Boskop

I can't believe its taken me so long to talk about where i'm actually living here at CCF. I live at a farm known as Boskop 7 km's from the main CCF farm with fellow long termers Kate and Rob (it will get more crowded when the volunteer season starts). It's become my home away from home and sometimes it is just GREAT to to get away and relax there, well away from the sometimes crazy epicentre of CCF.

So let me take you on a tour, I live in the main house that you see above. Boskop is easy to see from a distance due to the large exotic looking trees in the back yard.

Below is our front room where we have a tv, playstation, stereo system and dvd player. The sofa is sometimes removed to create a dance floor when we have what are now notorious Boskop parties. In the pic you can also see Spots, one of the 3 dogs currently residing at Boskop, we also have Timone and Tyger. I will dedicate a whole blog to these guys sometime soon!

Above is a pic of the view from the porch area just outside my room, pretty nice eh?! Many a relaxing moment has been spent sitting out here looking at the scenery and star gazing. Finally, below you will see a couple of pics of my room which I have turned from a pretty grotty hole into a cosy, homely area I like to relax in and take well deserved naps!!

Well there we are, I hope you enjoyed that lil tour around my new home. Feel free to pop round for a cup of tea anytime you like :)

The Circle of Life

This is a story I should have put up ages ago but at the time my camera got stolen and i couldn't take any pictures of the momentous event.

So let me first introduce you to the towers (see pic above) they have been used as grain and water towers in their past but today they are now primarliy used as a place for us to go and relax with a few drinks.

When I first arrived back in August I was the only one who would enjoy sundowners and I started to place my empty cider bottles on the floor against the circular wall and wondered how long it would take me to complete a circle. Since then I have encouraged others to join me in my quest and at some point at the end of November, Tamara (see previous blog) had the honour of completing the circle! It was an exciting moment and gave us all a feeling of great accomplisment!!

We have now moved on to the second tower and started a new circle! I will of course let you know when it is completed!!

An African Christmas

This year has been a very different Christmas thats for sure. For one thing its bloody boiling over here!! Also myself and Kate still had to do work - checking fences and looking after puppies, so its not really felt like Christmas at all. But Kate and I did try and enjoy the african scenery and drove past the Big Field which is looking rather lovely now the grass has turned green thanks to the recent rain.

All in all I really wished I was home today. I really missed putting up the Christmas tree with my sis listening to cheesey christmas songs, watching Christmas TV and having dinner round my Nan's (especially my mum's roast potatoes!!).

I hope everyone else had a great day :) Happy Christmas!

Puppy Time Again!

Yep, two of our dogs gave birth this week! Uschi (see pic) had 9 pups and Tylee had 11, however three of those were still born :(

So Myself and John now have 17 lil bundles of cuteness to look after, Doesn't John look cute in his pic?! awwwwwwwww, ha ha

An Evening Out

Although looking after cheetahs is a jolly nice job it is sometimes nice to get away from CCF, especialy when times are shall I say.....a tiny bit stressfull. So For John's Birthday (our new dog programme guy) myself and Kate were invited into town to celebrate at Axel's house (our vet). Lizzie (the now ex-dog programme gal) came as did John's family. A splendid time was had by all, we enjoyed a fab brai, a couple of drinks and best of all.......dog hugging!

The Cheetah Run

Xena, Warrior Cheetah Princess!!!

I know i shouldn't have a favourite cheetah but I just can't help but love this beautifull, fiesty cat who for a long time was only known as 'Chester's Sister'. Why is she my favourite? Well funny as it may seem its because she is the one cat more than any other who lets me know how much she hates me! Every day I feed her she greets me with a virtuoso display of hissing, spitting and paw slapping which has to be seen to be believed!

So when it came to giving her a name we had to think long and hard as we wanted to do her justice. Eventually I came up with the Perfect name...........Xena!!!!!

Karma!

This week I had the unfortunate honour of being the first person this rainy season to get stuck in the mud after some heavy rain had made one section of road a swamp! I was stranded for a couple of hours waiting for rescue which finaly arrived and I was pulled out to resume my journey.

Of course my co workers who have been here a lot longer than me had failed to mention to me that they new that road was a no-go area and found it oh so amusing, especially my fellow cheetah keeper Kate, who took great delight in mocking me. So when I got the call on the radio a couple of days later from her asking for help as she was stuck I could not help but smile!! So I went myself to pull her out and found that she had performed a quite ridiculous manouvre straight into a huge swampy area and not only was she stuck, she was REALLY stuck and the car could not be removed!

So let this be a lesson, especially for you miss Echement, what goes around comes around!!!