06.12.2018

06.12.2018 16 days at buffelsdrift

We got up very early at 4:45 to eat breakfast and get ready for the meercat safari.

We walked to the lodge and joined with the others and our guide Jok. On our way we saw the elephants still sleeping in their enclosure.

Our guide gave me and lea some paper so we could write down the time in which the meercats come out. They are currently doing research on the meercats at what time the first one comes out and when the next shows up.

At 06:00 with the guests we drove to the meercat camp, a lot of holes connected to a giant underground system. There we waited until after about 10minutes the first meercat scout made its way to the top.

It didnt take long for the second one to show up just after about 50seconds. Then a third and a fourth one. We waited for around an hour and during that time more and more meercats came to the surface.

At the end all 21 of them were out as well as the meercat babies. We waited for a bit longer and then started to drive back.

We were a bit early for our volunteer start however the elephants made such a big mess today that we decided to start early. We still finished at the same time as usual.

Then we headed out to feed the lions, who were a bit aggressive today. They fought over the meat pieces even though there was enough for all.

Back at camp we loaded up some hay and went to feed the rhino and buffalos. They weren't at the feeding place at the moment so we were lucky.

We started with the elephant food but couldn't finish since there was currently no water. The last few days it has been getting a lot worse with electricity as well. The government said that electricity is running out and for that they were going to turn it off from time to time. The times are completely random and it's quite a bit annoying. The water was just turned off today for some maintenance.

Back for lunch we had no power so whitney changed her lunch and we had some gas oven heated fish with fruits.

Suddenly whitney let out a terrified scream of pure fear when she walked outside. Me and lea botv got up and ran to her thinking she got bitten by a snake or saw a spider.

But next to the door was just a huge tortoise that made a very annoyed hissing sound while hiding in his shell.

Back at camp the water worked again so we finished the elephant food and filled up the tank to refill the water in the big enclosure.

It wasn't quite enough so we are probably going to refill it again tomorrow. Then we tracked the cheetahs for a bit but couldn't find them.

We got rid of the water tank and loaded up some hay and the lion food. The lions were a bit calmer in the afternoon but still a bit angry.

Back at our tents we had a shower, dinner and watched the springbok trap, however today chris didnt show up so there was no catching.

Early to bed to catch up on lost sleep and be ready for the next day.

At least that was the plan but before I got to my tent I heard a trigger sound and a distand *dumpf* followed by multiple springboks charging away. It was already pretty dark so I couldn't see anything until I saw Chris drive towards the trap.

So I went to lea's tent, she was currently talking to her sister, and told her he trap got triggered then I ran down to chris and his son.

They caught one yet again, I quickly helped Tyan by holding its legs and with chris we lifted it on the car. I told them to wait for lea and we saw in the dark a little flashlight run down the hill towards us. She didnt fall this time.

The three of us held it in place while chris started to drive towards the other land. This one was a female just like the one yesterday but she was a lot more active. She kept kicking and struggling and it really wasn't easy to keep holding while staying on the back of the car with chris driving like a maniac.

We got to the other land and started to carefully lift her off the car and started to free her while holding legs and horns in place.

We managed to get her out and when we all let go at the same time she jumped into the night wondering where the fuck she was.

Chris drove us back and now we went to bed. Getting up 2 hours earlier is quite tiring.