The Namib Conservation Centre

Wow, where do I begin with this blog?! A LOT has happened since the last time I updated the African Adventure so brace yourselves, this is going to be the longest blog entry yet! As I write this Kate and I are in Solitaire at Solitaire Guest Farm Dessert Ranch, two weeks into our new project. The project will officially be known as the Namib Conservation Centre and is formed by a partnership between the Solitaire Guest Farm and N/a’an ku se.

However, I’ll rewind as we had a very eventful last two weeks at the N/a’an ku se Wildlife Sanctuary.  Kate and I were lucky enough to have been able to move into one of the empty staff houses and as you do in Africa, turned our back garden into a temporary caracal pen.  The caracals in question were two orphaned kittens who were found at a shopping mall believe it or not. I’ll skip over the fact that in preparing the pen I got myself into a fight with a bush, which did not go to well for me and I ended up requiring a trip to the dentist, instead I’ll jump straight to the part when the sneaky little devils found their way into our house. They had pushed over a board that was covering a hole in the wall that was used as a make shift dog flap for the previous inhabitant’s pet.  Due to the brutal cold weather we were experiencing at the time we decided to leave the kittens where they were. So the mischievous duo had free reign of most of the house and liked to tuck themselves amongst our belongings that were being stored ready for our move to Solitaire. 

Eventually the duo made their way back outside and our efforts to secure the back garden were not in vein and the kittens could not find a way out.  Their time will come however; as once they have reached maturity the plan is to release them back into the wild. 

 

I somehow managed to not be involved in any fire fighting at all during my two and half years at CCF but here I found myself in the thick of the action twice in the space of a week. The second was the most intense and a fire that had spread over numerous farms. It was a hard afternoon but it was great to have been of some use in preventing it spreading further.

The 27^th of June arrived and after first discussing the Solitaire project at our interview at N/a’an ku se way back in October 2010 it was finally time to make the move. The cats (7 cheetahs and 1 leopard) had been darted, fitted with radio collars and placed in transport cages during a very busy afternoon the day before. Four of the cheetahs would be released at Solitaire, the other three plus the Leopard would be released at another project site in Sandfontein.

This release was significant as it would be the biggest in N/a’an ku se’s history. The huge convoy (including a film crew for Animal Planet) set off early and as we traveled south and deeper into the stunning mountainous scenery we kept having to pinch ourselves that it was actually happening! Our passenger was a four-year-old cheetah named ‘Boris’ and he actually seemed to enjoy looking out the front of the car and surveying his new surroundings.

After a long 5 hours we arrived at the Solitaire Guest Farm and Kate and I of course had to stop by the entrance sign and capture the moment :)

Our excitement only grew as we took in the glorious landscape that we would wake up to every morning.  We parked up the cars and gave the cats some food and water, as they would spend the night in the cages. Four of them however would be released into their new home the next day. As the sun set Kate and I had the chance to become reacquainted with the guest farm’s owners, Walter and Simone Swarts (we had met them very briefly a few months earlier). I can not adequately describe in words just how fantastic they are, Kate and I have been welcomed with open arms and have already been made to feel like part of the family. And of course without their passion for wildlife and conservation this project would not have been possible.

The first night was also spent meeting the vast array of animal inhabitants that live freely around the farm including 5 incredibly loveable and spoiled dogs, Max the Oryx, Bokkie the Springbok, Sammy the parrot, a family of meerkats as well as peacocks, guinea pigs, rabbits, ducks and chickens! After such a long day it was soon time for bed especially after we had gorged ourselves on the gourmet buffet (the food here is unbelievably good)!

The next day started early and we got straight to work on finishing the fence of the 500ha holding camp that our four cheetahs would be released into. I have to mention that the fact the fence needed just minor touches at this point was a miracle as the camp was far from finished only weeks earlier. However, thanks to incredible work by our colleague Hardas (he really is Hardas by name, Hardas by nature) and some of our farm workers, who worked 7 days a week with no lunch breaks the camp was done in what must have been record time. Work on the fence lasted for most of the day but around 3.00pm it was finally time to release the cats.

The first cat to be released was Boris. Three weeks earlier Boris had been hunting game on a small game farm in the Windhoek area and was trapped by the farm owner who then called N/a’an ku se to collect him. Walter had the honour of opening the cage and Boris wasted no time and sprinted away into the distance to begin exploring his new home.

