An Unforgettable Weekend

The weekend in question started on Saturday the18th of July which was the day of our annual fund raising gala in Windhoek. It was an event we had been looking forward to as it gave us a chance to spend some time away from CCF and dress up in cloths not covered in donkey blood. I went to a lot of effort to pick an outfit that would dazzle and amaze and I think in the end I looked pretty groovy with pin-stripe trousers, a smart white shirt, pink tie and a black vest. However, the element that really tied the outfit together was my super cool trilby hat, and although some people who have no sense of style took a dislike to it I believe the evidence speaks for itself, the hat rocked! Remember, my sense of style has been endorsed by a man who has met the Hoff!!!

It has to be said that everyone scrubbed up rather well, especially my fellow keeper Kate who looked fantastic, whaaaa whaaaa weeee wahhhh (I can say that as we are a couple if you hadn’t already worked that out!). The evening itself went well; the food was great a few drinks were had and a lot of smoozing was done. So the next morning started positively, myself and Kate had an AMAZING breakfast at the lodge we were staying at. As well as the normal breakfast stuff - eggs, bacon, sausages etc there was also chicken wings, meatballs and mushrooms in a cheesy sauce, everything on offer was mmmmm mmmmm! After brekkie we headed back to the posh hotel where the gala was held to finish cleaning up and we were soon packed up and ready to go. The car we were in, one of CCF’s Toyota Hilux’s was scheduled to be the first car back to CCF as we had no other errands to run, so we were eagerly joined by Ryan, Rob and Leigh. Kate was driving and normally I would have offered the front seat to Rob who has much longer legs than me but I had developed a headache and didn’t want to be crammed in the back, so I declined to offer – this act of uncharacteristic selfishness would actually turn out to be a good decision for Rob!

So we headed back towards Okahandja and were looking forward to getting back and having a relaxed Sunday afternoon. However, at just before 12pm something happened that I will remember for the rest of life and is the reason why I haven’t updated my blog in a long while. We were driving on the main road at 120kph and ahead of us we could see a car of to the side of the road moving slowly, as if he was picking up speed to pull out onto the road AFTER we had passed him. But no, as we approached him he violently pulled out into the road directly in front of us; Kate had no option but to swerve to avoid him, driving onto the other side of the road and it’s a good job she did because if we had hit him then I would not be talking to you right now. Kate then corrected the car but and at that speed it was inevitable that we would start to slide and slide we did. At this point many expletives could be heard from myself and my fellow passengers. The car slid completely around and we slid of the side of the road, for a split second I thought we would just slide to a halt however, the next thing I know there is a loud crash and I am upside down. The following seconds were the scariest of my life as the car continued to tumble for what seemed like an age. We actually tumbled 2 and a half times before a wire fence stopped us and brought us to a sudden halt upside down.

Immediately after the car stopped, hanging upside down by my seatbelt, I felt unbelievable relief that I was still breathing only to have it quickly wiped out by the concern for everyone else. At this point the car was filled with shouts of: ‘Are you ok?!’ and ‘I’m OK!”. Thankfully everyone responded and we then began evacuating ourselves from the car, which for myself and Kate meant crawling along the roof and into the back of the car as our windows had been significantly crushed. As we emerged we shared a few hugs and noticed that the canopy had come of the bakkie and had thrown all of our bags and stuff from the gala all over the place. By now several cars had stopped and we were being met by very worried people asking if we were ok. Two of them happened to be a Canadian couple who are paramedics who actually saw us go of the road and had rushed to us with first aid kits. They looked at us in stunned amazement that we had all survived with only bumps and minor cuts and scratches. Looking at the car we were also amazed, one thing’s for sure if we were not wearing our seatbelts we would have been done for so let that be a lesson to everyone, wear your seatbelt!!! The front of the car where I and Kate were sitting took the most beating and if Rob had been sitting where I had been he just may have come out of it a lot worse due to him being much taller.

