Back to Reality

Training Mac

So alas, I am home!
What a fabulous month I've had, Zimbabwe really is the most stunning place with the most lovely people. I've come back a much more confidant person and everyone's so happy to see it!
It was difficult saying goodbye, the group at Numwa house are utterly fantastic and have made my stay in Zimbabwe extra extra special!
It's very weird being home, England is looking incredibly green and colourful! I was so happy seeing Mum and Dad, Hugh and Tom. I think they're all a little shocked about how much I've changed! Of course it was also great to be reunited with my super horse Rupert. I rode him today and he was very excited to have his Mum back - a bit too excited really!!
So everyone, you're all very welcome to pop round to say hello and listen to my time in Zimbabwe. Of course despite doing my blogs there are plenty more stories and details to share!
Love to all xx

Sesu stealing my sunbathing spot!

My last night at the Lodge

My final job!

The first thing I ate in Harare

Flying home

First Goodbyes

Have I surprised you all with such a quick update? Apologies in advance however as there are no pictures. It took me about 20 minutes to even get this far so I can't be bothered to wait for the pictures too!!

Wednesday: A morning with the elephants which I have to say has become my favourite way to spend the first part of the day. We did some training with Mac and then the delightful duty of mucking out the pens!! Never again shall I complain about mucking out a horse, the droppings are about the size of my head!
The day became incredibly hot so after breakfast we cleared some weeds from the new fence but not for long because of the heat - I think we were all about to collapse! Our last task of the day was a game count round Castle Kopge. Like the snare sweep, we were all given a particular section to do on our own and just try and count any animals we see. Again, we were all a little scared of the snakes and sure enough Michael came running back saying he got incredibly close to a 2 metre python!

Today I went on my last ride :( but what a wonderful ride it was! We rode outside the game park to find Sable. Judy and I were riding through some gum trees and all at once we saw Sable, Mpala, Kudu, Wilderbeast and monkey - wow they were close! So I ended my horse riding period on a huge high, and yes, yet again, a few tears as I waved Ziggy goodbye. Yes I would bring her home despite her occasional stubbornness and bucking, but what do you expect from a grey mare?!   I've got to say it's been a pleasure riding with Judy Travers. She is such an inspirational, kind-hearted and passionate person and it's been such a delight to ride with her and hear all the fascinating, bizarre, sad, and hilarious stories of her time here! I can guarantee I'll share them all with you when I come back home :)
For the rest of the day we did some rhino research with the added hope that they would have a swim and mud bath, but alas, it was too cold for the rhinos. I was all pumped up to sing "Mud mud glorious mud...". We then delivered salt around the park for the animals where we were also closely followed by a storm. We got back just in time for it to pour down along with some pretty impressive thunder and lightening!

Hope you are all well.

Note to Mum: Haven't heard much from my Mummy, drop me an email! You are missing me right??

My last week :(

Feeding a Dyka

Can you believe? My last week already!
Again I apologise for lack of updates but:

1. Wifi has been pretty rubbish, especially as there are 8 volunteers here
2. To be honest the last thing I want to do is sit on a computer when I can instead be sitting outside with a cider watching the sun go down!

However I do like to let you all know what I've been doing, plus it's nice to have these selection of blogs to remind myself about what I did here.

Feeding Giraff

Friday: We headed out to ride but after getting to Judy's we found that erm...no horses! They had escaped through the fence and were merrily wandering round the 11,000 acre game park somewhere!  Luckily they hadn't gone far but it meant the non-riders didn't have time to ride so Victoria and I headed out riding after breakfast at Judy and John's house.
We then had some really good fun searching for snares. Snares aren't too common but some locals catch ipala, waterbuck, warthog etc. for food. There were 4 of us so Bright dropped 1 volunteer at a time, about 20m apart to search. It was really good fun walking on your own apart from the slight fear that snakes may be lurking in the undergrowth!

Saturday: Victoria and I went riding first thing to herd a few cows to be ready for dipping. It was so foggy that we actually got a little lost, not that I minded, it was all so beautiful. Hacking out at home is going to pretty dull!! After breakfast we did some gardening yey! *sarcastic tone*
We then had the afternoon off where me and Victoria did lots of sunbathing :)

Sunday: Day off sunbathing and some walking. We also went to Castle Kopge for a BBQ. We had 4 huge steaks which only cost $14 altogether...yum!!
We also once again went to the Lodge for a meal. Absolutely delicious and for pudding? Cheescake!!!!