Next up was Spartacus, a huge 9-year-old male who had gained a feisty reputation during his two-year stay at N/a’n ku se’s Wildlife Sanctuary, and he too wasted no time running away to disappear into the bush.

The two boys would share their new home with two young sisters estimated at two years of age, named Annie and Betty. The sisters had been orphaned at the young age of six months and have been looked after by N/a’an ku se ever since. The sisters took quite a bit of persuading to leave their trailer, however, for the excited onlookers it was worth the wait as the two girls ran only 100 yards into the bush and posed beautifully together as they stood taking in their new surroundings. By now the sun had started to set and casted a beautiful light over the landscape.  This magical moment caused many to shed a tear and many hugs of congratulations were shared. The Namib Conservation Centre was up and running!!!!

The next morning Kate and I were up at the crack of dawn and said goodbye to the team who were about to start a mammoth trip further south to Sandfontein where the Leopard and other three cheetahs were to be released. Kate and I then enjoyed our first morning tracking and to our relief all four cats were still inside the camp!

It’s been two weeks since then and we couldn’t be happier with how things have gone. All four cats are doing well; we even found the two females and Spartacus on a springbok carcass one day (several Springbok were trapped when the fence went up).  We have also started to take guests out with us and the response we have had has been overwhelmingly positive, people are not just liking the experience, they are loving it. All have given us their contact details to receive more information about N/a’an ku se and some have even given donations. The fact that they get to walk alongside wild cheetahs that will be released back into the wild is proving a very unique experience for them. Word is spreading and we have already started to get visitors who are not staying at the guest farm coming just to see the cheetahs.

A student group from the Maricopa Community Colleges in the States were with us for three nights and helped us start exploring the area.  We found several possible leopard caves and marking trees and set up camera traps in our effort to gain an estimate of the population of carnivores already in the area. We haven't had to wait long as one of cameras has already captured this local resident:

We taught the students how to track and they also helped us strengthen the cheetah camp fence and map the camp with a GPS. The group was lead by Prof. Dennis Wilson who is an old friend we met at CCF. It was great having his group here and they helped us out enormously, we are hoping to continue the relationship and welcome another group next year.

Because our campsite is still to be completed, throughout all of this Kate and I have been staying in one of the rooms at the lodge and dining at the gourmet buffet every night! But that’s not to say we will be sad to move to the camp because just look where it is situated:

Not a bad location I think you’ll agree and the large platform on the left will be where our luxury safari tent is going…….Yep, it’s a hard life :) 

Please check out the official N/a’an ku se blog to read more about this and the Sandfontein release. The other three cheetahs are doing well in their holding camp and Derek the Leopard who was released straight to the wild has already made two kills!

Well, if you are still reading, thank you. I think after that epic blog entry you are now fully up to speed with everything that has happened over the past few weeks :)  And rest assured, there will be lots more to talk about over the upcoming months!

The N/a'an Ku Se Chapter Begins

I knew I was well and truly back into my strange and wonderful African lifestyle when on my first day back in Namibia I found myself watching a Harry Potter movie with a baboon.

But before I continue I have to thank my mum and sis for looking after me again whilst back home. I was back for longer this time, a good two months, and I had a great time relaxing at home as well as going on a couple of family outings which included fighting dragons at Warwick Castle, climbing the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth and exploring Shakespeare country in Stratford Upon Avon, where I had a rather splendid cream tea :)  I also had fun herding cows on a quad bike and milking them when I spent the day with sis and her boyfriend, dairy farmer Jim.

I again tried to see as many friends as possible, it was great catching up with my old school friend Matt, my old Farnborough college pal Big DanB and my class mates from my Lackham College days. One of which was my good friend Ruth and we also spent a day at Longleat where we got a behind the scenes look at the cat section thanks to former CCF volunteer Emily who works there. We got to get really close to the tigers and lions and got to see the recently born lion cubs that were being kept of exhibit, it was very cool! 

I was also home for my 30th birthday and got to spend it in London with former CCFers Andrew JW, Annie, Chris and the mighty Warlock himself who mercifully let me live to enjoy some amazing Indian food and to witness Man U get humiliated in the Champions league final, it was a GREAT birthday! Annie and Chris now manage the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme, check them out they are doing amazing work: http://www.ethiopianwolf.org/index.shtml

Thankfully the volcanic ash cloud had cleared and I was all set to head back to Namibia as planned. It was again sad saying my goodbyes but I was really looking forward to getting to N/a'an Ku Se and Kate. Also by sheer coincidence I would be arriving in Windhoek around the same time as former CCFers Leigh, Glenn and Natalie. Kate and I met up with them at Joe's Beer House along with the Morkel and Gail. It was really nice to see everyone again and we had a fantastic evening.

