This week has been interesting for sure. I was scheduled to be with Meg most mornings and afternoons helping in the goat kraal. However we know how the schedule works here, it is a tentative schedule that may change at any moment.

Monday everything was basically done by the time we got to the goat kraal and had nothing to do. The guys there, Tommy and Titus, had gone in early since it was a holiday for them and just left when they were done. So Meg and I did some other work we had like scanning and database stuff. I discovered while I was working on some brochures that I could watch movies at the same time so I watched Some Like It Hot while I worked until lunch. In the afternoon I worked with Matt with cheetah feeding which was a lot of fun. When I was done I was introduced to Tommy and Titus. As I shook Titus' hand he pulled me a little closer to ask me my name again. I misunderstood and did the typical latin side kiss where you touch cheeks and making a small kissing noise.

Tuesday was fun because I took an allergy pill from Meg with Benadryl so I wouldn't sneeze so much when we went to do the vegetation survey. We had a lot of fun. There were about six baboons where we needed to start so we had to skip one section. Apparently baboons can be very aggressive so it was best to avoid them altogether. Meg and I would sing Disney songs as we went through the bush to each waypoint on the GPS. It was all great until we got back I realized how drowsy I felt. After lunch I had no energy and we determined it was because my body was not accustomed to Benadryl and it was making me sleepy. So the rest of the day I was basically a vegetable, but luckily there wasn't much to do so I helped Allie train the dogs.

Now that the cheetah annual examinations have started all the vets work early performing the exams to finish by the end of the day. Both keepers Matt and Kate go with a few others to work early to box the cats from their current pens and take them to the clinic. Meg and I went in early with them on Wednesday to start with goat dipping. Goat dipping is a chemical solution that we dip all the goats in every year to help prevent diseases, ticks, and things. We recruited some extra people and in the end we had about 6-7 people. We had two people holding goats while two others trimmed their hoofs, one person writing down the goat tag numbers being done, and I worked with Tommy and Titus doing the actual dipping. It was a lot of fun, but really hot!! I got really soaked and bruised my wrist from holding the goats down under water with their horns. Poor Meg got bad heat stroke, but luckily it was decided to finish the sheep the next day.

Laurie Marker is the woman that started the Cheetah Conservation Fund and she had been gone the entire time so far, but she just arrived on Tuesday night. She even helped us with the goat dipping a little. I'm just so amazed that one person could do so much! Things are a little different now that she's back. She has been gone a while and so there is a lot to do before she leaves again in the next couple of weeks. I know she's really busy so I just try to do my job and stay out of her hair. That's one thing about a volunteer…I don't ever want to be in the way, especially during a stressful time like annuals.

Wednesday night the two behavior researchers I'm supposed to work with arrived. Thursday I spent most of the day with them.Nadia is a very experienced researcher who has done years of work with the cheetahs. Jess is her assistant who has finished her PhD and is now working with Nadia on the cheetah behavior project. They explained to me the experiment I'm helping with. Nadia will be leaving but Jess and I will do observations on the ten cats we will work with and then on other days we will do testing. We will place either a mirror or ball with them and see how they react. This is to test temperament between the cats which may be a potential factor in whether or not some cats can be released ever. At the same time we will be collecting fecal samples on these cats to test for gastritis and stress levels from before and after annual examinations.

I love both of them. They are really nice and even said that they know some people at the Portland Zoo that would probably love to work with me on my honor's thesis and things. I feel so lucky to be working with them. They were also really glad that I was assigned to work with them because at every other institution Jess has done everything by herself. Also I will be the main person to help identify each cat in groups so they can distinguish which cheetah is doing what. It's nice to find a niche and I'm so grateful these women are doing what I want to be doing someday. I don't know if Laurie feels as comfortable as the keepers to have me working with Jess on the cheetahs alone, but that's understandable since she hasn't seen me work really. However, I feel confident that I have been trained well enough to do just fine. There are only a few situations where we may need to go into the pens with the cheetahs and I feel comfortable doing so if needed.

The rest of the day I went feeding with Matt which was a lot of fun. We had to feed some of them donkey heads which was pretty gross because I got blood all over me this time, and it had even splashed onto my neck. Matt just laughed at me of course. That night was fun though because I went with the two cars going to Bellebenno (64 hectare cheetah pen) which is 40 minutes away to release the cats worked on that day. It was a long drive, but we had fun. On the way back it was really funny because Matt and I saw some tall bushes up ahead which started moving! We nearly ran over two LARGE porcupines! I've never seen one so big and I screamed as we barely missed them. Later the car started having problems and died. I had to get out to pump the fuel or something to help it go again, but eventually it died completely. Luckily the other truck could tow us with a cable. When we finally got back it was about 8pm. We took the car to the barn to leave it to be worked on and then the tow cable was stuck! Finally after another 20 minutes we were able to get it free. We ate and then got ready to go home to Boskop (those of us that lived there). We then discovered the truck had a flat tire. After another 30 minutes changing the tire we discovered the spare was flat as well! We just took another vehicle home in the end and I got home after 9pm covered in mud and blood. It was a fun night nevertheless.

