The day I played with a lion’s butthole….

Was today, Saturday.

I am terrible at being able to sit down and type these blogs out, I am continuously distracted, plus the lack of internet connection doesn’t help much either.

But back to the lion’s ass…

Saturday I helped in the transportation of one of our male lions.  We were able to watch him get sedated, help carry him out of his enclosure and into the back of a pick up, where I sat next to him keeping tabs on his temperature, which is taken anally.  Hence the title of this blog.  Not the most pleasant of tasks, though to be honest, it was awesome to help check a lions vitals and sit with him while we took him to another enclosure across the park.  Being able to put my hand against his paw and check his teeth and claws was incredible.  When you are face to face with a full grown male lion, no fences or barriers to protect you, it is one of the most exhilarating feelings there is.  Now that I have done that, I also get to assist next week in going to Victoria Falls to collect two lions from our sister program, and transport them here as well!  This is exactly why I am here, to get the hands on experience of being in charge and handling wild animals.

Speaking of being in charge, I am currently in charge of the park today!  Everyone is out in town or gone to the city, leaving just Liz and I behind to keep the place running.  Of course there are still all the other people here who have been staff awhile and know a whole lot more of what is going on, but while Liz is out driving the volunteers around for their activities and chores, I am sitting here making sure things are staying smooth…so far so good.  No one has needed me for much, and I am hoping it stays that way.  Chaos can be fun, but I am not looking for that when we have 50+ volunteers plus guest to take care of!  I signed up to be in charge of animals, not people.  Though the opportunity to prove that I can handle this type of situation is good for my experience and for those above me to see that I am worthy of this responsibility.

Being able to be a part of this community and watch this program grow is wonderful.  I truly do not understand how people can have these 9-5 jobs of staring at a computer screen, or sitting in an office.  Working with wildlife is such a “blessing” if you can call it that.  Looking into an elephants eyes as you giver her a handful of feed, watching lions run around and play with each other outside of their enclosures, it gives you such a rewarding feeling that you are doing something great in this world.  I can’t wait to do this everyday for the rest of my life.  I’m looking forward to taking what I have learned here and put it towards the research I am helping do with sharks.  I don’t want to leave here, but I am happy to know I get to go back to doing that again.  I want to devote all my free time to working out in the water, helping in whatever way I can.

I have become determined to finish with my BS, then get into my Masters, and kick ass along the way.  Making the connections with people here is going to be so helpful for my future, and keep me focused on my goal.  I can’t believe the time I have wasted not finishing with school already, and being so far behind, but this journey is mine, and the path I am on is still leading towards my final destination, I have just taken enough detours and am set to finish the final leg of my journey.

It’s time for Wendy to leave Neverland and continue growing up.

Though I hope to always stay young at heart.

And continue to

Stay wild.

x

I am a badass

Or at least that’s what I tell myself.

 It is hard not to feel awesome when you are out on a run in “no man’s land”, no sound but the crunch of each bound under your feet, and as you glance down to look at the road you notice you are running along side elephant tracks.  You look up to take in your surroundings and realize for that moment, you are running free in the middle of Africa, no gates to keep out the wildlife, no one around to watch you.  Just you and the wild, becoming one again.

Each day has been an adventure, some days testing my limits, others just pure amusement, none of which really feel like work.  It’s great to work along side people with common interests, a lot of who have a mind similar to my own.  I love my friends back home, but not many of them understand my love for animals, this planet, and why I care so deeply about conservation efforts.  Having others around who can relate to what I’m saying, and seeing the passion in their eyes, makes me feel like I actually belong.

Work  can be frustrating though.  Being a non-profit organization, there isn’t always the amount of hands, tools, or supplies we need to complete a job.  My co-intern, Liz, and I have come up with a behavior enrichment program for the lions, that is on a rotation so each enclosure is getting predatory, foraging, sensory, and habitat enrichment.  We try to make things as close to nature as we can, though we improvise with what we can get our hands on.  It isn’t easy to have such a big plan, when we don’t always have the things we need.  When it does come together though, and when you see the people who work here be excited about a plan, or try to help you in what way they can, it is worth it for the efforts we do give, for we are all trying to get to the same goal of giving our lions the best life possible.

