Still loving it here!

I have less than one week left at Harnas and I'm going to be so sad to leave! Yesterday, two of my favourite people left. It was surprisingly hard to say goodbye -- I've gotten much closer to people than I expected. I'll get to see some of them when I get to England, so that's something to look forward to.

We all get up at about 6:30am and have breakfast from 7 - 8. Then we get a briefing and organize our teams for the day. Some people do food prep (feeding, cleaning, etc.), some do tour (feeding and checking on the wild animals that will eventually be released), some do animal walks, and the rest usually do farmwork. We have lunch at about 1 and our day is usually finished by about 5:30 or so.

The regular day-to-day activities aren't too strenuous but the farm work can be tough. Since I've been here I've helped dig a hibernation hole for the tortoises, dig and concrete a waterhole, and set the bush on fire. There are black thorn bushes taking over, so we had to torch them all so the new grass can come in this spring. It was incredible hot and sometimes a bit scary but we all had a great day.

My favourite things to do are food prep and animal walks. Those doing feeding generally get to spend the most time with the animals, so I usually sit with the cheetahs after feeding. The walks are fun, too, although I preferred taking Cleo and Pride out. Lost is a bit of a handful and kept wandering off into the bush. It's not like walking a dog -- there's no way to control them, so you just keep an eye out and trying to keep them out of trouble.

Louise and I did attempt our sleep out with Cleo and Pride but it didn't go so well. They snuggled up to me but in the process they managed to shove her off the mattress and then refused to let her back on. They also peed on her side of the mattress. Eventually, we gave up and went back to the volunteer village. I do sleep with a meerkat now, though. Her name is Talullah and I think I mentioned her in my previous post. The dad kept attacking her and she had to be brought back to the farm. She "belongs" to me for now and I absolutely love her! She can be a bit of a handful and she peed in my sleeping bag last night but she's so sweet.

On Tuesday I finally got to do a lion walk. A small group of us went out and wandered through the bush with one of the young males, Zion. I have some incredible pictures but nothing I say will ever convey just how HUGE lions are when you're up close with no fences. Some of the lions will hopefully be released but I don't think Zion will be, as he was hand raised. Most of the animals that I interact with on a daily basis are permanent residents, usually because they have been to0 badly injured or are too tame to be released. Some, like Klippie the giraffe, will be returned to the wild eventually. The animals that will be released are the ones we feed on tour. Interaction is limited and they're still wild. Once enough game is available on the farm, they will be released into an area called the lifeline to fend for themselves.

As I mentioned before, the nights are freezing. We have bonfires every night and sit around talking. The stars are unbelievable. The other night, the volunteer coordinator took us out and showed us how to navigate using the stars. It was pretty great.

I can't post any pictures because the internet is too slow but I'll make sure I get some up when I get to Australia. Unfortunately, my camera seems to have stopped working, so I might have to buy a new one. I haven't lost any pictures, though!

Hope everything's well at home and you're getting some decent weather!

xoxo Becky