I've been at N/a'an Ku Se for just over a week now and the most overriding sensation I've had since being here is feeling COLD!!!!! We are at the start of the Namibian winter but I have never experienced anything like the temperatures we've had this year, for the first time ever I have spent some days in double layers complete with wooly hat and scarf. Parts of the country have even seen snow!

 

The freezing temperatures aside I have had a fantastic first week. Kate and I will be making the move to our project site near Solitaire on the 24th but before then I have been asked to help out with the daily husbandry routine and any other odd jobs that pop up on the farm. So, as well as feeding Cheetahs (of which I have some experience) I am now helping to look after Lions, Leopards, Caracals and Wild Dogs! I've also helped catch and relocate a troublesome Porcupine, helped Kate and one of our colleagues, Flo, finish a research paper on the successful treatment of 3 Wild Dogs that had been bitten by a venomous snake and helped with a bit of road maintenance. We have a lot of baboons here as well but my only experience with them so far was watching the aforementioned Harry Potter movie with one (the young orphaned baboons are looked after by volunteers all night). So all in all it has been a very varied and enjoyable start to my Na/an Ku Se career! 

However, despite how much fun we are having here at the main N/a'an Ku Se farm, Kate and I can't wait to get to Solitaire, and here's why. Accompanying us down there will be 5 cheetahs and 1 Caracal. The cheetahs will be placed into a 500ha holding camp and will be the first group of cats to undergo a soft release (similar to that of Chanel and the Chocs).  The cats will be in the camp for 3-6 months where Kate and I will track them and monitor their progress, which will include feeding as this camp will not hold any game. Part of our job will include taking guests of a nearby lodge tracking with us. I'm pretty sure we will be the only place offering this kind of experience for tourists, and I'm certain the experience is going to be something they will never forget. If all goes well the cats will be released into the wild and we will continue to track and monitor them. New cats will then be placed into the holding camp.

The Caracal in question is a temperamental male called Yoda who is currently kept in a pen with three females. Unfortunately he doesn't get on all that well with the girls and can become aggressive towards them (he recently broke one of the female's legs who is currently receiving treatment). So he too will be joining us in Solitaire and be placed into the holding camp. He has a collar and will be able to be tracked and fed. Yoda may not ever be a fully wild caracal but he will have a fantastic new home and be a fantastic ambassador for N/a'an Ku Se.

We will of course have volunteers with us and in order to keep them busy we will also be doing game counts, camera trapping, land mapping and taking them to see the dunes in Sossusvlei. Like I have said several times before, we can't wait to start. Its going to be a lot of hard work but will most definitely be worth it! 

PS - Chanel and the Chocs are still together, looking good and hunting almost every other day :) 

Armageddon

Some idiot called Harold Camping caused quite a stir recently by predicting that the world would end on the 21st of May. He foretold that the world be victim to devastating earthquakes and only the true believers would be rushed up to heaven. Of course the 21st came and went with no sign of the 'Rapture'.

Well duh!!! Who does this guy think he is??? Anyone with an ounce of sense knows that the date of Armageddon is decided by the all powerful one...............that's right, The Warlock Rob Thomson.  

Those of us who worked with the Warlock at CCF had long suspected that he possessed mystical powers beyond our puny mortal comprehension. Some of you may recall a previous blog entry where I talked about a camp fire discussion about this very subject where we theorised that the Warlock was in fact thousands of years old and could have been present at the dawn of civilisation by ruling over the ancient Egyptians as Pharaoh. Rather than deny this theory the Warlock left the campfire and retired for the night to what appeared to be a one man tent similar to one pictured below.

However, we now know that this 'tent' is actually a Warlock recharge pod. His secret was discovered, and he was not amused. We were soon given a spectacular demonstration of the Warlock's power as he summoned a fire that almost destroyed CCF!

Harold Camping has made another prediction but we all know he is a false prophet. The guy is a fool with no evidence. In stark contrast if you look hard enough there is evidence throughout the history books of the Warlock's omnipotence. 

So you have been warned! Reject false prophets and bow down to the Warlock!!

CCF Greatest Hits

Two and a half years is a significant amount of time to spend anywhere and working somewhere like CCF ensured that there were not many dull moments! So to close the chapter on CCF here is a look back at the most significant elements that made up my CCF experience.