Let me tell you, we get creative with the lack of actual supplies.  Such as making toys out of grass and tree bark, covering it in elephant dung to get their senses going, getting a bunch of “tree rope” (literally just tying  pieces of bark together from a certain tree to get a make shift rope, Erick if you’re reading this, yes, I admit I could have used some rope), but we tie it to a piece of meat, lay it in the enclosure, pull the rope through the fence, and when we let the lions out, the person holding the rope runs as fast as they can so the lions can chase their “prey”.  Entertainment for both humans and lions, win-win.

All the hard work in the morning comes to an end when it’s after lunch and Liz and I get to go feed the cubs.  I have fallen deep, deeply in love with these babies, and I quite honestly don’t know how I am going to leave them.  Bottle feeding lion cubs is something people don’t do in their wildest dreams, yet I get to raise them and teach them how to be a proper lion.  I have become their jungle gym, teacher, chew toy, scratching post, and mother.  I always knew my babies would be furry, and this only confirms that.  Liz and I are both hoping to come back in a year or two so we can walk them and watch them hunt on their own.  Our little kids all grown up!

I’m not sure if being out here is going to help me settle down, or only make my travel bug grown.  Possibly a bit of both.  I want to finish up school and make this my daily life, and yet I am already planning a few more world trips with the friends I have made out here.  I guess I can make both work, right?!  There is just so much to see, so much to do, and I have only begun to scratch the surface of the world.  One thing I know for sure, all of my travels will involve nature, volunteering, and helping what local animals I can while I am there.  There is nothing more gratifying than leaving a place knowing you have made an impact of the lives of the voiceless.  While also hopefully changing a few minds and the future for some of those species.

The world is our playground, guys.  Don’t stay inside and let it pass you by, go out, make a difference, and play.

Stay wild.

x

What am I doing?

“If you haven’t asked yourself ‘what have I gotten myself into?’ then you’re not doing it right.”-Rolad Gau

I found myself asking this question a few times already on this trip.  Let me tell you–I am doing it right.  These first couple days here have been nothing short of amazing.  I have fallen deeply in love, and see no signs of slowing down.

My days have been filled with horseback riding through the bush, to encounter giraffes and zebras not 15 feet from me, taking 11 month old lion cubs for a walk in the bush, bottle feeding 4 weeks old cubs, wandering around to check on full grown lions who run to greet you and have their head scratched.  If I believe heaven existed, I would be in my own.

Of course it’s not all roses and chocolates.

There is dirty work and hard work that goes into all of this.  A big part of my responsibility is coming up with plans to implement enrichment ideas for all the lions, finding materials for different programs, getting the management to make volunteers help with the work of putting it together, getting rotten, smelly, bloody body parts of different animals transferred out for feedings.  Let’s not forget that lions eat a lot, which means they shit…a lot.  Luckily I don’t really have to clean the enclosures, that’s the volunteers job.  Of course I am here to help though, and I have and will continue to help out when I have a moment.  This program wouldn’t run if it weren’t for all of us pitching in and giving it our best.

I haven’t even been here a week, yet already I am learning so much.  For instance, how to properly layer your clothing for cold weather.  It’s winter time out here, and only getting colder.  Our showers are not in our room, and there are no doors for the shower room.  It’s basically a cement gym shower with wooden doors for privacy.  Hot water runs out quick, and showering in the early morning or late at night is just out of the question.  Small things that you take for granted in the first world make you appreciate things like the 5 minutes of warm water you get to rinse off the sweat, blood, and poo of the day.

It’s all worth it though.  Every bone chilling gust of wind, every splatter of  rotten fetus’s, every ache in my back from shoveling is worth it when I see a full grown male lion running to greet me.  Or have our 4 week old little boy, Penzulu come crying after me as I go to leave.  To know it’s all for a great success story of giving the lion population a chance to hold on and survive.  It’s all that matters.

Today I got to go see the Ngamo pride.  They are ALERT’s success story, so far.  The 6 adult lions were released into an area of 403 acres, and left to not have any more human contact (aside from research trucks observing them) and to fend for themselves, hunting for their own food.  In the years they have been out there, they have mated and had babies.  Without any human help at all, these cubs have grown, and learned to hunt on their own.  They are now a happy pride of 11, sustaining themselves and acting as a wild pride would.  It’s this progress that is getting us closer to a release into the wild.

It’s long, hard, frustrating work at times, but these people have put so much into this and what they are getting out is so much more than all the sacrifices everyone has made to make this happen.

Lions need a fighting chance.  And that’s what we are giving them.

Hope.

Until next time.

Stay wild.

x