The rest of our CCF convoy soon joined us and more hugs were shared, we then began the process of picking up all of our belongings and I soon found my bag and discovered that my camera and laptop had taken fatal hits, but I was strangely not bothered, probably due to the fact that I felt glad to be alive to realise they had been broken. However, my ipod survived intact! Those of your familiar with my fantastic music collection and my extensive playlists for any occasion will know what a blessing to the world that is :)

Soon an ambulance arrived. I had begun to notice that my head was really hurting and noticed a lump on the right side of my head (probably caused by bumping heads with Kate). My lump was not as bad as the humdinger Kate had though as she whacked it pretty good against the window as we started to roll. So Kate and I ended up in the back of the ambulance, my head pain was probably due to the headache I had before but I was sent just in case. We ended up at Okahandja hospital where we were reminded that we were in Africa and health care is not what we are used to! We were ‘assessed’ by a ‘doctor’ who was wearing jeans and a t-shirt and appeared not too pleased to be sent to see us. After hearing our story and taking our blood pressure we were handed……paracetamal! So after that expert assessment we were picked up and made our way back to Otjiwarongo where there was a much better Medi-Clinic that was covered by our medical insurance. There we were seen by a proper doctor, Kate was given a neck brace, Rob got his foot bandaged which was badly sprained and I at this point felt much better and was given the all clear. Needless to say we were all very glad to finally arrive home at Boskop where we were welcomed by very hungry dogs. The next day was spent recuperating at Boskop where the adrenaline rush I must have had after the crash had well and truly worn of and I woke up with aching limbs, a headache and the chills, which lasted all day. Rob’s foot was hurting a lot and Kate’s neck and shoulder was causing her pain. Ryan and Leigh meanwhile were suffering from similar ailments back at CCF and all of us shared the problem of repeating the incident in our heads over and over again. However, it’s been a couple of weeks since the accident and we are all on the up, I have actually caused myself more injury outside of a tumbling car. I pulled muscles in my shoulder and neck whilst simply turning over in bed and I then stabbed myself in the head with my Leatherman whilst fixing a fence. Whether the accident was partially to blame or it’s just because I’m a clumsy idiot I’ll leave it up to you to decide!

So in conclusion, the whole experience is one I hope never to have to go through again. However, it has put things in perspective and over the last two weeks the air has smelt sweeter, the African landscape has looked more beautiful and food has tasted that little bit better. Although I’m sure it won’t be too long before human nature takes over and I’ll think the world is coming to an end when its tuna for lunch and Liverpool loose their next match! But for now, it’s GREAT TO BE ALIVE!!!!!! :)

Matt and Kate's NamibRand Adventure!

So here is a bit of background before I tell my tale of magical adventure far beyond the boundaries of CCF. NamibRand is a large nature reserve in southern Namibia where 5 of our male captive cats were released over a year ago, the release of this coalition was the subject of the infamous British documentary entitled ‘Cheetah Man’ which you may have seen recently on the world respected…….. Chanel 5. When the boys were first released they wandered beyond the reserve’s boundaries and strayed onto a neighbouring farm killing a prize winning breeding ram…..not good. So in an attempt to keep the boys in the reserve we sent two of our females down to act as bait. The girls in question were Rosy and Misty and their feminine charms worked a treat and they have kept the boy’s interest for many months. However, the boys have since become excellent hunters and should have learnt that they can make a good living by staying in the reserve. So it was time for Rosy and Misty to come home which required both cats to be placed into transport boxes, a task that requires people of great skill, experience and courage. Therefore myself and Kate were sent on our way to bring the girls home to CCF.

