Baby lions!

As I said yesterday, today was our day off and we headed down the road to a white lion breeding facility. I'm disappointed that I'm missing out on cheetah babies here at the centre, but got lucky today as the lion park had two wee cubs only a month old. Zeus and Annie were completely adorable, still finding their feet and stumbling all over the place. They both took a liking to my bag and enjoyed chewing the strap! Zeus is the wee brown lion and Annie the white cub. There were also some older lions, including several adults we didn't get close enough to to photograph. 

Photos below, and I'll do a separate post with some of me cuddling Zeus from my phone :)

Tomorrow will be an interesting day as we have a group of 16 American school kids coming to do a day's work. Estelle is also going to pick up another volunteer from the airport, then 3 more arrive Saturday so the house will be much fuller. 

Cheetah Kisses

Tonight I can give you an example of just how affectionate Nala can be! She is super snuggly, and she loves to kiss! Check out the video link:

http://youtu.be/TqMjvLDa7fk

The morning today was taken up with cleaning out the mice, rats and rabbits again - a regular Monday job! There are babies of all 3 which are very cute. 

Tomorrow we are having our day off early because Wednesday is very busy and Thursday is slaughter day. So we are off to see some lion cubs at a nearby wildlife park! So expect some cute photos :)

In the meantime some more of the lovely Nala. 

Cheetah run and Pablo

Ok so it appears the app version of blogger won't let me upload a video directly. I think I've managed to get it on YouTube, link below. 

As I said in the last post, it is not a very good video anyhow but gives you an idea. Sometime during my stay I'll try to get better footage and with any luck some good still shots. 

http://youtu.be/PANg4Ouyt-I

Unrelatedly I managed to get a good couple of shots of Pablo for the first time this morning. He is not particularly friendly but he came for a chat at the fence today :) check out the gorgeous ear tufts! 

One Week Down

It is hard to believe I've been here for over a week now. I know the time will continue to fly by, but I'm certainly doing my best to make the most of it! 

Yesterday morning we had our first cheetah run. This has to happen early in the morning so that it's not too hot. There were about 13 people booked in for this one at 8am, though cheetah runs are not always for the public. It was very cool to see the cats really going for it! The lure machine manages about 90kph so they were probably getting to about 85. Nala had two goes first and then we also ran Tessa. Apparently Jasmine is the best runner and just loves it, but she's not allowed at the moment while she's got babies on board! 

I tried to take a movie but I was also in charge of putting the bowl down at the end with a treat so it is not my best videoing skills. It also didn't seem to be my best bowl placing skills, Nala and Tessa kept running straight past me! Nala went head first into the lure machine and ignored me altogether! I'm crossing my fingers I can get the video to upload to here. If it works, you'll be able to see Jasmine running alongside in her enclosure, it was a bit sad she had to miss out!

After that we did some work in the new cheetah camp. On Friday they made a big fire to get rid of a lot of rubbish, so our job yesterday was to collect all the branches etc from around the outside that didn't burn and regather them into the middle for another fire. We only managed to work until about 11.30 though because it became disgustingly hot! As a result the rest of the day was a bit of a write off, we didn't manage cheetah time either because it was just too unpleasant outside. It makes the cheetahs grumpy too, they don't like it any more than we do. 

Today is a lot cooler and much more pleasant. This morning we did the normal water and poo duties though we get to sleep in on a Sunday and start at 8. Then it is bone day, so we give those out then that's it! This afternoon we just relax around the property before getting back into it in the morning. I think it will mainly be working on the new camp this week, there is a lot of debris to be cleared to get it up to scratch. 

Walking Shaka

Apologies for sometimes having to do separate photo posts. It is due to the finicky internet and whether the photos are on my phone or on my iPad. But no matter!

I just wanted to share some photos of me walking Shaka. As I said, he is leash trained and is hopefully going to be a regular part of the public tours. He is completely gorgeous but a bit of a brat - he walks where he wants to walk thank you very much! And as you can see - lies down where he wants to as well!

A couple of extra pics below too, I spent some time with Tiggy this afternoon and just some extra cheetah shots :)

Work around the project

Firstly, thank you so much to the HVS folks for all your questions and comments! It was very exciting to see them all in my email this morning. You've asked some really cool stuff and I'll be sure to go through and reply to them all. 

Lots of you asked about the weather - you'll be pleased to know it has been much better the last couple of days. In fact pretty hot - though not nearly as hot as I was worried it might be when I planned the trip. I think it's been in the late twenties - quite humid but the house stays cool and we finish work for the day around 12 so it's been fine. Thunderstorms and rain are still predicted, and Estelle heard on the radio that it was supposed to rain for all of February!! But so far we've been pretty lucky so here's hoping. 

We've been working hard around the property the last two days. The volunteers are responsible for all sorts of jobs - it takes a lot of work to keep a place like this operating. With all the rain the driveway where the public come in has huge holes. So we have been relocating rocks from the lawn and Nala and Jasmine's enclosure and taking them to fill the gaps! It is a little surreal, I'd be absorbed in filling a wheelbarrow then remember where I was and look up to see a cheetah watching me :) The staff were also busy today burning a whole lot of vegetation and rubbish to clear a new cheetah camp. Next week most of our work will involve preparing this space - raking, pulling out plants, clearing stones etc. 

The hard work is certainly worth it though for the payoff of cheetah time in the afternoon. It is such a nice time - we usually start with Nala and Jasmine as they are the most affectionate. They let you sit next to them, or sometimes they come up to you and demand snuggles! They love to kiss, though they have an incredibly rough tongue so this is not always a good thing! Usually after a while they move off, but it is still lovely to sit near them and watch their behaviour. We have also spent time with Jade who is pretty cuddly, and as you saw in the pictures we've also had some interaction with Shaka. He is a bit too boisterous for us to go in his enclosure, but he is leash trained and can come out and enjoy some pats. I'll post some photos shortly of me taking him for a walk!

Tomorrow should be exciting as there is a cheetah run planned for the morning. That's where they use a lure on the big runway by the enclosures and get the cheetahs to give chase. This emulates their behaviour in the wild as well as giving them good exercise. I'll look forward to reporting back on how it goes!

More photos :)

Mainly a picture post today! I brought my slr camera to cheetah time and got some nice shots of Nala and Jasmine.  We then got Shaka out of his enclosure for a while - he is leash trained and they are trying to get him used to coming out and walking around and being stroked. He is going to be part of the public tours. He is a gorgeous cat, only just over a year and you can see how much younger he is. Very playful too! Watch out or he will grab your shoes!