Tag 53-61 (March 3 - March 11)

On the farm, we arrived around 3 pm, so I didn't do any lunch activities. Of course, I stayed in the same tent (😍) and was even greeted by the cat. However, I had a roommate who was really nice and went to a different project on Saturdays anyway. The problem was that she slept in my bed, so when she left on Saturday, I had to switch beds first 😂

On Saturday, we were divided into groups and my group got the task of carnivore feeding. It was really cool, especially when you get to avoid cutting up the chickens for preparation🤮 Victoria came back from another project at lunchtime. I was in a group with her off the coast and we got along really well, so I was really happy. In the afternoon, there was a cooking competition as a fun activity. We had to grill lamb and sausages and make a braai sandwich. You could win a free drink, but unfortunately we didn't win. In the evening, there was gin and tonic at the bar for only 1.50€😱 So of course, I indulged in a few. We also played a lot of cards and a few rounds of billiards. I played with a guy from Heilbronn (😱) and Victoria played with a Dutch guy. We played with these teams on other days as well and it was always a lot of fun, even though I haven't been good for a few weeks. When I went to the bathroom, the cat simply followed me into the stall 😱

On Sunday, I slept in again because I had the lodge lunch. Unfortunately, Victoria couldn't come anymore because it was fully booked, but Sebastian from Heilbronn and Mila were also there. I exchanged some gossip with Sebastian because it turns out he likes to observe people as much as I do 😂 The food was really delicious again, but it was also really cool afterwards because we played cards and water polo. When we got back to the farm, I went to take a shower and once again, the cat paid me a visit. She just snuck into the bathroom with me and watched me the whole time 🫣

On Monday, I had horses all day and even though it wasn't the first time, I was a little scared of the ride. Especially when Cindy (the coordinator) told me that my horse sometimes just runs 😱 But in the end, everything was fine and my horse was really sweet. We saw giraffes and zebras again, but also a herd of elands. After lunch, we had to remove the horse manure from the paddock and we should have sprayed the horses with tick protection and washed the blankets for under the saddle. But it was too windy for the tick protection because you definitely shouldn't get it in your face, and of course, there was no water again. Instead, we had to sort the mealworms to make new bedding and food 🤮 I felt like my worst nightmare was coming true and I had goosebumps the whole time in the tent. I was really glad when it was finally over. In the evening, I went to the gym, not entirely voluntarily (I was actually too tired😴) We just had to do 100 burpees. Not all at once, but it was still too exhausting 🥵 Then I wanted to take a shower right away ... but who would have guessed, of course, there was no water on the farm again.

On Tuesday, we had to clean the enclosures of the small animals. There were only two of us (Tara and Kara🤣), but it was actually more fun than I thought. At lunchtime, we had the raptors again and it is finally decided that they can keep the birds. The court decision was not yet final on that day, but since Tara was too lazy to keep her blog up to date, I can already tell you now. That means the birds will also get much larger enclosures. We didn't feed them half horse heads, but we had to collect the remains, which included a small lamb. I can tell you, it's even worse than feeding them, because there were already thousands of worms on it🤮 We then had to drive the remnants to the bone hole and after the drive, it felt like there were worms all over the car 😵‍💫 In the evening, I definitely couldn't go to the gym because I had muscle soreness 😂 By the way, this week was total chaos with water. Either we didn't have any water or yellow/brown water came out of the tap. Even the drinking water was no longer clear 🤢

On Wednesday, I had to get up early because I had the nature walk at 7am. That was the only activity I had never done before. But when I got to the meeting point, we found out that our coordinator was sick and we didn't have a nature walk. So I went back to my tent and watched another episode of my series. I also had a visit from the cat again, who then climbed into bed with me 😍 At the meeting, we should have been assigned to another group. However, we were told that we would do the nature walk after all (I love getting up early for free 🐒) We had a new young employee as coordinator, and somehow he didn't know much, so it was pretty boring. At the beginning, he told us about ants and turtles, and instead of giving us facts about the animals and plants we saw, he asked us what we knew about them 😂 But in the end, we saw a herd of giraffes (in English, it's called a 'tower of giraffes') and we could get really close 🦒 At lunchtime, I had a really cool surprise: the founder of Harnas is here and my favorite dog from Harnas, Biola, is here too. After cuddling her a bit, it was time for the lunch activity. Baboon walk again 🥳🙃 In the evening, I went to the gym again and it was really fun 💪🏼 Today we trained our abs and then did some cardio with jogging and jump rope. In the evening, we played billiards and cards again. A really cool group has formed here, but many of them go to bed early. However, Victoria and I stay up a little longer with Cassidy (a girl from America) and a boy from Switzerland. We usually play cards and I really don't know when was the last time I laughed so much. We don't even have to do anything specific, we just laugh about everything 🤣

On Thursday, I had to get up early again because I had K9 training. It was really fun again and I had the dog Trigger with me the whole time. He's a Dutch Shepherd and I think I fell a little in love with this breed 🫣 They also have two puppies right now for which they are looking for new handlers. We played a bit of soccer with them and cuddled them. At lunchtime, it was incredibly hot and we had to clean the baboon enclosure 🥵 It was so exhausting and everyone was in a "bad" mood because it was way too hot to work. I really had to force myself to go to the gym again in the evening. But afterwards, I was glad that I went 💪🏼 Of course, our group of four played cards again and laughed a lot because it was our last evening in this constellation 😅🥹

On Friday morning, I was very lucky with my activity with my friends. It was drawn again and we got the baboon walk. However, the baboons were more in the mood for play and since we walked to a new tree, they had a lot to explore. After we got back, we still had to feed the large baboons. It's always a big mess because you have to throw the fruit/vegetables and milipop over the fence. I was lucky, I couldn't help unfortunately, but had to pack my things because we were leaving for Timbila after lunch. But before leaving, I had to say goodbye to Victoria, as she will be flying home while I'm in Timbila 🥺 That's really sad, but I think we'll try to meet again someday...