First day at Mokolodi

Hey yall  (I've got to be true to my southern roots sometimes!)

Today was my first day volunteering at Mokolodi and wow what a day!  My camera was dead so I couldn't get any pictures, but more opportunities will come! 

After french class, I met my cab at the north entrance of UB and headed to Mokolodi.  It cost me 70 pula. (About 10 dollars)  I arrived around 9:30 and read a bit while waiting for someone to come grab me from the office.  The other two exchange students who are volunteering there arrived at 8am because they do not have classes.  They were out tracking rhinos!  There are only 7 rhinos in the park and conservation of these animals are very important.  Poaching is a problem.  At one point almost all of the rhinos in Botswana had been killed.  Rhinos had to be brought in from other countries in order to rebuild the population.

Anywho,  since they were already out in the Bush, I headed down to the kitchen and helped to prepare monkey diets.   These consisted of fruits, veggies, bread with peanut butter, and some sort of pellet which I assume has some nutritional importance.  The women working in the kitchen/sanctuary area were super nice.  Yet, as usual the Batswana speak Setswana 99.9% of the time so you never know what they are talking about.  Only if they address me (or another English speaking person) do they speak in English.  I just wish I knew how to speak Setwana because I could better interact.  They told me I should learn Setswana and I promised I was working on it!

 As I was walking with staff to the upper sanctuary, I was grabbed by the intern on his way out into the bush.  The rhino trackers had found a dead zebra that had passed very recently.  We went out with the truck so that the zebra could be brought back to the sanctuary.  They use the meat to feed their two hyenas who are in a caged area on site. The two hyenas had once been pets before someone decided that wasn't a good idea and wanted to get rid of them. Now the hyenas serve mostly a tourism purpose so that safari goers can get a glimpse of these amazing creatures if they are lucky. Going into the bush gave me another mini safari.  Throughout the day I saw impala, kudu, warthogs, zebras, giraffes, and all types of birds. 

We arrived at the Zebra and loaded it into the back of the truck.  Now when I say load it, I don't simply mean causally tossed it in.  It took a group of men plus the three of us to lift it into the truck.  What an experience!  Not only was I seeing a zebra for the first time, I was touching it, studying it, and investigating it.  We could not find a definite reason for death.  Some guesses included disease, snake bite, or some internal injury.  After riding back through the bush, the zebra was deposited at the work station where it was supposed to be skinned and cut up for meat.  The three of us (all international exchange students) sat around waiting for the skinning to start.  Thirty minutes later there was no progress and we headed for lunch.  "African time" is a real thing here.  People travel at their own pace and things just happen when they happen.  After an hour break we headed back the the zebra and we watched them start skinning it.  I was able to watch with interest at the technique and did not have any qualms about it.  Let me tell you,  I have come  LONGGGGGGGG way.  There was a time when I would have been so disgusted I couldn't have been anywhere near there.   I hate that this zebra died, but she did so of natural causes and her meat was able to help the reserve, which in turn helps with conservation. 

Next we loaded into the back of a pickup truck with workers and headed  out into the bush.  We dropped them at the fence line where they were left to walk the fence, checking it for damage and cutting brush and such.  I learned that they worked for minimum wage which was 3.75 pula.  One dollar = 7 pula so they did even make a dollar an hour.  Wow!  That puts things into perspective.  Our next stop was picking up a porcupine from the clinic.  It had been captured in the city and brought out to Mokolodi.  We took it into the bush and released it.  Now, when I was told porcupine I pictured this cute little thing, but this guy was large!  I encourage you to google a picture of one.  It was so cool looking.  We took him out into the bush and let him go.  Awesome!  On the way back to the sanctuary, we stopped at the hyena cage and tossed in two chickens.  I've seen pictures of hyena's but it was still quite a site to take in.  They are a lot larger then I thought they would be, much larger that dogs.  Let's just say, I would hate to meet one in the wild.

After adventuring through the bush, we were dropped back at the sanctuary clinic.  The three of us walked with a staff member up to the main sanctuary and helped feed the animals.  Here I must insert how grateful I am to have worked at CROW (The Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife) in Florida.  Crow taught me the basics of rehabilitation and prepared me for the diets.  As I tossed dead chicks into cages with monitor lizards, owls, and heroins I was not phased.  Even as I picked up massive chucks of meat and threw them in with vultures I didn't flinch.   If you don't already know,  I have this weird aversion to raw meat.  I do not cook it and I hate to touch it.  But today I was such a champ.  "You want me to reach my hand in that bucket and pull out that huge chuck of meat dripping with yummyness?  Well sure why not! Here you go cute little vulture!"   Oh what I will do for the things I love. 

On a side note here, I would like to mention how epically awesome CROW was.  My experience there, under two of my all time favorite vets and several amazing rehabilitators, gave me a top not education about rehabilitating wildlife.  After Crow, I am comfortable enough to say I have a strong foundation in wildlife medicine.   I hope that with some of my knowledge gained at CROW, I can bring a new prospective to Mokolodi and maybe even help enhance a few things! I sometimes find myself saying, well at Crow we did this or we thought this way, etc etc etc.  I try to avoid these snobby thoughts.  I understand that each experience will be a bit different and if I am not open minded I will be unable to learn anything.  I only spent 4 months at Crow, and there is still a lifetime of learning to be accomplished.   At the end of my time here, I feel I will have gained a lot more from Mokolodi than I can give to them.    The older I get the more I realize how important educating yourself is!

After we got done spreading around dinner, we were finished for the day.  Bryanna has a neighbor who works at Mokolodi and that is how she is getting to the reserve and back.  This wonderful little woman agreed to drop me at Game city on her way home each week for free!  From game city, I catch two combi's back to UB.  This cost my only 6.60 pula, a little less than a dollar. WOO HOO! 

I arrived back at the dorm tired, dehydrated, and a bit smelly!  I ate a bowl of porridge with banana, granola, and peanut butter.  I took a very fast, cold shower and then curled up in bed with a cup of hot tea and my laptop.  It's been a great day and now a very relaxing night.  I think I will end this blog and start reading my book.  I'm so close to the end!  I read for a total of four hours yesterday and still managed to go to class, study french, get groceries, and go for a run!  I'm getting spoiled here in Africa! 

I hope you all have a great day! 
Maybe you should curl up with a good book and a warm cup of tea! 
It's the simply things in life! :)