Hearing the news that BOTH of us were allowed to leave CCF at the same time and travel several 100kms away was very exiting!! It almost seemed too good to be true and we only truly believed it was happening the moment we drove past the final CCF gate and into Otjiwarongo. We had a good 10 hours of driving ahead us but despite the fact that we were late leaving CCF we still had to go to Kamel Dorn for breakfast and for me that meant having the best cheese burger in the world! After a hearty breakfast and stocking up with supplies for the trip we were finally on our way south to NamibRand complete with two cheetah boxes on the back of the bakkie. It also meant that Kate would have to spend American independence day (otherwise known as British generosity day) with an englishman. Most satisfying! ha ha :)

We successfully navigated our way across Namibia, taking turns to drive and arrived at NamibRand at 5.30pm where we were immediately greeted by our host James and his father. James has been monitoring the boys for over 6 months and had been looking after Rosy and Misty for us. Our accommodation was extremely nice and we couldn’t stop smiling as we stood outside and looked around at our surroundings, the view was breathtaking, vast open grassland with huge hills all around us. That evening was spent enjoying a couple of ciders and catching up with James who was a great host by cooking us up some tasty Oryx meat on the braii.

Our first full day in NamibRand began with saying hello to Rosy and Misty again and making a plan for how best to box them the following day. After that we went radio tracking in an attempt to find another of our cats that had been recently released in the reserve. Shanti and her sister Tisha were released together a couple of months ago and sadly Tisha was killed by a Spotted Hyena (we had also been tasked with bringing her body back to CCF). Shanti has proven to be a good hunter and has been surviving well on her own; however, James had been unable to locate her for over a week and was concerned. It is thought that the only reasons he can’t pick up a signal from her collar is that she may have strayed far beyond the reserve or her collar has broken due to an extreme drop in temperature. We searched for her all day but with no luck. James has since radio tracked in the air but was unsuccessful, so all we can do now is hope that she is out there somewhere enjoying life as a wild cheetah.

The morning of our second full day began with a meeting with the 5 boys who are now celebrities and part of CCF legend. One of the boys, Ra had recently had a fight with a leopard and had picked up some injuries. James wanted me and Kate to have a look and get our opinion. It took no time at all to find them as they were sat under a bush just 100 metres away from the house where we were staying. It was great to finally see them and they looked great. Ra still had a slight limp but didn’t appear in too bad a way.

The rest of the morning was spent looking for Shanti and exploring the reserve. The highlight was an area known as the ‘Waterfall’ which is tucked between two rock faces and is where, as the name suggests, a waterfall can be found. Being the dry season the waterfall itself wasn’t very spectacular but the surrounding area was an amazing place to be, full of huge boulders and crevices and myself and Kate had a great time climbing around and exploring. It was leopard paradise and we saw many tracks and even some blood on the rocks where one had recently made a kill. So in the spirit of the leopard we then climbed up a nearby tree and had our lunch. It was a FANTASTIC morning and one of the highlights of my time here in Namibia.

Thanks to Rosy and Misty however, the afternoon was completely different! The pen the two cats were in was not designed for boxing cheetahs so James and the NamibRand staff had done a great job in doing a quick build and had prepared a small holding area and put a trap cage in place (from previous experience we knew Rosy and Misty would not go straight into the box). Things started well enough, Rosy was tempted into the holding pen no problem and she walked straight into the trap cage where we then closed the guillotine and enclosed her inside. But this is where the fun began.

We placed the box at the end of the trap cage and in a lot of cases the cat just walks in, but not this time. If a cat does decide not to cooperate we can usually slide a panel across to force them in but this was a trap cage and not a squeeze cage so that was not an option. So then began an exhausting period of trying to persuade Rosy into the box, we tried tempting her with meat, poking her with sticks, chucking water over her and making loud noises at her. None of which worked and was horrible to do as the last thing we wanted to do was stress her out. Finally she placed half of her body into the box, I slowly slid down the door until it was resting on her back and with some more poking with sticks her backside disappeared into the box and I quickly slid the door down the rest of the way. We were all extremely relieved!