Xena

What can I say? I fell in love with this cat the moment I laid on eyes on her. My only regret at leaving CCF is that I wont get the chance to see her hunting for herself in the Bellebenno game camp (she is a future release candidate).  I can but dream that maybe some CCF cheetahs may one day be released into the Solitaire area and I can put in a request for a certain cat :)

The Bellebenno Release Project

As stated in previous blogs being involved in the project that saw us release Chanel and the Choc sisters into Erindi Game Reserve was the highlight of my time at CCF. I still find it hard to believe I got to walk behind cheetahs in the bush and observe them hunting right in front of me.

A Close Call
Pictures speak for themselves, a day I wont forget.

The Blog

I started this blog the very day I flew out to Namibia in August 2008 and thought only my mum and a few friends would read ever it. But surprisingly it's picked up a respectable audience, Kate's family are regular readers, I was blog of the week on a South African travel agency website and a regular Italian CCF volunteer (Hi Betty!) translates it into Italian and distributes it to her friends in Italy. So why have I chosen a pic of gay giraffes for this bit? Well, I had a browse through this blog's stats the other day and believe it or not my blog entry about our tall gay friends is the African Adventure's biggest hit and if you type in the words 'Gay Giraffes' in a Google image search this pic is the first one that comes up! Fame at last! It seems there are a lot of people out there interested in the subject.......yes it is a bit worrying! :-/

Boskop

My home for two and half years and scene of many legendary parties! My ipod will forever contain the Boskop party playlists I made for special occasions, lots of great memories with lots of great people!

 

 

 

Kate

I think its fair to say that meeting Kate is not only one of the most significant moments of my CCF years but also my life. Its not all been a bed of roses and we've had ups and the downs. But by going through the difficult times we have learned a hell of a lot about each other which has made our relationship much stronger.  Obviously the fact we have moved on to N/a'an Ku Se together shows how we feel about each other and that we see our future together, which is quite funny when I look back to when we first starting seeing each other and were trying to keep it a secret. We were very discreet and kept things very professional whilst at work, so much so in fact that some short term volunteers who were with us then only found out we were a couple when we made if Facebook official over a year later! The pic below is unintentionally our first pic as a couple thanks to Kate's wandering hand :) It was around this point that keeping things a secret from our colleagues became almost impossible and we had to come clean!

 

I know many people who couldn't imagine working with their other half but despite the odd disagreement Kate and I work very well together. We've even somehow managed to sync ourselves so that when one of us is stressed out the other one remains calm to defuse the situation. We are also both quite happy to just be boring and curl up in bed with a cup of tea and watch some TV at the end of a hard day. I'm sure we will face big challenges at N/a'an Ku Se but our experience at CCF has trained us well and we can't wait to start our new life together ........ Everyone say awwwww :)

Goodbye CCF, Hello N/a'an Ku Se

Actually, I said goodbye to CCF on the 6th of April and I am writing this at my home in England. I think those who read this blog will already know the reason but just in case you don't here is why.

A while back Kate and I decided we wanted a future together beyond CCF and started to see what opportunities were out there for us. Both of us have fallen in love with Namibia and hoped to stay in the country. We knew it would be difficult finding somewhere for both of us especially in today's economic climate, but we persisted and hoped lady luck would help us out. And in February, she certainly did as we received the offer of a life time - a chance to manage a carnivore release project for N/a'an Ku Se Wildlife sanctuary. We accepted immediately and gave our three months notice at CCF.

N/a'an Ku Se (San Bushman for God will protect us/watches over us) is based near Windhoek and is a relatively young organisation that was formed in 2007 by Rudie and Marlice van Vuuren. As well as taking in orphaned and injured animals that can not be released back into the wild (Cheetah, Leopard, Baboon etc) the organisation runs a Carnivore Conservation Research project that aims to study wild carnivore populations, relocate problem animals to reduce human conflict and re-establish cheetah populations in areas where they are suffering low numbers.

http://www.naankuse.com/

The project Kate and I have been asked to manage will be based near the town of Solitaire in the south of Namibia. The initial aim of the project is to study the existing carnivore population and to re-introduce cheetahs into the area and track them via satellite and radio collars and collect data on their movements. To say Kate and I are excited about this would be an understatement. We will be in our favourite part of the country (see pics below for why) and if you could have asked us what our perfect job would be when we started our search this would have been it!

