Winter Sunshine!

 

The week began with a new volunteer arriving. We now have four. One from France, one from Finland, and two from the UK. By next week there will be 13 of us in the house all together. The cold weather was swept away and rays of sunshine took its place, falling upon us all. Unfortunately bringing with it, the rain!

We arranged to take the conservation class from the school to show them how conservation worked on Imire, they ended up helping us build the enclosures for thw white rhino arriving. They were only there for 2 hours, and said they should have come on a Saturday so they could spend the whole day building, they never stop to amaze me. Such special children.

 

Most of the week again, we spent doing rhino observation, making sure Gomo is recovering well after the vet darted him to take blood samples. He seems to be normal, but e are still waiting on the results. Tatenda is beginning to get a bit more aggressive as he gets older, and it starting to take authority over Shanu, which is a good thing, considering he is the male. But their relationship is stronger than ever. The documentary, on Imire, starring Tatenda, has been short listed for an award, so soon Tatenda will be known across the globe. As for Pog, well she is just as confused as ever, living with her identity crisis, still thinking she is a rhino, and has no intention of returning to the wild before she gives birth. So her babies, will once again have their own identity crisis to live with.

 

With the winter heat rolling in over us, everyone has relaxed much more and got into the swing of things. Each evening we sit around a roaring fire and play numerous games. Suddenly everyone has found their place. I think this small group will stay close for some time to come. 

Sunday Soccer

On a cold, overcast Sunday, we had a game of soccer. The north side of the river, against the south side. The north consisted of the lodge section, game park maintenance, and security. The south side consisted of the volunteer programme, and the ele and rhino handlers. At 4.30, the south arrived, chanting songs and pulling on their blue soccer jerseys, the north side, not so organised were huddled in group, in hysterics about the Volunteers programme. At 5.00pm the game kicked off, to a chaotic, ridiculous start, and the supporters could hardly contain themselves. The full moon had already risen and was peeping through the dark, low hanging clouds and attempted to light up the pitch. An hour later, the game ended in a draw, although, the north side claim to have won 3-2, although it was cheating. They managed to set it up so they scored a goal on their own goalie in our goal, so it was therefore, not allowed. The game was a huge success, and we all had a few beers and cokes after the match to celebrate. It is a brilliant way of getting to know all the guys for the volunteers, and for everyone to get together on the farm. In two weeks, there will another game.

The rest of the week was mostly spent at the school teaching the local kids. Their appreciation is more than anyone could ever ask for. They love volunteers coming to teach, and they are willing to learn almost anything, despite their lack of english skills. We also helped out in the veggie garden, teaching conservation. 

We have been doing quite a lot of rhino observation, monitoring what they are eating and making sure their relationships are going well. It all seems to be running smoothly. Things on the farm are looking bright, and winter sunshine has now arrived. We are having 25 degree weather during the day, so our bad spell has passed. Pog's behaviour has changed quite a bit since her pregnancy, and we are hoping to have little pigs running around by mid August all going well.

As for Kutanga, he is just the same as ever, getting naughtier and naughtier by the day, and growing more than we would like. But with Kutanga, there is always a smile on someone's face. He makes everyone laugh. 

So we are all humming along, loving the sun shine, and enjoying the wildlife, we also have a new volunteer, Alex. Her first week here seems to have been a breeze. Life is good!

Python Mania

July has brought in a cold front, with overcast grey skies and freezing throughout the day. It seems there is no hope for sunlight to break through this thick cloud that hangs low over us. We even have a slight winter drizzle.

 

The two new Volunteers have arrived and are settling into the eccentric ways of Imire. On their first day around the farm, we saw three python. We caught a small, one metre female, first off. She was found basking in the sun on the road. It took a while to discover a suitable tactic for catching her, but finally we did. A beautiful catch. We were then all called to the Nyala Park to remove another python that had killed a baby Nyala the week before. We arrived to find a python bigger than 4 metres long, and still with an undigested Nyala in her. We soon realised it was impossible to move her with only five of us, we would at least need eleven. Her scaled skin shone in the fist sunlight of the day and she slowly made her way over back to her hole. We will try to catch her later in the week with more people on hand.

 

Manual labour has also began, and we have knocked down quite a few of the elephant stands so we can make a suitable area for Kutanga to be in when people go for rides. The vols have also started their work at the school, with the conservation class. Teaching will begin on Monday. The vege garden in the school is suffering from the cold, as well as lack of water, so we are building them a cement bath to hold their water supplies.  Everything we do for them seems to be appreciated so much more than we could ever imagine. We will also start helping with the sport.

 

Otherwise, we are continuing to work away in the cold and rainy weather, walking with the ele’s, feeding the rhino, and just being with the animals. Our next volunteer arrives on Friday the 3^rd. 

Camping with Elephant!

As winter slowly makes its way over Imire, the birds are beginning to migrate, the animals are beginning to hibernate, and frost is starting to bite away at the grass. Kutanga, the baby elephant, seems to be getting bigger and bigger by the day. He is starting to teeth now and copies Mandevu’s every move. He sucks on plants for the taste but hasn’t grasped the concept of chewing. His favourite game is to chase the get him to stand still to put a blanket on him, but he is having none of it. He charges, tumbles, leaps, runs and rolls to avoid any means of having the blanket on him. His Mum doesn’t seem to agree with it either, and if we do succeed in putting it on, she immediately pulls it off.

 

We decided to go camping with the two male elephant, Macavusi and Toto for Wilma’s last night.  We rode them over to Chawawi, the far end of the farm, and began to set up camp. We found a secluded woodland near the dam and started building the epic tent. Just as dusk was settling over us, we had the tent up. We collected some firewood, got the ele’s settled in, and started cooking some sudza and relish. It had been a chaotic day, trying to organise rhino boma’s, fencing, building and dealing with all the animals. So we were all too happy to relax by a fire, with a glass of wine each and tell stories. Mac and Toto were beside us, rumbling to us during the night, feeding on the trees around them. Although the cold rushed in to greet us, we were warmed by the roaring fire. Stories were passed into the evening until bed beckoned us all into the tent. We wrapped up in about a hundred blankets and slept until the birds called.

The next morning we took a walk through Chawawi, scanning for bush babies, but instead were greeted by a troop of baboons basking in the sun on top a Kopjie. Finally after a breakfast cooked over the hot fire, we returned home to a relaxed Saturday, and Wilma’s last day. It ended in perfection.

We have a week with no Volunteers and the next one arrives on the 28^th of June, and from July on, it will be hectic. Non-stop! But a lot of fun. We were hoping to have the white rhino by the 15^th, but unfortunately we are waiting for the fencing and boma’s to be completed on Chawawi before they arrive, so we are looking at the 18^th of July. We can hardly contain our excitement on the farm. We are going to be the only black and white rhino-breeding project in Zimbabwe, closely monitored. It will be interesting. We will continue to wait in anticipation.