 Monday: As usual the morning involved delivering food and straw to the elephant and rhino pens. And then to everyone's delight the joyful task of rolling barbed wire was to be done after breakfast. We then fed the Sable (we now have 7 babies!!) and then the lion and hyena. I was then dropped off at Judy's to ride back to Numwa House (where I am) so the horses were there for the morning. And then it was the saddest time I've had here. Victoria left for home :( I've become incredibly good friends with her and we've been joined at the hip all week, so a few tears yesterday as she left. I know now my next adventure is to Sweden!

So today Judy and I rode out to check some cows to see if they needed dipping. We were also keeping an out for tracks of dog. This morning a wild dog came to the lodge and tried to attack their pig and then went for Chris who luckily had a large metal pole to beat it with. The dog definitely had rabies and is somewhere round the park and is obviously a danger to everyone. All animals have now been injected to protect them. We did find some tracks where we were riding so there are now patrols taking place. This afternoon we visited the vegetable garden at the school. The kids are on holiday for 4 weeks so we look after it while there're away.

I'm making the most of my time here as I haven't got long left! I'll see you all at home soon :)

 

Ibiza in Zimbabwe!

On top of Castle Kopge

Jenny and I

I hear you've all been sunning yourselves at home in 18 degrees. 18 degrees?! Is that what warm was to me when I was home?!

So I was the happiest person on this earth on Sunday - no I'm not exaggerating in anyway because Katie got two things that she loves the most in this world...heat and chocolate!!
The sun was blazing we sunbathed, drank, played music (thought I was in Ibiza not Zimbabwe!) and we also did some yoga outside!
We then decided to climb up Castle Kopge (some random pile of rocks which you climb up with ladders), what a stunning view!
And then, what I'd been waiting for...a 3 course meal of soup, fresh bread (and REAL butter!), beef and chocolate tart!! Yes chocolate tart woohoo!!! 2 other vols gave me their piece it wasn't forced I promise!

Some yoga practice (from left to right): Michael, Bridget, Me and Victoria

 Monday consisted of delivering hay and feed to elephant and rhino pens, loading logs and feeding Sables. We also had 2 new vols arrive from Britain. Gale and Michael who are both studying Biology at Bath University and are bird fanatics! Tuesday we researched the rhinos, cleared weeds for the new eclectic fence and believe it or not - Katie went camping! Proper camping I'll have you know under the stars and all. I'd much rather have a comfy hotel room being Lady of Luxury that I am but hey I've become "adventurous".

Our personal room for dinner on Sunday

Wednesday: We walked with the ele's, rolled some wire as we are clearing a fence, found the Eland to take photos and had our Shona evening. We also sadly said goodbye to our Canadian friends Brit and Bridget who are now continuing their Africa trip for another 2 weeks. Michelle and Jenny have gone to Victoria Falls until Monday so it's very peaceful here at the moment!

Tatenda

 And so finally today, I got to go riding as Judy is back from Mozambique. Victoria also rides so I had some company :)
We then filled sandbags to support the dam wall, cleared trees and then rode the ele's home. Everyone is now calling me for tea so I better go!! Love to all xxx

Victoria, me and Jenny out camping

Tidying up camp

The sunrise I woke up to after camping

Rain rain go away!

 A quick update of today while I have the time and electricity!

This morning was quite a amusing. The aim was to track White Rhino. We drove around in the back of the truck in the pouring rain to find erm...no rhino!

After breakfast we picked up bits and pieces of a Zebra from the butcher (thank goodness this was after breakfast) to feed Mambo the lion and 2 hyenas. Wow Mambo has to be the most impressive animal I've ever seen. Thing is he has a few anger issues (he killed his 'wife' a few years ago so lives on his own) so he was quite terrifying to be around as he would run up to the fence and launch himself towards you! He settled down once we fed him his Zebra!

 We now have the afternoon off which is why I've found the time to write! The fire is lit downstairs (yes it's 20 degrees outside but we've all turned soft and we're wet from this morning!). I'm really missing chocolate. I have to make honey sandwiches after every meal (yes every meal) just to get some form of sweetness and sugar!! The whole house has learnt I'm very protective over my honey (family at home you can relate)! Everyone thought they were bad with missing chocolate and sweets until they met me! In fact we seem to spend most of our time talking about food! Something I've learnt about myself: I could never go on a diet!
I have however (of course it would be me!) booked a table for the 7 of us volunteers tomorrow evening to have a 3 course meal at the Lodge. It had to be done I need a dessert!!We all can't wait - $20 for a 3 course meal?! Yes please!!

