3rd February
The weeks ends are a little different on the farm, no chores as such apart from feeding the animals & the baby baboon walk.
I was lucky enough to be on the baby baboon walk, a handful of older baboons also go on the walk. Abraham & Moses are generally the guys who do the cheetah & baboon walks, Abraham is a man of very few words & always made me smile because most days he had a white Bambi t~shirt on, white isn’t really a colour I would wear working with baboons lol & BAMBI ~ he is a manly looking man & I just found it really funny, he takes his job very seriously & whilst he says very little, he does seem to care deeply for both the baboons & cheetah he walks, if he see’s any wild baboons coming towards his troupe, he’s off chasing them away, it’s really quite touching.
The baby baboons are looking for a lift from the get go, unlike the more independent bigger baboons, they will come along side & put their little arms up for a lift, usually sitting on your shoulder & holding on to your head & often when they feel steady, their hands will start dropping & always seem to rest over your eyes, not awfully helpful.
Shrinky goes out with the babies, she also lives with them, due to her brain damage, the older ones would kill her. Despite her brain damage, Shrinky has received physio & is able to walk, she is quite an amazing girl, happy in her own world.
You can’t beat being sat out in the dessert with a bunch of baby baboons doing their thing, playfighting, tree climbing, flopping down on us when they want a rest, the very youngest quite like to snuggle in your t-shirt for a rest, the older baboons like to take responsibility for the smallest, even though they are all orphans & not related, gathering them up & giving them to the humans they know the most, it’s very funny to see.
The whole experience is a complete privilege & something you never tire of, even the fact that when we go back, they divide off into their correct enclosures, it fascinated me every time & of course ~ bottle feeding the two youngest is a treat !!
Lunch was quite heavy, pasta & bolognese.
I spent the afternoon at the tent, it thundered all afternoon & into the night, when the lightening started, the sky was black, not a star or moon, but Namibian lightening is quite a spectacle.
Diner was a ‘brai’ or barbecue, later than weekday diner, but well worth it, LOVELY pork & mutton chops, toasted sandwiches which I expected to be awful done on a BBQ, but actually they were the most delicious I have ever had, cheese, tomato & onion, a lovely potato salad.
Although diner was an hour later, the rain still started right on cue & cooled down the evening which was a relief!!
The Wildlife Volunteer 