Archive for November 30th, 1999
Day 7
Hot again. I helped to feed the cheetahs today. I spent the morning helping at the butchery as usual, and joined Juliet on her morning round of the enclosures.
Juliet would race the pickup down the sides of the enclosures, with the cheetahs running alongside on the other side of the fencing. The idea was to give them a bit of exercise, and give them the idea of chasing what they want to eat.
If there were 2 or 3 of them in the same enclosure, they would sometimes fight over the meat, which was fascinating to watch. Sometimes they would spit and dart at us from the other side of the fence when we went into the feeding corner of the enclosures to deposit the meat - a system of sliding doors operated with pulleys ensured we were always in a separate part of the enclosure.
Occasionally, though, Juliet had to go into the main enclosure itself, with the cheetahs. She used a long stick(!) held at arm’s length, always pointed at the nearest cheetah, to maintain a safe distance between them. That and a lot of shouting, seemed to be all that was needed to pacify them.
I also got to feed Mumuan the baby rhino again today. You can stroke him like a horse, and after downing half a bucket of milk in about 30 seconds, he just stands there looking forlornly at you, hoping for more!
I also met Jabulani today, a young elephant with a friendly, child-like character. He shambled up to meet me, and say hello to the new face, brushing my head with his trunk - and then ran off again when called by his handler. He was left behind by his herd, apparently, when he got stuck in some mud, and has been raised here at Kapama.
He can’t be left alone for long, because of the social nature of elephants - they can get anxious or depressed when left alone. They prefer to always have 2 different handlers for Jabulani so that, if 1 leaves Kapama, he will not be too distressed - it seems that elephants can become very attached to their handlers.
Tyse taught me about guns and shooting today, showing me a collection of different types of ammunition and ballistics.
There was a power cut tonight, so I had to build a fire so I had some light to write my diary. I managed to construct a decent fire (Tyse had given me some good tips) using dead wood and kindling lying around the camp.
It’s a tranquil night tonight - the stars above, a big fire, and the sound of roaring lions in the distance. To round it off, a solitary rhino wandered right up to my camp, looking at me through the fence for a while, before melting away into the night.
Perfect.