I've added some pictures on Facebook and will try and add videos too. The videos won't load on here. Hope you are all well and enjoying the weather - it's better there than in Africa would you believe!!

 

Making the most of electricity!

A Millipede

 Hi guys!
Sorry it's been such a while since my last post but we've had electricity for about 1 hour a day over the past week!
So on Tuesday we rode the elephants and tracked a fake poacher. The elephants have an amazing sense of smell so they have trained them to track a smell so when the time comes (hopefully never) they will be able to track a poacher. I then went riding and was very lucky to see a Martial Eagle. They are HUGE!! I think the wing span of the one we saw was 3 - 4 metres. We then went to the secondary school to do more gardening.

Me and Mak

 Wednesday saw us do some behaviour research on the black rhino and after breakfast we went to continue our work on repairing a bridge. On the way home Bright (project manager) surprised us by finding a Python. At one point it jumped out the bush and raised it's head very high scaring us all to death!! This python was about 7 feet long and luckily decided to go up a tree than approach us! After that excitement we removed some bushes with machetes  along the dam wall and then had our Shona evening with Mrs Maseka.

A Giraffe who got very close to our truck!

Thursday morning we walked with the elephants and in the afternoon we drove to Imire to see some cave paintings. It was quite a climb (Hugh: thanks for taking me indoor rock climbing in Bangor it turned out to be very useful!!). The paintings were amazing and there were tombs as well inside the caves (17 Kings and Queens from the tribe who lived there).

Friday didn't quite turn out as planned. We arrived at the elephant pen to see it totally wrecked! Toto had got free during the night and had knocked over 2 trees, destroyed the feed hut and taken down a third of the fencing so we ended up fixing all that for the day!

On another note, I'm really getting on with all the volunteers here, we have 2 more Brits arriving on Monday. The weather is miserable. It's cold, wet and windy and I wish I'd bought more clothes!! I'm definitely not going to look like I've been in Africa for a month! Sadly, it turns out I'm the 3% of people who has a reaction to the malaria tablets. My arms and hands which have seen the most sun turned very red with a bad rash and developed some small lumps which are quite irritating. Since stopping taking the malaria tablets it's died down considerably so unfortunately I can't go to Victoria Falls as it's a high risk malaria area but hey ho I'm having great fun here!

Spot the Stick Insect

Cave Paintings

The English girl is cold in Africa!

 

Ziggy

Why must the cold follow me to Africa?! Of all places!! Yes ok it's still about 15 degrees but still!
We had a busy morning to day getting all the feed and straw delivered to the elephant and rhino pens. I think we ended up loading and delivering 70 straw bales altogether, so we were certainly ready for breakfast when we got back!

We then had the wonderful job of bringing down some old fencing. Barbed wire fencing is not fun to roll!
After lunch we had 3 new vols arrive which we were all very excited about! We have Michelle from the UK and Astrid from Germany who are in their 40's. And Victoria from Sweden who is my age so gets to join the 'party dorm' with me and Jen!

Wilder Beast

This afternoon Bridget, Brit and myself went for a ride to find some Eland. We managed to find 2 Eland bulls and we are out again tomorrow morning to find some more.
Hope your enjoying your weather at home haha!!

Judy and Brit

Bridget

Nmo (the elephant) with her herd of Buffalo

An Eland Bull

Brit, Bridget and Me!

Party in Zimbabwe!!

A bit of a hungover Katie today but what an awesome night. Definitely one of the best and funniest nights I've had - and I can confirm these Zimbabweans sure can drink!! Anyways party talk in a bit.
On Saturday I started the day riding out to find some Sabel, which we ended up being unable to find! No where to be seen because of the long grass. I then came back to do some work on the vegetable garden by doing some weeding, making new beds and planting tomatoes and lettuce. On Saturdays we get the afternoon off and on Sundays the whole day off. It was Riley's 28th birthday so we all went out to his house for a party.