By now the sun was getting very low in the sky and we thought we’d at least get Misty into the small holding area, but no, Misty decided to hide under a bush and was not coming out. So we were left with no option but to abandon our efforts for the day and try again first thing in the morning. So we got up just before the sunrise and headed over to the pen praying that Misty would be kind and just walk in the box, we really didn’t want to leave that morning with only one cat! Thankfully things went much more smoothly, she didn’t walk in but we had her in the box within 20 minutes. With mission accomplished it was sadly time to load up the boxes onto the bakkie and leave, we would have gladly stayed for much longer but we had to get Rosy and Misty back home as soon as possible, they had a long drive ahead of them.

We took a different route on the way back as it involved less gravel roads and would therefore be a slightly more pleasant ride for the cats. The route also took us high up on a plateau that provided yet more stunning views. Driving with two cheetahs on the back of our car guarantied we turned a few heads and we received plenty a strange look, especially when we had to stop of at a bottle store and buy a large quantity of ice to keep the body of a dead cheetah cool that we had with us in the back seat! We arrived back at CCF about 7.30pm and the ice thankfully did the job and we didn’t suffer a stinky ride. We had to leave the poor cats locked up in the barn over night and needless to say they looked very happy when we did let them out of the boxes the following morning! So Rosy and Misty are back home and doing well, time will tell how the other Bellebenno girls will react when they meet up with their old pen mates again, there could be some very interesting battles for dominance!

In conclusion me and Kate had a flippin amazing time and can’t wait till we can go back!!

Back to Work

I’ve been back a couple of weeks now and they have been pretty eventful to say the least!

Firstly, getting back here turned into a drama as I was booked on a flight that didn’t exist! How the hell do you do that I hear you ask? Well, I had booked my ticket from Gatwick to Windhoek a while ago but the fine people at Air Namibia failed to inform me that since my booking they had decided not to fly from the UK anymore. So on the day of my flight I went online to see if it was on time only find no trace of it, so I called Air Namibia where I was then told the news and that my only option was to fly out the next day via Frankfurt. Great. So I eventually left the UK the following day on a flight that did exist and landed in Frankfurt where I then went about using my English charm on the Air Namibia staff in the aim of getting an upgrade. My first attempt was with the check in staff, I walked past the huge que and went straight to the business class desk and told them my story and that I was unsure what class my ticket was and that I really think I deserve a business class seat. So the ladies started checking my ticket but also decided to check me in anyway and send my bag weighing 32kg straight through without charge (economy class only allows 20kg). They then told me that I didn’t have a business class seat and they didn’t have the authority to upgrade me. Which was disappointing but hey, I had beat the que and got away without paying an excess baggage fee!

My next attempt was with the lady who checked my boarding pass at the gate and I again told her my story only to be told there’s nothing she can do, HOWEVER, she told me that the head of Air Namibia Europe was on the same flight and that if I hang around she will give me a signal and let me know who he is. So that’s what I did, I sat outside the gate and kept glancing at the gate lady looking for the signal. I was sat there for ages with the clock ticking down to departure time but then I saw this well dressed man in a suit and tie come over and start talking to some other Air Namibia staff, the gate lady gave me a discreet nod of the head and I decided to pounce! I introduced myself and again told him my story and said I was planning to write a very nasty letter of complaint, but if I was upgraded then I might change my mind. However, he apologized but said they had a strict policy of not upgrading and that the flight was fully booked. Bollocks!!! So I sat back down looking sorry for myself, I was sat looking very sad for about 10 minutes when the Air Namibia head walked past, looked at me and then walked back to where he came from. Two minutes later he and another staff member approached, he said he changed his mind and handed me a new seat number….business class!!!! RESULT!! So I ended up having a very comfortable flight to Windhoek and actually managed to get some sleep. Never underestimate the power of the English charm!

