This morning we all got to play with Rambo, Rachel, and Jabulani.
Otherwise known as daddy elephant, mummy elephant and baby.

Elephant family

We all heard the tragic story of how Rambo lost his ‘finger’ on his trunk. And now rather than eating like an African Elephant he eats like an Asian elephant by scooping the food into a hollow on the underside of his trunk.

Close and cuddly

Rachel still eats like an African elephant should because she still has both of her trunk ‘fingers’.

Everyone got to feed Rachel and then interact more closely with Rambo.

We were shown his second nose (Jacobsons organ).

Inner nose spotting

We felt the satin soft skin behind his ears, stroked his tusks and trunk, and a few brave people even got to feel his tongue.

Ears, tusks and food all at once - Rambo is very patient

We are not allowed to directly interact with Jabulani the baby as the keepers would like to see him released into the wild when he is old enough. But he didn’t understand this and tried to interact with us instead!!

Smiley happy faces

Ever got to cuddle a Cheetah? No? Our students have.

This cheetah was reluctant to lay down on the wet grass

From learning about the smaller of the African cats (just like larger versions of the tabby cats at home) to watching the Caracals ‘hunt’ their food by jumping in the air, it has been an eventful day.

The hilight for everyone I suspect was the Cheetah interaction. Two Cheetah who are too tame to be released provide a once-in-a-lifetime experience for visitors.

*Purrr*

This is the part of the course where we learn exactly how our food is prepared.

It is very similar to a biology lesson and our facilitator Tommy is very professional in his approach to skinning, dismembering, and dissecting the animal – in this case an impala. The students are welcome to participate as much or as little as they want.

Most people choose to be hands-on

There is always at least one person peeking out from behind their hands at the beginning, but inevitably this person is one of the last left right through to the end.

The smaller organs are passed around and then when they get to the end of the line they are placed on the table

Each organ is named and its role in the body explained. Then one lucky volunteer gets to blow up the lungs to show their capacity (after they’ve been washed obviously – we aren’t complete barbarians!).

Blow

During

After

This group was particularly inquisitive, nothing was left unstudied. Eyes, tongue, brain, ear canal, legs, nasal passages, tail, stomach, intestines and even the bladder. Anything you can imagine was carefully dissected and scrutinised by eager eyes.

Close scrutiny from start...

... to finish

The environmental awareness course topic today is an introduction to venomous snakes – including how to treat a venomous bite.

So, first things first – Forest Cobra.

Forest Cobra handling and the importance of using the sticks

Followed by a Puff Adder, a short snake with a big bite.

Paul the puff adder

Everyone then got the chance to touch the puff adder, but only if they want to – we don’t force anybody!! Very few people get the chance to touch a puff adder, and when they do they are always surprised with quite how soft they are.

Don't worry mums and dads, the puff adder has been made safe in special tubing.

Scorpions are abundant in South Africa, so we teach the students how to distinguish between the two types, deadly and not so deadly. It is quite easy, big pincers and little tail is good, big tail and little pincers are bad.

And spiders. We know that the college has lots of spiders and tarantulas and so we show off a couple of indigenous spiders and our favourite non-indigenous one Curly.

Some scared faces as Curly the Curly-haired tarantula comes out to play

More than one person decided to overcome their fear with Curly

There was also a chance to get some pictures of a rubber frog and some bullfrogs who we rudely woke up

Then it was time to cuddle bob and fluffy our resident red-tail boas.

Our little male boa - Bob

All the other pictures can be seen in Fluffy’s Photo Album on facebook.

Well, Africa weather is here at last.

Many students throughout the trip had been complaining that it was too cold, that they thought Africa was hot and they can handle the heat. The temperature reached 28c and then there were complaints about the heat – some people are never happy

We didn’t have the heart to tell them that it wasn’t even summer yet!

Thankfully their walk in the shady avenues created by the overhanging acacia trees left them with plenty of shade to hide from the midday sun.

Even the heat couldn’t kill morale as the animals appeared out of the bush. Firstly zebras, monitor lizard, impala, warthog, red and grey duiker and then the giraffes (including a baby one on spindly legs) all of which seemed content to pose for pictures.

Follow a long afternoon splashing around in the pool playing shark, well in the pool for some, like Emily who found out why you never trust a rubber dinghy – especially when fully clothed.

Pictures to follow tomorrow evening.

Ok, now is where the work begins – Well, after breakfast anyway!

