Greetings, CARE!

            Well, after two nights in the hostel, one very early morning airport transfer, and two plane rides, I’m here at CARE baboon sanctuary! This trip is definitely giving me a lot of experience traveling solo, and I feel like I’m much better at maneuvering around airports now. The plane that I took from Atlanta to Johannesburg at the beginning of this adventure was, by far, the largest plane I’ve ever been on. This most recent flight, from Johannesburg to Phalaborwa, was by far the smallest. There were only nine rows, each with three seats. There weren’t even overhead bins; we all put our carry on bags in a box at the front of the plane. Thankfully that flight only took about an hour. Upon arriving at the tiny Phalaborwa airport, I met with Hannah, one of CARE’s employees. Turns out there were two other volunteers arriving on the exact same plane as me. When we got picked up, after making a quick stop at a nearby grocery store, we headed into the nature reserve that CARE is located in. Only a few minutes after passing through the gates, we saw a small group of greater kudu beside the road. Being that they’re one of my favorite ungulates (nerdy statement, I know), I thought that was pretty cool. We also saw several impala and a jackal on the drive into the sanctuary. When we arrived at the Mountain Lodge, the house where the volunteers live, we were told to leave our bags in the car and some of the men would come and get them and bring them in. There’s a troop of wild baboons, very affectionately dubbed the “longtits”, that lives around CARE, and turns out baboons are very sexist animals. They can clearly tell the difference between men and women, and treat them differently! They’re very respectful towards men and steer clear of them, but if women walk around carrying something that they think might be interesting, they’ll come try to steal it. Hence us letting the men carry our bags from the car to the Mountain Lodge.

            There are a lot more volunteers here than at my last project; I think there are about nineteen living here right now. It’s funny, at the white shark project I was the only American volunteer, but here there are two others from Texas alone, plus a few more from other states. We also have at least one from Canada, one from Scotland, a few from England, a couple from Australia, and more.

            After getting settled in, we got a quick tour of the Mountain Lodge, and by then it was time for dinner. We were all pretty tired from a day of traveling, and went to bed pretty early, ready for our official day of work. I knew that breakfast would be at eight the next morning, so I set an alarm, but as it turns out I didn’t need it. The wild troop plays on the tin roof of the lodge starting at about six in the morning, which serves as our alarm clock.

            After finishing breakfast, the next hour of my day consisted of getting a tour around the entire center, mainly the front part of it, that’s currently in the process of being turned into a better veterinary clinic and education building. Samantha, one of CARE’s employees, showed me and the two other new volunteers around, followed as well by the three dogs that live at the center.

            There’s a schedule written in the lodge that has the names of all the volunteers and our day’s events, broken down by hour. It’s nice that they have us switch assignments every hour, so we don’t get bored. Basically, my day consisted of cleaning one of the enclosures, making enrichment, making bottles for the youngest baboons, another little tour of the veterinary clinic, where we met a few of the baboons living in there, and more. I worked with several different volunteers throughout the day, which was nice since I got to get to know them a little better. I mainly talked to Brittany, who’s from New York, and Becky, who’s the one from Scotland. I also got to add giraffe and bushbuck to my list of wildlife that I’ve seen here, both of which I saw down by the river this afternoon. That spot by the river is absolutely beautiful, and feels very peaceful.

            By about 4:30 I was done for the day, and ran back to the Mountain Lodge to get showered. With nearly twenty volunteers and only two showers, there’s often quite a line at the end of the work day! After cleaning up, I relaxed in my bedroom until dinnertime. I definitely feel like I’ve put in a day’s worth of work, and am excited for what tomorrow brings. This post’s food for thought: “For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return.”- Leonardo da Vinci