Monat: April 2015

Hey you! I’m back again! =) Yesterday was a busy day, in the evening I just didn’t make it anymore to write something. That’s because Elke had her birthday yesterday and we had some cake and coffee after work, followed by a really nice birthday party including vegetarian Lasagne, enrichment, wine, whiskey and sniffing pepper spray.

But also the day was really interesting.

In the morning, I could join Elke, as she was doing training with Tarzan, a male lion that is very insecure and whose self-confidence is very small. He gets nervous quite fast but he learns rapidly. Some weeks ago, he was very scared whenever a car or quad arrived and he would hide in a corner. So it was very hard to get him into the house inside his enclosure, since he did not trust people. In case of fire or other emergencies it’s essential to be able to get the animals into the houses. So Elke trains them with a small whistle, a target gadget and some meat. The cats learn through connecting and conditioning good experiences. It was amazing how Tarzan reacted to Elke. First of all, he did not run away or hide when we arrived. He followed us immediately and came into the small house. I observed the training and despite being a very nervous lion, he could calm down really quickly. It was an unique experience watching the training…I cannot describe it properly..You would just need to see it.. =)

After the training, I was sent to Fiona, a lioness which had been ill before. I checked if she ate her food. Since she stays together with another lioness, it’s important to check if it’s really her that eats her piece of meat. It was good to see that both lionesses ate their beef. After one hour of observing and getting sunburnt (as everyday), I went on my usual tour. Everybody was active and either eating or waiting for the food truck to come. Even the tigers were up, which is quite nice because they really are the laziest creatures I’ve ever met (besides my own cats, maybe).

After a late lunch, Marina, the vet, was coming to Lionsrock. She did some medical checks on two of the lions. It was soooooooo interesting to see what she was doing! I’m gonna be so bored watching the work of my cat’s vet after I’ve seen her working with the big cats 😉

After the vet-afternoon, Natasha and I put the presents we had bought for Elke into paper boxes, filled with hay and some toilet paper rolls. We brought the enrichment to her birthday party and I’m sure she felt like a real lioness, opening her enrichment 🙂

So that was pretty much my day…a really busy and very interesting one!

Today was far calmer. In the morning I did my usual round, just that after feeding day everybody was sooo lazy and hanging around and not caring about anything. In the afternoon we went to Bethlehem to do our weekly shopping. And now we just want to have a lazy evening.

Tomorrow I’m gonna tell you a bit more about the cats and the problems there are…Because today I was quite thoughtful when I visited Seeta. I sat beside her and felt very happy doing this job. But then I asked myself: „Why do I actually do this job? Why is it so important that people work for animal welfare organisations?“ It is because humans are able to do the most brutal and bestial things to animals. As paying thousands of Euros in order to get a guaranteed trophy. Yes. Those sick people really exist. So luckily there are also organisations like Four Paws which care about that issue.

Protect their beauty, their pride and their grace, don’t shoot them!

Today is Freedom Day.

Freedom Day is a public holiday in South Africa, celebrated every year on 27th April. On this day in 1994, the first democratic and non-racial national election was held in the country.

So we had a day off today. I started my day going on a round with Jazz and Afie, visiting some lions, carcals and tigers. I also met the horses, but Afie could not hold herself back and chased them, so it was a short encounter.

After breakfast, I grabbed some eggs and my book and went to see Andy. She came running as soon as I called her and oooh she was in a real chiller mood. She talked to me and followed me – of course she knew I would bring her some eggs. We then had a really confortable time, rolling around on the ground, eating eggs and apples, reading a book and taking a sunbath. After a while we both took a short nap.

I then left her alone and went on a bike ride with Jazz, enjoying some movement after this relaxing lazy-lion-time.
So..that was a really peaceful Freedom Day! =)

Wish you a peaceful evening now! Enjoy =)

Ooh yes, yesterday was adventure day! =D We had so much fun and quite many heart attacks. But finally, we made it home alive.