I was relieved to finally land back on Namibian soil, and this time I had my visa on me and there was no 8 hour wait in customs! I picked up a rental car Kate had hired and was very proud of myself to find my way out if Windhoek and back to CCF without getting lost! It was great to get back to CCF and see everyone again and found myself feeding cheetahs within an hour of getting back! At Boskop I gave the dogs a big hug and they love the doggie treats I brought back for them, and Kate also liked her English souvenirs, however she is really not a fan of my English gentleman hat I brought back which I now like to wear just to annoy her. Ha ha
The day I came back was also the day we sadly had to say goodbye to one of our volunteers, Ashley, who has been awesome. So we took the rental car and had a nice meal at Otjibamba, one of the best restaurants in town. In getting there we must have set a new world record as we managed to cram 14 people into one car! It was a great evening. If you are reading this Ashley good luck with whatever comes next and we will miss you, you’d better come back next year!!

Feeding all the cats the next day was great, and it was especially great to see my Xena again, who greeted me in her usual loving way with hisses, spits, growls and paw slaps. She and the other 3 girls are now trained to run behind the feeding car for their meat. She is an amazing runner and looks beautiful in full flow; she really is the greatest cheetah to have ever lived!!

My first week back saw the arrival of 21 International Course participants and 7 Earthwatchers so it has been pretty crowded. However, the course people are very nice and the Earthwatchers have been great!! One of them is probably the coolest person I have ever met, his name is Dennis and he is a doctor for the movie industry and during his career he was the doctor on the set of…wait for it……BAYWATCH!!!! And you know what that means??! Yes that’s right, he has actually met the HOFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was bowled over when he told me, it has been amazing to get so close to someone who has actually been in the presence of the great man!


The others have been a pleasure to have here as well, including Swiss married couple Michael and Michaela who are one of best looking couples in history and would therefore also be one of the most annoying if they weren’t so nice. I will miss Michael especially as we have had lots of laughs and have a lot of shared interests, including an appreciation of the hoff!! For so long I have been the only one here championing the great man so it was great to meet someone else who knew the words to the classic hit ‘Looking for Freedom’ and sang along with me loud and proud! I will also be forever grateful for his suggestion of putting Amarula in custard…..liquid heaven!

It was littleC’s birthday last week and as a treat we gave him a donkey head all to himself. His pen mates Ron, Ndunge and Shunga also got one and watching them tear into their meals was very entertaining. They were still chewing on them the next morning and their bellies were huge so as we didn’t want them to explode we didn’t feed them that day.

I also had a very interesting experience with a vicious baby warthog! I was feeding Cruise with Jess, a new volunteer and some of the Earthwatchers when we heard this awful screaming coming from the silver pens where Klein, Merlot and Josie live. I ran over only to find Josie in his feeding area with a baby warthog in his mouth. I started shouting and he dropped it, only for him to pounce on it again. The little warthog fought like a demon and managed to wriggle free where I was then able to close the feeding area guillotine, separating predator and prey. Ok, now some of you are asking why I just didn’t let Josie finish him of? Well, baby warthogs are damn cute and the screaming was HORRIBLE to listen to! Most importantly Josie could have taken hours to kill the poor lil guy so I made the split decision to spare the baby warthog’s life… Ok! So the task at hand then was to try and get the warthog out, but the lil feller was psycho!!! He was attacking the fence and trying to get to Josie who was still trying to get to him through the fence and when Klein and Merlot came to investigate he charged at them too!

I fed the cats to get them out of the way and myself and Jess entered the feeding area armed with gloves and sticks. The warthog saw me and came at me full speed, with one intention….murder! I managed to get out the way but back he came for more! Jess and I tried for several minutes to herd the warthog out of the enclosure but he was having none of it, and he kept charging, biting Jess’ jeans in the process. We were left with one option, I just had to grab him and chuck him out. So Jess distracted him with the stick and I, like a Ninja, snuck up from behind and lunged forward, grabbed the warthog’s back legs and hoisted him up in the air! He screamed and wriggled as I walked out of the feeding area. I then threw him forward away from the enclosure only for him to turn straight back around and charge at me again!! I had to smack him about the face karate kid style a couple of times and make him turn around where he then realised freedom was in front of him and of he went! Phew! It was a titanic battle worthy of heroic song and maybe one day a blockbuster movie.

