Hello again!

What a night! Its definitely stormy season now! Last night we experienced the most spectacular storm we've ever seen! We had torrential rain, very loud thunder and sheet lightning that was pretty much constant all night! We're amazed that our tent stayed dry (or upright for that matter!), given that the night before the centre pole snapped in half and ripped through the top of our tent! It was a good job that Debs remembered the duck tape! We had to wait for a 'break' in the rain before making a run for tent village and the lightning was lighting up the sky so much and so often that we had no need for a torch, even though it was pitch black out! At one point the house was struck by lightning and it blew out all the light bulbs in the kitchen! We've also had no power for much of today and the internet went down for a while too! In contrast, as soon as the storm blew over, the sun came out and the temperature rose, and now it's roasting again!

This last week has seen a number of volunteers depart but also a number of new arrivals, so much so that we're beginning to feel like 'long-termer's' already, even though we've only been here 3 weeks! As with the last week, much of our time this week has been spent looking after the babies. We spent our first night shift with them on Thursday (7pm-6am) which was an experience…! It was all going fine and they were sleeping ok until about 2.30am when Makosi decided to jump on my face and poo just after I had finally managed to get to sleep! Unsurprisingly, this didn't go down particularly well with me (as most of you know I can be like a bear with a sore head if deprived of sleep!), and so by the morning Debs had all 5 babies sleeping on her (and was covered in s***)! Normally we would have had 6 babies to look after but Sabi had explosive diarrhea and was projectile vomiting all day, and so thankfully we didn't have to look after her as she had to stay with Arthur (mwahahahah)!

We got a new addition to the baby troop this week when we had to rescue a baby from its mum in one of the intro cages. Overnight a bandit monkey had tried to pull it through the cage and so it was pretty badly injured with a broken arm and dislocated shoulder, as well as a nasty rip down the length of its belly. Me, Zian and Gys (pronounced Heist) spent 2 and a half hours trying to lure the mother and baby into a trap, but after I set it off accidentally (and trapped a random monkey in it!) and Gys had missed a second time we had to abandon it. Luckily one of the other volunteers managed to catch it later and Arthur was able to save its arm.

Debs was lucky enough to get to go into Disneyland this week. No, that's definitely not the holiday resort! But the enclosure where all the 1 year old orphan babies from last year are kept (16 in total). The first time she visited the enclosure they all started chatting to her and so Lisa decided she'd get on well in there (and wouldn't get bitten!). Luckily when she went in Scooter (the highest ranking male) went straight over to her to be groomed and fell asleep. This gave her instant respect from the rest of the troop and so she avoided a beating! However, Dusty (one of the largest babies and a known trouble maker!) chewed on her fingers and nose for most of the time she was in there! This is apparently a sign of affection but I'm not sure Debs saw it this way as he had very sharp teeth!

Working at VMF isn't all about the work though, and we were able to escape the foundation earlier this week to visit the Tzaneen Country Lodge. This is a very posh 5 star hotel and spa close to the foundation (who's outdoor swimming pool we are allowed to use for free!). Having turned up whilst a big function was under way and jumped in the pool (complete with stereotypical British tan lines and sunburn!) I was surprised (but very pleased) to be offered a drink in the pool by a waiter! The best thing about South Africa is the price of everything! Having ordered a beer for me and a glass and a half of wine for Debs (brought to us in the pool!), the bill only came to 16 rand which is about £1.10! We had a great afternoon…!!