The next day Jess and I started with observations. It was a very hot day and to be standing in the sun for thirty minutes straight for each observation was hard. Poor Jess got burned, but I wasn't too bad. We could walk to all but one of the cats so we were able to just go to each pen by foot. On our way to the last few cats however we ran into some baboons. Jess was really excited, but after what everyone told me I told her we should go back to the cheetahs. I was really scared because they were right on the road. We decided to try walking anyway but when we saw one come onto the road and come towards us we decided it was a bad idea to walk through a troop on both sides of the road. Had that one baboon run off from seeing us I would have been fine, but he did not seem afraid. We didn't know how long it would be for a car to come by and were very concerned. Luckily after 30 min of waiting Nadia drove up and could take us back. We decided then that we will just have to take a car every time. Jess has never driven a manual, but luckily I have although my abilities are very limited. So at some point I may be driving the truck to the pens. I'm a little nervous because it is on very bumpy dirt roads through puddles with the driver on the right side of the vehicle. However I know I can do it.

On Saturday Jess and I went with Nadia to start the testing. We set up a mirror to see how the cheetahs would respond. Most weren't too responsive but we couldn't guarantee they had really seen their reflection at all. Finally with one of the last cheetahs we got a response. Cruise I was able to use a rock as if it were food to lure him right to the mirror. He seemed very curious and even forgot about the rock. It was neat to get a response. Later we got even more a response with Harry and Hermione when Laurie went with us and used food to bring them close to the mirror. They were very responsive. Hermione just couldn't decide what to think of it, but Harry seemed very calm at seeing herself in the mirror. It was an overall great day. Nadia and Jess left with some others to visit Etosha National Park and I worked with Matt doing the feeding, collecting fecal samples, and releasing the cats again. This time the trip was very smooth. We even got to see the two ostriches Truman and Silvia together. After years of being separated by a fence Truman (Named after the Truman show) and Silvia have been reunited and we may soon even get baby ostriches!

Sunday was very relaxing. We spent the day just reading and things. Four of us girls at Boskop took some cushions and layed outside in the sun while reading. Later everyone at Boskop and a few from the centre came up to play a game of Cricket. It was my first time ever playing. We were all on teams of two and Meg and I were together. Surprisingly, we came in second place with the most runs which I thought was astounding since neither of us really knew how to play at all. I felt like we were just one big family having a nice evening together, and I really felt like we all got closer from that experience.

Monday we all had to go back to work. I continued with observations which went rather well. Afterwards I continued feeding and doing fecal collections with Matt. This time a new girl named Abi went with us and we gave one of the cats a donkey head. Unfortunately Abi decided to hold it weird and got blood all over her front and back. She looked like she was dressed for Halloween. Later Laurie gave her a change of clothes because it looked so bad. That evening Matt, James, Meg, Allie, and I went to release some of the cats in Bellebenno (30 min away). We had an awesome dance party in the car and then when we got back we were just in time for a presentation by the two researchers here Nadja and Karen. It was really neat how they explained how they started combining the behavior studies and the gastritis studies together. It was a really long night though.

Tuesday we did studies with the cheetahs using a ball. It wasn't that exciting since most cats would merely sniff it and move on. My favorite was Klein and Merlot because I called them into their small pen….luring them with food. So they expected to be fed and were very excited when the ball was thrown in, but quickly realized they weren't getting fed. I gave them a small piece of meat at the end though so we wouldn't ruin their learned behavior of coming for food. Unfortunately Klein was too slow and Merlot ate his piece three times. Finally I decided to do just one more to Klein but to drop it through the fence. He was so anxious he nearly took it from my hand! Not a good situation to be in so I was lucky. Later on we had to finish the study and then I was able to watch the vets work on two cats in the clinic. While I did that I helped them take boxes inside the clinic for when the cats are done. On the second box Kate suddenly said "Stop, stop!! The cats awake!" and quickly shut the door. One of the cats on the table had woken up and was thrashing on the table. She had an IV in and there was blood all over the table. Carlos is the main vet in charge of annuals and quite a big guy. He just pinned the head down and they quickly attached the oxygen tube again over the cheetahs mouth to put her back out. It was crazy! All went well in the end though and we were able to release the cats like normal, although they were both a little more wobbly than normal.That night Meg and I got to go on a night game count. We went with all the vet people and unfortunately didn't see much. We did see and Ard wolf, eland, and an aardvark at least though.

Life goes on out here in the bush. Annuals will finish this week, the behavior study continues and all is well. There is a lot of work today and it is good to be busy.