Kate is currently at N/a'an Ku Se and I will end my holiday here and join her on the 3oth of May. We will then make the move down to Solitaire mid June :)

We were at CCF for two and a half years and had some incredible times and met some amazing people. Sadly our final weeks didn't end on a happy note as we saw the death of Cazigar, one of CCF's livestock guarding dogs, and Chewbacca who lost his fight against the injuries he sustained in his fight with a rabid Kudu. Chewbacca had been CCF's ambassador cheetah for 15 years and had a very gentle nature that allowed hundreds of people over the years to meet him and have their photo taken, which i find a bit ironic as he was probably the goofiest looking cheetah I've ever seen! Over the past two years Kate and I fed him his daily meal of chopped up meat complete with quite a concoction of pills and vitamins almost every day and we were very sad seeing the old man go.

This, added to the series of unbelievable events I mentioned in my last blog meant that my last few days were rather sombre. Although I did have one final rave up at Boskop with Carolyn on my last night :) Saying goodbye to the cats was hard, especially my beautiful Xena but the biggist part of CCF I will miss without a doubt will be Boskop and my fellow boskopians, especially the dogs! I considered it my home and it was a haven we could relax in after a crazily busy day (of which there were many!).

I really can't wait to get back to Kate and start this new chapter in my African Adventure but I've still got a couple more weeks to enjoy at home with my family which will include my 30th birthday.......bloody hell, typing that gave me a shiver! THIRTY, how did that happen???!! :-/

And in case you're wondering, don't panic, I will be continuing the blog! :)

I'll end this entry by sharing with you one of my last contributions to  CCF - Its a video I put together about Chanel and the Chocs first two weeks in Erindi for CCF's YouTube channel. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7FRfO2_oRY

Cruise and Cleo

The month of February saw a three week period that was without a doubt the most demanding I have experienced during my time at CCF. I have never known a series of events like it and sadly the outcome has seen us loose two of our cats.

To cut a very long story short these three weeks included the following:

• Three cats in three separate pens going missing requiring pens to be searched on foot.
• Two cats with swollen ankles requiring isolation and medication.
  
• One cat with a deep laceration eventually requiring blow darting and stitches.
• The boxing of three male cheetahs for a work up before their move to a new home.
• The boxing of a wild female to have a radio collar placed on her before release.
• The preparation and releasing of said wild female, her two cubs and three other cats.
  
• Giraffe destroying one of our gates.
• A rabid Kudu jumping into Chewbacca's pen and causing him serious injury (still being treated intensively).
• Many cats deciding they didn't like Giraffe meat (which was all we had) and giving me grief by not eating, some even started getting diarrhea and vomiting.
  
• One cat climbing a fence and into an area he shouldn't be in....twice.
• The eventual finding of one of our missing Cat's body (Cleo) in the Bellebenno pen and subsequent necropsy.
  
• The euthanasia of one of our older cats, Cruise, who's health rapidly deteriorated due to cancer and subsequent necropsy.
  
• The collection of the body (old age) of one of our cats loaned out to a lodge and subsequent necropsy.
• Penda and Spots, two of our dogs at boskop, getting spat in the face by a spitting cobra and requiring treatment.
  
• and to make matters more complicated, whilst all of this was going on we had an Earthwatch Team and a UK film crew who had to be accommodated with special evening cheetah runs and were in tow for much of the above, including a Bellebenno feeding where 5 cats didn't show and the rest didn't want to run!
  

Even typing this now I still can't believe all of that happened in such a short space of time, it was absolutely crazy and all of us worked our asses of, especially the veterinary team!!

The loss of Cruise was very sad as he was a favourite of many past CCF volunteers and staff but we had been expecting his down turn as we knew his cancer was bad. Kate and I had ensured his last couple of years have been good ones and we like to think his introduction into a group of four younger males a year ago helped his well being enormously and I'm sure his pen mates are missing him.



Sadly Cleo's death was untimely, she was only six years old. Her necropsy discovered that she almost certainly died of a perforated intestine caused by a small, sharp fragment of bone. We had searched the pen for three days in a row looking for her but sadly she must have been moving away from us and hiding in the thick bush. Finding her body was definitely one of my worst CCF moments and I just wish we had found her sooner to help her or to have put her out of her misery sooner. Past volunteers may remember Cleo as the extremely vocal cat chirping away at the feeding car as she waited impatiently for her meal and the cat who liked to pose for photos by climbing high up into the trees :)


I hope my next entry will be happier, keep your fingers crossed for the old man Chewbacca who is still battling away after his Kudu encounter.