My interesting tales doesn’t end there though as I had one of the most amazing mornings of wildlife sightings ever. I had dropped of the volunteers at the hides in our game camp for their 12 hour waterhole count and on the way back I decided to head towards the big field and enjoy the sunrise; it was about 6.30 in the morning. I was halfway down the road heading towards the big field where I then saw something unusual sat in the middle of the road. It appeared dark and my initial thought was wow, a brown hyena?! So I crept forward and it slowly dawned on me that what I was actually looking at was a leopard cub!!! I glanced to the left and on the opposite side of the fence that was along the road was another cub! I couldn’t believe it. I turned of the engine and sat there for 15 minutes watching the cubs who didn’t seem that bothered by the huge people carrier in front of them. I took some pics which aren’t amazing but I did take a really good video but unfortunately internet here is too crap for me to upload it. The cubs eventually ran of into the bush and I continued my journey home. As I was driving along the big field I was greeted by another amazing sight, a HUGE herd of Eland. Eland are the biggest and most elusive antelope here so to see so many was awesome, they saw me and started to run. Seeing this spectacle in the light of the sunrise was pretty amazing. But it gets better!! I was almost back to CCF and I was driving past our old quarantine pen which is no more than a 100 metres from the Hot Spot (our dining area), when there, right in front me, sat in a tree was ANOTHER leopard!! I screeched the car to a halt right in front of the tree and for a few magical seconds I sat there staring right into the eyes of what appeared to be a beautiful female. I slowly reached for my camera but as I did the leopard climbed down the tree and ran of into the bush. UNBELIEVABLE! Needless to say I told everyone back at CCF what I had seen and understandably they were extremely envious!

Last night we had a party to say goodbye to the Earthwatch team and a great time was had by all, for once it is very sad to say goodbye them. I dressed up smart for the occasion and everyone agrees that my hat is super cool, everyone that is apart from Kate who still hates it! But Dennis says I looked amazing and remember, he’s met the hoff so he knows a thing or two about style!

So there we have it, a pretty interesting return to life here at CCF!

Back Home

Well, its time for me to head back to CCF tomorrow which is just as well as my tan is fading and my tummy is growing rapidly due to all the food I've been chucking down my throat! Its been really great seeing family and friends again, especially my mum, sis and Nan who I do miss quite a lot.

It felt very strange being back and the weather was not what I have become used to! Granted the fact that I walked out of the airport in shorts, t-shirt and flip flops didn't help but boy was it cold!!! I arrived home and discovered that the house looked rather different with a new front door, new windows, a new sofa and I also found that my bedroom had been converted into a computer room. So i have been sleeping in the loft which has been pretty cosy and the first day I was able to sleep in was GLORIOUS!!!! One day I am proud to say, I did not emerge from my bed until 3pm!! I haven't spent all my time sleeping however, during my first week back I went to London with my sis with the aim of meeting up with CCF vet tech Rachael, who was catching a connecting flight at Heathrow, however the airport staff wouldn't allow her to enter the check in area and so we were unable to see her :( This was bad enough but considering we had had to leave early in the morning at peak time the train tickets cost us £55 each!!! So me and sis decided to have breakfast at the airport and I had one of the nicest full English breakfasts I've ever had! Just look how happy I am in the pic below!

Seeing as our trip to London had already cost us £110 collectively we decided to make a day of it and we went to the Tower of London and then onto Covent Garden where we had a nice Italian. It was a great day but boy were we exhausted when we got home.

