Out of Africa, day 5
Day 5
Greetings from Zambia. Things here are going well... Mostly.
It’s been raining more or less solid for the last 3 days or so now. The roads, trails, and everything else are nothing but mud, which makes driving and hiking extremely difficult, especially considering I don’t have the proper footware to handle the kinds of muddy, swampy environments I’m hiking in for hours and hours every day. My feet and toes have all sorts of blisters, and I haven’t had a pair of dry shoes since it started raining. It’s a mixed blessing, though-rain means clouds, and the clouds block the sun, so the temperature has been remarkably pleasant the days that I’ve been here. Despite the almost constant overcast, however, I’ve already managed to get burned pretty badly, even despite the fact that I -do- wear my sunscreen and was already pretty tan before I got here. The sun is really something else over here. My camp has also been out of water (I know, it’s the fucking rainy season, right??) for the past day and a half, so no showers for me. And, seriously, mosquito bites ON TOP OF mosquito bites. I kid you not. At least we have plenty of cold beer, though.
Work has been good, some days are better than others. I’m still learning many of the ropes of life in Zambia and life here on the lion ranch, but every day things get easier and easier. The last few days I’ve been helping with the construction of a new building here at the ranch... I’ve done a lot of digging, rock moving, dirt hauling, concrete pouring, etc. I think the management likes the fact that I’m a volunteer that can actually do some hard labor (I think the workers like it too-they’re always telling me how strong I am and asking me advice about working out and fighting (even in africa I’m training people! :P)). Aside from working on the building and working with the lions, I’ve also been doing some work for a few other research projects, and I did a snare sweep with some of the wildlife authorities to check for poaching snares. That was quite an experience... Walking through the African bush is really quite dangerous. I don’t know what it is, but EVERYTHING is fucking huge over here. The wasps (of which there are many) are about 1.5-2 inches big, and leave some pretty nasty stings. On our walk, two people got stung several times, and on a different outing someone else had to go to the hospital because he got stung so bad. The spiders are on steroids, and they’re EVERYWHERE too. I nearly walked right into the web of a spider that’s body (just the body, not the legs, which were about twice the size of the body) was as big as my fist. They had red and yellow markings, and giant fangs. Needless to say, I was kinda freaked out, because it seriously looked like it could take down a vulture. Every day brings a different danger, it seems. On some hands, it’s very scary, but on other hands, it’s almost kind of... refreshing... not knowing what kind of challenges or dangers lurk around the corner.
The workers are a lot of fun... I’m learning some of the language already, and one of the lion handlers was teaching me a few songs. He was very impressed with my voice and wants me to come sing with him at his church sometime next week, which I’m actually very excited for. I never would have thought it, but the people here are actually one of my favorite parts about being here... Most of them are lots of fun and very curious about life in America, and they really seem to manifest that “hakuna matata” approach to life. Most of them tell me that they would like to move to the states if they could... To that, I tell them that the grass is always greener.
Working with the lions here is great... It’s everything I could have hoped for, though I wish I could do it more often. They have already grown pretty attached to me, as I’m the only volunteer/worker that either isn’t afraid of them or doesn’t try to ‘dominate’ them. They’ve already figured out that they can pretty much walk all over me, especially Zulu, one of the younger males, which I think is why they’ve already come to accept me so much. They’re a lot of fun, and very sweet. It’s really something else to be in the middle of a pride of 8 nearly full-grown lions getting nuzzled and head-butted like another member of the family. Sometimes I can hear them roaring from my bunk at night. It’s really, really cool.
In the next couple of days I’ll be working with Dave and Jackie to get some research ideas put together. Right now, I’m very torn, but I’m trying to not think about the giant decision lurking around the corner... There’ll be plenty of time to think about that once I get home. For now, I’ve got a beer and an African sunset on the Zambezi river to enjoy.
Greetings from Zambia. Things here are going well... Mostly.
It’s been raining more or less solid for the last 3 days or so now. The roads, trails, and everything else are nothing but mud, which makes driving and hiking extremely difficult, especially considering I don’t have the proper footware to handle the kinds of muddy, swampy environments I’m hiking in for hours and hours every day. My feet and toes have all sorts of blisters, and I haven’t had a pair of dry shoes since it started raining. It’s a mixed blessing, though-rain means clouds, and the clouds block the sun, so the temperature has been remarkably pleasant the days that I’ve been here. Despite the almost constant overcast, however, I’ve already managed to get burned pretty badly, even despite the fact that I -do- wear my sunscreen and was already pretty tan before I got here. The sun is really something else over here. My camp has also been out of water (I know, it’s the fucking rainy season, right??) for the past day and a half, so no showers for me. And, seriously, mosquito bites ON TOP OF mosquito bites. I kid you not. At least we have plenty of cold beer, though.
Work has been good, some days are better than others. I’m still learning many of the ropes of life in Zambia and life here on the lion ranch, but every day things get easier and easier. The last few days I’ve been helping with the construction of a new building here at the ranch... I’ve done a lot of digging, rock moving, dirt hauling, concrete pouring, etc. I think the management likes the fact that I’m a volunteer that can actually do some hard labor (I think the workers like it too-they’re always telling me how strong I am and asking me advice about working out and fighting (even in africa I’m training people! :P)). Aside from working on the building and working with the lions, I’ve also been doing some work for a few other research projects, and I did a snare sweep with some of the wildlife authorities to check for poaching snares. That was quite an experience... Walking through the African bush is really quite dangerous. I don’t know what it is, but EVERYTHING is fucking huge over here. The wasps (of which there are many) are about 1.5-2 inches big, and leave some pretty nasty stings. On our walk, two people got stung several times, and on a different outing someone else had to go to the hospital because he got stung so bad. The spiders are on steroids, and they’re EVERYWHERE too. I nearly walked right into the web of a spider that’s body (just the body, not the legs, which were about twice the size of the body) was as big as my fist. They had red and yellow markings, and giant fangs. Needless to say, I was kinda freaked out, because it seriously looked like it could take down a vulture. Every day brings a different danger, it seems. On some hands, it’s very scary, but on other hands, it’s almost kind of... refreshing... not knowing what kind of challenges or dangers lurk around the corner.
The workers are a lot of fun... I’m learning some of the language already, and one of the lion handlers was teaching me a few songs. He was very impressed with my voice and wants me to come sing with him at his church sometime next week, which I’m actually very excited for. I never would have thought it, but the people here are actually one of my favorite parts about being here... Most of them are lots of fun and very curious about life in America, and they really seem to manifest that “hakuna matata” approach to life. Most of them tell me that they would like to move to the states if they could... To that, I tell them that the grass is always greener.
Working with the lions here is great... It’s everything I could have hoped for, though I wish I could do it more often. They have already grown pretty attached to me, as I’m the only volunteer/worker that either isn’t afraid of them or doesn’t try to ‘dominate’ them. They’ve already figured out that they can pretty much walk all over me, especially Zulu, one of the younger males, which I think is why they’ve already come to accept me so much. They’re a lot of fun, and very sweet. It’s really something else to be in the middle of a pride of 8 nearly full-grown lions getting nuzzled and head-butted like another member of the family. Sometimes I can hear them roaring from my bunk at night. It’s really, really cool.
In the next couple of days I’ll be working with Dave and Jackie to get some research ideas put together. Right now, I’m very torn, but I’m trying to not think about the giant decision lurking around the corner... There’ll be plenty of time to think about that once I get home. For now, I’ve got a beer and an African sunset on the Zambezi river to enjoy.