On our hangover hike, we first met really friendly and cute animals: zebras! And there was even a baby zebra! We tried to approach them, yes we even threw apples at them, but it wouldn’t help. They were scared (which was really exceptional, because yesterday it was usually us who were scared) and ran away at some point.

As our hike went on, it got darker because some huge clouds were approaching us. But they did not stop our adventure mood and we came across some dead animal. Only the Skeleton was left and the bones were scattered in the grass. We finally found the head with horns, so it must have been a wildebeest. We tried to cut the teeth out of the mouth, but we couldn’t make it. So we picked up the horn, which can now be used as enrichment for the big cats.

Our goal was climbing on Lionsrock and so we were heading towards it. We found two long sticks which we could use to smash on the ground to avoid any encounter with snakes. The grass got taller and the ground underneath it was now covered with rocks. Jazz was suddenly not running in front of us anymore, he preferred staying behind us. We startled a big bird, and we almost pissed our pants when it took off in front of us. It could have been some crazy wild animal. But ok. It was just a bird. Lucky us!

We went on and as it got darker, it got steeper. It wasn’t a long way to go now. I smashed my stick on the ground and then I heard a hissing sound. I screamed and turned around, hearing Natasha screaming „Oh Jesus!“ and we ran back. We had walked straight into two Puff Adders! Huh our hearts were going crazy. We went back to take some pictures and we noticed how big the snakes were. A fully grown Puff Adder has enough venum to kill 4-6 people. They are not aggressive, but they will attack you if you come too close or if you step on them. We were scared as hell, but lucky us!

We did not know whether we should go on..it got steeper and steeper, the grass was really tall and there were soo many rocks. And now we were really scared of meeting other snakes. It also got darker and we thought the thunder storm was not that far away anymore. We had to calm down, so we decided to have a pick nick. We ate some crackers and cheese and then we decided not to go on anymore. We climbed down the mountain, scared of every movement we saw. But finally, we met our friends- three really friendly lions. We had some good cat talk and finally walked home, laughing about what we had experienced on our hike – probably the best and most exciting hike I’ve ever had 😀

Today was a somewhat more relaxing day. With Islam and Elke, we drove to Clarens to go shopping. We ended up in the Clarens Brewery, where we tasted beer and had some lunch.
And guess what we are doing now – yessss, BBQ again! 🙂

Enjoy the evening people! Hugs and kisses from South Africa – it’s wonderful here!

Soo here I am again…I have to catch up a little, since yesterday evening I didn’t make it anymore…There was a BBQ for the workers who build the new tiger enclosure (on May 8th, six new tigers are arriving, this is gonna be awesome!) and Natasha and I were invited too.  It got a little late and after eating pap and sauce with sausages, Natasha, Elke, Islam and I sat down at the fire and had some glasses of wine and a really nice talk. That’s how my day ended…Now let me tell you how it started.

Friday is feeding day, so Johannes and two other animal keepers picked me up to go to the workshop. I have never seen so much beef at once! A Lion eats 35-40 kg beef per week, whereas for example Martin, the Sibirian Tiger, eats 50kg per week. Most of the meat is donated by local farmers. The dead animals are brought to lionsrock, where they are cut at the workshop. And that’s where I met the cows yesterday morning. Heads and legs and ribs and stuff. Huh that smelled pretty bad. The animal keepers put predator powder on the meat, which contains vitamins and minerals. Free big cats get them when they eat organs such as the heart or liver of their prey. Since on Lionsrock, the cats don’t get to eat those organs, they need the powder.

The guys loaded the meat on the pick up and we drove to the different enclosures. After having put the meat into the feeding enclosures, one animal keeper opens the drop gate and the big cats jump at the meat. It’s so impressive to see those powerful cats running into the enclosure and getting their piece of meat! I could watch them eating all day…

We did the adaption enclosures, the big prides, the tigers and the special care unit and then we had lunch. I was really hungry after having seen the cats eating the whole morning. After lunch, we also fed the leopards, caracals, hyenas and some more lions and tigers.