One of the things i'v missed the most is going to the movies and I have been to see quite a few since being back and here are my verdicts: Angels and Demons - pretty average, not as exciting as the book and Tom Hanks just isn't right in the role. Wolverine - Lots of nice explosions but that's about it, pretty disappointing. Drag Me to Hell - One of the best horror movies ever made! Thoroughly enjoyed it. Star Trek - AMAZING! You do NOT have to be a trekkie to enjoy this, honest!! I'm also going to see the new Terminator film tomorrow just before leaving for the airport, very excited!

Another thing or should I say things I've missed have been my cats!! Sadly Saffie passed away a couple of months ago but it was great seeing our two ginger boys Sam and Robbie and it took me a while to become accustomed to just how small they were as I'm used to the bigger variety these days! When I first went to say hello they ran a mile from me which made me a bit sad but they soon remembered who I was and it was just like old times and Sam often kept me company on my bed at night :)

I'v tried to meet up with as many friends as I can but sadly due to one reason or another its not been possible to meet up with everyone. If you are wondering why I have no pics of said friends then thats because I was a total idiot and left my bag containing my camera on a train and it has never been seen again, so I hope the bastard who took it and didn't hand it in is enjoying their new toy.

I've spent quite a bit of time with the family and had some really nice days out including a day at the coast in Bournemouth where I picked up some super cool sunglasses and had an English cream tea and a proper English fish and chips! oh yeah!! We also went to see my grandad in his new home and was glad to find him well and happy.

It was my birthday on the 28th of May and I am now two years away from 30 which is a pretty scary thought!! To mark this glorious event I had almost the whole family come round for a BBQ (by this point the weather had significantly improved) and a jolly time was had by all with Mum doing her usual great job with the barbecuing. Although I did miss a tasty bit of Oryx! One of my birthday treats was to go to London with Mum and sis and see the Lion King musical which was fantastic! I don't usually like musicals as the songs usually suck but this had great, catchy tunes so I loved it and it made me pine for Africa.

So thats about it, I've enjoyed my holiday and I will be sad saying goodbye to my family tommorow but I'm looking forward to getting back as I miss the cats, especially my Xena! :)

So cheerio England, i'm heading back to my African adventure!

One Hell of a Crappy Week!

So here is the story of quite possibly the worse week of my time here at CCF. The week started very badly when we had to euthanize on of our cheetahs, Gremlin. Sadly when Gremlin was darted for his annual work up, the dart caused a small fracture (a total fluke of an occurrence) which then grew into a more serious break of his femur. We took him to the vet and a plate was put in but after two weeks of not much improvement it was discovered that the break had got much much worse and that recovering from such a break would be extremely difficult and his quality of life would be very poor so sadly it was decided to put Gremlin to sleep, which upset us all but there was simply no other option. It was very sad to see his pen mate, Josie, all alone the next day and I will miss not being spat at by Gremlin every day when we feed, especially as he had a very distinctive spit with him poking his tongue out at me whenever he did it!

Loosing Gremlin was a big blow so I was looking forward to running our group of 4 boys who are always entertaining. It is important to note that for a cheetah run I am armed with a big spoon and a pouch of meat around my waist to give to the cats as a reward for catching the rag. The run started well with all four boys taking turns in running round the circuit and as per usual we stopped them for a break and to give the tourists the chance to get a bit closer. So I had our 1 year old brothers N’dunge and Shunga with me as well as our 2 year old ambassador cat littleC. Things were going fine but as I turned my head to answer a question from the single tourist seeing the run I felt something tug at my pouch and that something turned out to be littleC who then proceeded to put both his paws around my leg and begin pulling very hard scratching my hand and tearing my shorts in the process, I was able to quickly undo the clip on the pouch and free myself from his grip leaving littleC to enjoy his undeserved prize! My heart rate took a while to go back to normal and was left with the consolation that the tourist found the whole incident very exciting! I was obviously very lucky not to have come out of the incident in a worse state but it did mean I had to go the rest of the day flashing my boxer shorts to everyone, and it would have had to have been the day I was wearing my cheapest Marks & Spencer pair, not very sexy at all!!