We had a great bunch of people there. John and Judy Travers, there sons Riley (obviously) and Bruce, and Tara (John and Judy's daughter). Along with some of their friends and the group here (Catherine, Michael, Jenny, Brit and Bridget).
The beers and ciders kept coming and we danced and drank till 3am!
Luckily as we had the day off we all had a lie in, some of us not waking up till 12pm!
So it's been a bit of a lazy day today, unfortunately the UK weather has followed me here and has been drizzly and cold (cold being 18 degrees, I've climatised you see!).
Myself, Brit and Bridget have just come back from a short walk to see the elephants - looks like Kutanga was suffering from a hangover too!

Daddy I don't want a new horse, I want an elephant!!

 Hi everyone!
Again, been kept very busy the last couple of days. Yesterday (Thursday), I went to train and then ride the elephants. There are 5 elephants altogether on the park but 4 are kept together (the other one thinks it is a buffalo so stays with that herd!). The 4 elephants we look after are Mak, Toto, Mandevu (meaning "hairy" in Shona (the local language)) and Kutanga ("first" in Shona, as he was the first born elephant in Imire).
We taught Mak some tricks. He can touch areas of his body with his trunk on command, throw a ball with his truck and kick a ball too. I'll try and take some videos so you can see.

We then got the chance to ride the elephants. I rode Mandevu who is the female and smallest of the adult elephants. The picture to the right is Kutanga her son who is 5 years old.
The rest of the day consisted of repairing a bridge, going trekking with the horses and then having a Shona evening.
We have Shona evenings every Thursday where a teacher from the secondary school cooks us a typical Shona meal, comprising of Sadza (porridge maize thing), chicken, relish and various vegetable concoctions, and we had to eat it with our hands. We sat by the fire while we heard traditional stories and then sung songs in the Shona language.
Oh yes! We also have 2 new volunteers from Canada, Brit and Bridget. Both are horsey and Brit actually runs her own ranch and has around 20 horses - great to have a fellow horse fan out here!

 Today once again we started off training Mak and then got the opportunity to ride, this time I rode Toto (wow he is HIGH!!). The ranger (Pedros) said I could sit in front and control the elephant which was really exciting!! However, little did Pedros know this was only my second time riding an elephant. He looked a little worried when I said my first time was only yesterday! You steer the elephants my tapping the ear with a stick. Going left you tap the right ear and vice versa, very confusing, the elephants apparently respond better to it that way.

 After breakfast we went to the primary school and did some teaching and games with the 5/6 year old children. They are so enthusiastic to learn and find you very interesting! After we did some painting of the fences for the buffalo pens using motor oil - it still hasn't come off my skin yet. It just looks like I've got into a bad fight with bruises down my legs and arms!
As you can see from the picture I can not escape a dog wishing to sleep on bed - even in Zimbabwe! This is Riley's dog (Judy Travers' (who I ride with) son) and is called Kunaka. Although, Kunaka is very obedient (enough of these terriers, I'm getting a proper dog) so has obliged to sleep on the bed next to me - there really isn't enough space for both of us!
Some of you are asking what the culture and weather is like here. The culture is very much like ours just with a few different traditions, to many to list! The weather is super! It's a little chilly in the morning but it soon gets up to around 27 Celsius through the day and gets cold again when the sun goes down.
Love to all.

I'm still alive, hurrah!!

Hi everyone! Here is another fascinating update *everyone groans*.

 Had a super duper day! Got in touch with my cowboy self and did some cattle herding - great fun! Quickly cantering to different spots to gather the herd and going through some really tough terrain and bush to get to some stray cattle.
I suppose I should probably introduce to my horse (or pony?). Ziggy is a 5 year old Arab mare. My guessing is she's about 15/15.1hh, which is why I look so big on her! She's incredibly well behaved for her age, she's a little clumsy sometimes but she's still young and finding her feet (excuse the pun). Judy has asked if I could school her and another horse which I'm looking forward to.

I had a bit of a bad start though today (Mum please don't panic). I felt fine when I woke up had an apple and some water before I got going. About 2 minutes into the ride I jumped off the horse and was sick! Judy asked if I wanted to go home but I said "No!!" I was so looking forward to today and once you've got whatever out of you you feel much better! I was fine for the rest of the day so not sure what was wrong, maybe a bit of sun stroke? Yes Mum and Dad I'm putting lots of sunscreen on, drinking water, hat, sunglasses, you name it, I'm doing it! We were out for a long time 6.30am till 11am - so very tired!!

The final part of the day was to research the rhinos and what they most enjoyed eating which ended up being Red Star Apple and Buffalo Thorn. After which we walked them home to bed.
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Hope you're all well at home. Lots of love :)