Well, yesterday was a real meat day. Beef for the lions during the day – BBQ in the evening for us.

 

First of all – I woke up this morning because the lions were roaring so loudly aaand the sun was out! Yesss!

And secondly… You can acutally stop reading my blog because I will probably bore you, telling you everyday how awesome, cute, powerful, gorgeous and lovely those big cats are, just using different words.
Anyway, if you have some minutes left, you’re very welcome to read on 🙂

Today was enrichment day and thus, I saw lots and lots of happy cats. They go crazy for the paper boxes filled with straw and they love to lick and hug the boxes, to carry them away and tear them into peaces. In the morning, I went on my usual tour, bringing enrichment to Andy, Seeta and Nora. I also visited the other lios on my tour. Most of them (such as Andy and Seeta) stay in adaption enclosures. Those are enclosures that are not as huge as the others are and the cats are alone in there. They stay in those smaller enclosures because they are new on Lionsrock or got kicked out of their prides, so they need to be adapted to other cats. This is not as easy as it sounds, because if they are put together and don’t get on well, they could even kill each other. So the adaption process is very important and the lions need to be monitored well during that stage. If they get on well with their neighbours, they can be put together after a while. The volunteer’s job is to observe their behaviour and reactions to the lions that stay next to them.

Nora, on the other hand, stays in a special care enclosure. She got kicked out of the big pride and her enclosure is very close to where she stayed before – so she still remains in touch with her former pride. Whenever lions feel that a cat is too old or too weak – so that it won’t be in favour of the pride anymore – they kick that one out. Only after being kicked out, Nora was diagnosed of a tumor. It was not a maligne one, and it was removed, but her former pride will not welcome her back anymore, since they feel her weakness.
Nora needs more attention now, because it’s quite hard to be alone after having been together with a big group of lions. But hopefully, she will get on well with another lion that’s alone and they can be put together.

So now you know why some of the cats have smaller enclosures or are alone. Especially those cats really need the attention of people. Not every cat loves the contact to people. But every cat loves the enrichment that people bring along. As you can see on the pictures 🙂

Good night everybody! =)

Wednesday is shopping day for the volunteers. That means driving to Bethlehem, getting food for the whole next week (which turned out to be a little bit challenging – but we made it!) and getting impressions of the life in the city.

But lets start from the beginning.
This morning I went on my tour to spend time with Andy, Seeta, the tigers, Nora and Simba. I did this by bike since the distances are just too long to come home on time walking. I grabbed some curry powder (since the cats like that smell), which I put on the enrichment. The enrichment consisted of cardboard boxes filled with straw. I put some raw eggs into the pockets of my jumper and hoped not to lose them or to fall down on the bumpy drive. Afie was joining me and she just enjoyed running and chasing birds. Oh and I saw ostriches for the first time in my life. They looked impressive and ran very fast. Not so elegant, though.

First stop: Andy
Andy is a handraised lioness. Thus she loves humans and she was excited when I arrived. We had a nice cat talk and I gave her an egg. She loved it and it took this enormous animal like 15 minutes to eat the tiny egg. I don’t know how she did this…I would probably eat 20 eggs in the time she ate that one. But well. She reallly enjoyed it =)

Second stop: Seeta
Seeta is in a special enclosure since she should be brought together with two males. Now she stays in a smaller feeding enclosure next to those two guys in order to get used to them. Since she’s alone in there, she really needs the contact with people. When I arrived, she was very intrested. She followed me and as I sat down she laid down next to me – on the other side of the fence of course, which was better for me, because it seemed to me that sometimes she took me for her prey, or at least she wanted to play with me. Even though this sounds fun and cute, I think I would probably be the weaker one in that game. So it was actually ok to have a fence between me and her. I also gave her an egg – which she ignored. But she loved the enrichment and started playing with it.

Third stop: The invisible tigers
Yesterday was feeding day. So apparently all the cats were a little tired and lazy today. But the tigers are truly the most lazy ones. They did not even show up. At least they made me have a really nice bike ride with Afie. Maybe see you tomorrow, tigers! If you’re awake by then.