The week couldn’t get any worse I thought, oh how wrong I was! My second dance with death occurred whilst we were trying to find 3 cats in the 64ha Bellebenno camp who had recently been put in there and had not shown up for feeding 2 days straight. I was in the back of the bakkie with a few other people calling for them and when we saw a cheetah down a road we had passed we called for Kate, my fellow keeper who was driving, to reverse back so I could see who it was. So she reverses back and stops, right says I, I’ll just quickly jump out and get a better look at the cat and see if its one of our missing girls. So I place my foot on the tail gate and prepare to push of and jump down, however at the exact moment I push of the tail gate the car disappears from beneath me and I find myself falling towards the floor head first……..it hurt. I was left with a bit of a headache and we failed to find the girls. Now when you bang your head like that you are not supposed to drink alcohol, which is good advice, however when you are having a party the very same day it SUCKS!!!!!!!! So I was unable to join in fully with the merriment of Rachael’s leaving party and spent most of the evening in my room nursing my head.

Rachael leaving also sucked, she has been an unbelievable friend to me the last few months, especially during my month of hell poop collecting, if it wasn’t for her wise words and support I think I would have gone insane! She also nursed me during my many ailments, including a cut toe, bad headaches, allergic reactions and the time I had bad wax build up and a mosquito in my ear, yes that’s right, I had a mosquito stuck in my ear.......deal with it! So I am going to miss her a lot :( And as luck would have it the day after she left I got injured again as I stepped on a thorn which went in so deep I couldn’t remove it with my fingers. I had to be brave and manage without Rachael and pulled it out myself with force with a pair of pliers……it hurt.

Every day since I fell on my head we have had to return to Bellebenno with as many people as possible and WALK the pen looking for these missing cats, we managed to find and lock up two of them but the third still evaded us! Walking in the African heat in grass up to your eyeballs every day is not much fun. I don’t think my feet have ever taken as much punishment!

But it doesn’t end there as this morning I woke up and found that Spots had found a way to open the door to my room and had removed various objects and lovingly distributed them all over Boskop. Whilst picking up my belongings I managed to catch my leg on a fallen spiky palm tree leave……it hurt and this time there was blood, a great way to start the morning! His haul included two pairs of flip flops, one of my boots, a pair of jeans, a pair of shorts, socks, food wrappers from my bin, a comfy travel pillow, a mosquito repellent plug-in gizmo and worst of all, my case containing my ipod speakers and beloved ipod!!! Luckily Spots still has the bucket on his head and the only thing he was able to destroy was my travel pillow. The reason my door wasn’t locked is because I have lost my room key so I have had to resort to putting some wooden shelves across my door to make it Spots proof!

So there we have it, a week I will never forget! However, I can end with some good news as we managed to lock up the third cat today!! And tomorrow I am out of here and going on HOLIDAY!!!!!!!! Although the idea of going home to my boring little town of Andover for a holiday is very strange! I am really looking forward to seeing my family and friends again……. especially you Mum!!! So my next blog will be from merry old England, toodle pip!

Yes, even more interesting African wildlife!

That will teach you......or not!!!!

If a person falls asleep in the back of your car what would you do? Well, you'd draw on them in permanent marker of course!!! And thats exactly what I did when Cheri, our vet tech, decided to take a nap on the way back from cheetah feeding, the opportunity was just too good for me to ignore and the results were most ammusing. I was going to give her a moustache and beard but Rachael, our other vet tech, stopped me, saying that that would be too cruel.

So you can imagine my disbelief when the very next day Cheri decides to fall asleep in the back of the car AGAIN! Well this time there was no stopping me and I just had to give her a moustache and beard, I mean come on, she was asking for it!! As you can see the results were again, highly amusing, and if she does it a third time will I do it again? Of course I will!!!