branches and some of the branches are pretty thick so it takes a while to cut through them.  Again, so different from here…we would have chainsaws and be done in about 5 minutes.  

I am coming up with more and more ideas that I can bring back and possibly do with my students.  I want to try and work on a walking audio tour of the park.  I was thinking that my students would be able to research the various animals and come up with information on them in general, and then talk about the specific animals that are here and tell their stories.  Then someone get the audio on the website to allow people to learn more about them and possibly have a way that visitors can tap into the information as well…I have to talk to Nicky more about the logistics of this project and see how we can make it work!

During animal time I spent time with one of the leopards.  She was rubbing all over my hand and purring and drooling everywhere!  She even started licking my hand- their tongue feels just like our house cats!  She is a beautiful animal and I feel so lucky to be able to get that close to her.  Their eyes are beautiful and so full of intelligence. 

Later on in the day, there was a group of about 120 students from a local school that went on a tour of the park so I helped with that.  One of the workers does the tour and the volunteers help keep them all together and moving through the park.  The girls sure do take a lot of selfies!  And they love to take pictures with white people!  

Tomorrow I am going to Victoria Falls for three nights!  While we are there I am going to go on a safari in Chobe and also go on a horseback riding safari!  Victoria Falls is one of the 7 wonders of the world!  So- tomorrow will consist of about a 6 hour bus ride to get there and then two full days and then a return bus ride back here on Wednesday.  I will be able to get unlimited wifi for $3 while I am there so I am super excited about that and will not have to worry about using up my allotted wifi posting pictures on Instagram and facebook!!!  I have a lot of pics on my camera but there are also a lot on my phone, so I will post what I have!!!

I have been using what’s app messenger if anyone wants to download it and message me!!! 

I probably will not post anything tomorrow as all I will be doing is traveling so nothing really exciting to report! 

July 8, 2016

Woke up to a very grey and overcast day..pretty damp.  They call it “guti”.  It looked like it was going to rain and be miserable for our trip to Matopos National Park- which involved traveling in a VERY open range rover.  Apparently though, it is too COLD to rain!  It was probably in the 50’s.  Didn’t know that it could be too cold to rain!  We went with two professional guides.  On our way to the park we actually saw a family of three white rhinos walking along the side of the road!  The rhinos have been poached almost to extinction in Africa for their horns.  Asians belief they are better than Viagra and they sell for over $1 million for 10 kilos!  Cutting off the rhinos horn is the same as us cutting out fingernails, so not only can you do it without killing the animal, but the horn will also grow back…so it would make more sense to have rhino farms and have them cut the horns and send them out onto the market and be able to continually cut off the horn.  But- this is not the case and people do not think there should be rhino farms.  Anyway- it is obviously very dangerous for the rhinos to be walking along side the ride as it makes them as very easy target for poachers, so there was actually a team of four rangers following the animals and trying to push them far away from the road.  The park is divided up into sections with teams of rangers assigned to each section and in the morning they go and patrol their section to see where the rhinos are.  It did not take us long to find a family of 5 rhinos!!!  We were able to walk right up to them!  They have very poor eyesight but excellent smell and hearing so they knew we were there but our one guide has been around these animals for most of their lives and they are comfortable with the interaction and were not too bothered by it!  Before we went close to the animals, we had to switch off any GPS things in our phones because they have found when these pictures hit social media the poachers use the locations and GPS to find the animals and come and kill them!   We sat and watched them for a little while and they wandered away so we followed for a little bit and watched for a while longer.  The one young male came about 15 feet away from us!!  These animals are over 4,000 lbs!!  It was hard to imagine that they are one of the Big 5- as they looked so peaceful just grazing and not really giving us a second glace.  I learned that they are most closely related to horses and in hindsight, some of the behaviors are the same.  For example, the one young male walked very close to us and was licking and chewing and mouthing- just like a submissive horse does!  I talked to the guide, Ian, about who they chemically immobilize the animals, and he told me that they have to be within about 100lbs for the dosage or the animals have very severe side effects.  Amazing, since with the bears you can just about double the dose and it is still ok.  How do you estimate the weight of a rhino within 100 lbs?!?!   The animals are also given a reversal agent as soon as they are under the effects of the drugs, as it only takes about 35 seconds to cut off their horn.  They overheat very quickly under the drugs too.

After watching the rhinos for a while, we drove around the park and had lunch, where we were visited by some very naughty vervet monkeys who wanted to steal our food.  One managed to get lucky and steal a roll and ran off with it!  

After lunch we hiked up a mountain to see some cave paintings that are over 28,000 years old!!!  They were so lifelike!  The humans in the cave paintings are drawn very stick like because they believed that if they were too lifelike it would allow spirits to come and inhabit them.  The animals are extremely lifelike and detailed and really look like they were actually running across the wall of the cave.  This particular cave also had shadow paintings, which are cave paintings that you can only see in the shadow!  There are 5 caves total that they have been able to discover these shadow paintings. 

Before we left the national park, we visited one of the African Villages.  We were able to meet the chief, who was quite a character and he told use stories, in his native language…he didn’t speak one bit of English- but our guide translated for us.  The chief is 85 years old!  He told us how he helped to build a lot of the roads throughout the park and also helped to bring the original rhinos into the park.  After listening to the chief’s stories we watched the children that live in the village sing and dance.  It was very neat to experience a very small part of Zimbabwe life.