Last stop: Nora and Simba
Nora and Simba are at the special care enclosure since that’s what they need- special care. They were both quite lazy and did not react to me telling them I had eggs with me and throwing enrichment in their enclosure. They were like: „Seriously? I’d rather not move, eat your eggs yourself“. So I went home with one egg left and ate a banana.

At noon, John took Natasha and me to Bethlehem for the weekly grocery shopping. On our way we saw zebras and ostriches and plenty of wildebeests! We went to a really big mall and we bought pretty much everything they had. I think they had to close the store after we had left. We have food for one month now, but working with the big cats makes us hungry I guess. After shopping, we had some delicious lunch at a Café and afterwards, John picked us up. The pickup was stuffed with food since John had done some shopping for the lodge as well.

Now I’m laying here, listening to the rain. Yes, to the rain! The weather goes crazy tonight. I just hope I can say hello to the sun tomorrow morning. But I don’t know…That rain seems pretty violent to me.

So…wow! It is just incredibly awesome here!

Yesterday afternoon, Anel picked me up at Johannesburg Airport and we had a 3 hours drive to Lionsrock, Bethlehem. She told me a lot about the sanctuary, Four Paws, the work they do and the animals they keep. The landscape is just gorgeous, and as the sun went down and the world seemed being on fire we approached Lionsrock Sanctuary.

When we arrived, it was already dark. I met the other volunteer, Natasha, with whom I share the accommodation and who also volunteers for the big cats. She’s an awesome person who loves animals and who knows a lot about them. I’m glad she’s here, she’s just unique. After my arrival, I went to bed soon, excited to wake up the next morning.

Today I woke up as the lions were roaring. I could not stay in the house any longer, I was just too excited about everything. So I went for a walk in my pyjama. I met some friendly horses right in front of the house and some friendly lions, too.

After breakfast, Anel took Natasha and me to a Game Drive. Jazz and Afra, the two lovely dogs, accompanied us and were as exicted about the trip as we were. Anel presented us all the cats, telling us their names, their (sometimes too sad) past and their characters. I was just overwhelmed by all those impressions and those incredibly beautiful and powerful wild cats. Some of them, such as the tiger Coda or the lioness Andy, love humans and communicate with them. I cannot put into words how elegant and powerful it looks when those amazing animals move.

After the Game Drive we had a look at the big pride which was being fed. So much meat! Legs and heads and ribs… We really got hungry at that point. But before lunch, Anel took us with her when she released the snake which she found in front of the house, on the mountain – a Puff Adder. I have never seen such a big wild snake before. And I’ll be perfectly well with it if that doesn’t happen so often in the future, too.

In the afternoon, Natasha showed me the enclosures where the lions and tigers are that will be on my round for the next few weeks. I will have to spend time monitoring 4 of the lions and the tigers from Starlight Fischer in the mornings. We had some trouble locating all lions and tigers since the area is just huuuge and we got lost from time to time. But oh yes, it was a wonderful walk, even though we were scared of any stick or poo that laid on the ground. Who knew if it wasn’t a snake! They often pretend to be dead. So as you have a closer look at them, they gonna spit at you or bite you. And then you may die. But well, we just saw sticks and poo, no real snakes.

After the walk, we visited Coda, the adorable show-off-Lion, again. He loves humans and likes to show off and walk with people. His best friend is Jazz, the dog that came with us. But Coda had eaten before and he did not show up as he was just lying inside, digesting all the meat. Jazz, Natasha and I were a bit disappointed, but we gonna see Coda again, once he has slept and relaxed enough.

The evening was really nice. We didn’t have electricity for around 2.5 hours, since the government wants to save money and thus cuts electricity for some time every day. So we spent a really cosy evening with Elke, who came at our place. We had some wine, some good talk and time passed fast.

So I really have to go to sleep now.. I’m excited to wake up as the lions roar and to spend the morning with the lions Andy, Nora, Kongo and Seeta, and the tigers from Starglight Fischer.