After breakfast there was a little bit of time for chilling out by the poolside or just chatting in the shade (terrorised only by me and the camera) whilst waiting for everyone to locate socks from the bottom of their bags ready for the mornings walk at the game reserve next door.

Post-breakfast trip discussions

Chilling by the poolside before the game walk

Well, the time has come to leave ‘Victors place’.

Sad little faces all round, many of them tired as they wanted to sit around the fire that little bit longer last night. It was a cold cold night but no clouds so the stars were out and what else can you do except lounge back in the chair and toast your toes in the warmth of the fire.

Sad faces on the last night

Swapping stories with Victor till the early hours

But the next place is awesome! It is here, at Albizia Camp which is part of Umkhumbi Lodge.

Luke has been a true gentleman the whole trip, even assisting the ladies with their bags

Albizia camp even has a swimming pool – luxury!

First of all girls and guys, apologies for the radio silence yesterday! The big storms here have meant powercuts and little to no phone signal on the South African sims yesterday.

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After an early night (hahaha – you have to be kidding after that much cake!) everyone was up bright and early – well, after a little help from Seargent Major Tommy anyway – and ready for a little walk at Victor’s place. This is an introduction to the environmental awareness course that will be taught at Albizia Camp, made better by finding the giraffes having a quick snack on the path on the way back!

Then was a talk from the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), where students found out about the cruelty statistics in South Africa which is high due to a combination of the weather, poverty and most importantly lack of education.

Despite the shocking stories that both inspectors had to tell, everyone wanted to know more. So eager were they with their questions that they didnt even seem to mind that it was lunchtime and instead carried on firing more and more questions about the neutering program that was running in the country in an attempt to lower the number of unwanted and neglected animals.

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Zoo time! This is an important part of the trip as it shows the importance of the right habitat and conditions to each and every animal. The enclosures of the animals at this zoo show a stark contrast to most zoos in the UK. To quote one student “this place makes our Zoos look like palaces”.

Observing the zoo enclosures.

The students were told to observe the enclosures at the zoo so that they could draw direct comparisons between the zoo and the raptor centre.

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What a stark difference at the Raptor Centre! First let me explain what the raptor centre is for.

Ben and Shannon run two different sides to the raptor centre. Ben has a rehabilitation centre where injured birds are brought to get them ready for release back into the environment. They may need help for anything from poisoning, hunting, accidental injury or even rescued from situations such as the muthi market or even zoos.

All birds that can survive in the wild are released. Any birds that cannot be released due to their injuries, such as missing a wing, leg, tail, eye are kept at the raptor centre and are bred to increase the numbers of the species in the wild.

Little marsh owl - very talkative

Walking around the raptor centre is a treat as the enclosures all have specific decor – for example the barn owl enclosure has been decked out as a barn complete with hayloft ladder for them to perch upon.

Big smiles for the raptor centre

This one flew to the front of the cage just for some photos

Companions for each animal are carefully selected to ensure that their quality of life is high as possible despite their disadvantages.

Despite the cold wind coming up the valley – blankets were provided after a few of the students were asked why they weren’t wearing any clothes – girls you know who you are…

"where are your clothes?!"

The highlight of the day for many was the flight show where the more able of the birds have a chance to show off what makes them them great hunters.

Ready for the show!

Somewhere under all that fluff is a teeny tiny little bird.

The birds included among others; the little goshawk who didn’t want to be released.

The African goshawk is smaller than the UK ones

YBK, the Yellow billed kite with the broken wing feathers. The stroppy owl who when scared or bored ‘runs’ (not flies) away, and ‘Chicken’ the Peregrine falcon who was poisoned.

"Are you laughing at his hat? How cruel! I didn't laugh at your hair - oh, actually...."

Shannon kept the students on their toes springing question after question – premempting which questions we were going to ask. Rather than just giving us the usual tourist talk, the show was tailored more specifically to animal management, husbandry and rehabilitation to tie in with the course curriculum.

Shannon also taught us some very important life lessons after seeing poo on the back of the Yellow Billed Kite – never sit below your boyfriend.

The raptor place even had cuddly little bunnies!!

35p for a bag of 'bunny chow' - money well spent!

Hug-a-bun!

And what a view behind the show stands, no one could resist posing for a photo.

All pulling their sweetest smiles

Happy Birthday!! One of our students turned 18 today! It can’t be easy being away from family, but at least she’s here, in South Africa with some of her friends.
She got the most important bit of any birthday though, embarrassed by being the centre of attention whilst everyone sings to you and of course the most important bit of all….

Cake!!

Video coming up soon.