Sorry it's been so long....

Sorry everyone, I had problems getting in to edit my blog.

So what's been going on.....well I did hit the greens last Sunday and had a great time. It does get a little hot by lunch time but we were o.k. once we hit the 19th hole. Afterwards we went over to the Zambezi Sun which is a beautiful hotel which if you buy a cocktail you can use their pool...take one guess on what we did!! As we are sitting around the pool wild zebras just walk on buy (see photo). Apparently you can see giraffes, impala and other game as well if you are lucky. Anyhow...very nice hotels here if you can get here.

I have to say it's amazing that all I have to myself here is a little room that's maybe 7 x 9 feet and it doesn't bother me at all. I've been able to see quite a bit of Livingstone now and it still amazes me how friendly everyone is. Everyone and I mean everyone literally waves to each other here...it's just so friendly.

I have managed to make it to Victoria Falls as well yesterday. It was absolutely beautiful. You pretty much walk through the spray of the falls which is like a wicked rain fall. There was a double rainbow too...yes Jordan a double rainbow. I can't wait for you to see it in person!! Afterwards we went over to the Royal Livingston hotel where we had cocktails right on the water.....is anyone seeing a theme here or is it just me??? Next Sunday "high tea" where for 18$ you can eat as much as you want of cakes, tarts, sandwiches and quiche....there goes the weight loss.

Anyhow enjoy some of the pics and hopefully video will be up shortly when I have enough power to load one.

Cheers,
Vick xoxo

p.s. Marco let me know when we can chat :)

Just a little update

Hey everyone...well time is passing and of course there are a few more stories.

First, the dancing...a big group of us went into town the other night for some dinner and authentic Zambian music. This was a place for the locals. It was such an awesome time and some of the locals tried teaching us some of their dances. One thing that I have to say is that the Zambian people are wonderful and very inviting. We danced until about midnight but not before seeing some of their dancers perform some of the traditional dances. I'm not really sure how someone can move like that and at one point one of the dancers was on another girls back dancing. The poor thing looked like her neck could snap at any moment.

Second, the hunt.....we went out on a day encounter last week where we rode in a safari style truck while 4 of the big girls were let out to hunt. We were very lucky to see them take down a wildebeest right in front of us. I had to block my ears for a moment but these were skilled girls so it did not take very long. Leah was the lion who actually caught the wildebeest by the neck and did not let go until it died (see photo of Leah). two of the other girls came in to help and Loma sauntered in when it was all done and sat down for a meal. We then left the 4 girls out in the release site in order to finish off their meal. It was both amazing and hard to watch at certain points but that's nature.

What's plan for this weekend you ask...golfing. That's right I'm hitting the greens while I'm here.

Stay tuned!!

OMG.....

OMG what a day yesterday!! I can officially check off my life list "being charged by an elephant" We were out on ele research driving through the park when we suddenly hear behind us the trumpet horn noise of an elephant. He actually gave himself away because we had passed him and didn't notice him in the bushes. So this is where is starts to get crazy...he comes out on the road and faces us (see photo) and starts to flap his ears and walk directly towards us. David (previous post picture) moves forward a bit which seems to please the ele as he starts to turn into the trees again. In the trees though he still walks towards our direction and decides to charge our of the trees and towards us. Well David seems to have problems getting the truck into first gear so the ele is getting real close. So close that the ZWA scout has to shoot a warning shot in front of the elephant to make him stop. David finally got the car in gear and took off. Let me tell you that if our hearts would have been monitored it would have been through the roof.

Now story #2....I was not involved in this but too good a story not to tell. My friend Marie and Nick were out on one of the walks with the cubs when barreling through the trees comes 2 rhinos. Like elephants these guys can be very close before you actually hear them. As they turned around the 2 Rhinos were coming straight at them and were about 5 meters aways...that is way too close for an animal that size. Within the next few seconds one lion handler was up a tree, 2 others ran another direction, Marie and Nick hid behind a tree that a Rhino could snap with his tail and the scout was able to fire off a shot that made them change direction. Sweet mother....I think Marie nearly needed to check into the hospital with shock.

Even with these two events we laugh at them after it's over once the heart rate goes down.

Last night we all went out to 2 of our manger's house for a BBQ. It was really nice to be able to hang out for a night and laugh.

Cheers.....

Buzzed around town...

Well yesterday was my day off so myself, Nick & Marie (Scottish couple volunteering) went into town for the day to buzz around and get to know the place. There are actually some really nice restaurants here. We actually went out Saturday night as well to a restaurant called Arts Cafe which is owned by a Canadian couple who now live here. So on Sunday we headed to Kilimanjaro's for lunch which was awesome. We decided after this that we would hit one of the local markets to see what it was like. I'm not going to lie...we were a bit hesitant at first because there were people everywhere and it's just on a dirt road with little shacks as stalls for selling. My friend Marie had the daylight scared out of her when a man came out yelling something at her put then just said hi and walked on. In the end he was handicapped and was just excited to say hi which was cute. We buzzed around and everyone was so friendly and not pushy at all to buy. We hit one stall that all swatches of material. It was so beautiful to see all of the colors. My friend ended up buying some to make pillows at home.

We hit the grocery store next to pick up a few snacks and supplies. I needed a themes because sometimes we are gone from 7-12:30 and you need some coffee to get you through.

We then had some coffee at a pub and watched the footy game....yes you have to be into football (soccer) here. It was quite the game and Man United won the big game!! ha ha....no more hockey to discuss so why not. To finish things off we went out to a seafood place that was wonderful...King fish and prawns..yummy.

Today we headed out on Ele research again but unfortunately none today. There were many giraffe and we saw a huge croc which was in the middle of the road until we came right up to it....scary stuff. On our ele research trips we always have to have a ZWA (Zambian Wildlife Association) scout with us. It's quite daunting because they all carry riffles. They have to come on each lion walk as well. They are not too careful on how they hold it or where they point it!! Here is a picture of a scout and David one of our drivers.

That's all for now...Cheers!

My new job....

Well I'm close to being a week in and I can't believe how much I have already seen and done. Yesterday I went out to the Dambwa site which holds the 9 lions that will be released in September to watch their feeding. I was on Vulture duty for research purposes because the numbers for Vultures are also declining so they are trying to understand the number of Vultures in the area and what their habits are. I was able to spot 2 circling above us and correctly identified the species of Vulture and the sex. I felt very proud of that one!! Unfortunately I also had to ride in the back of a truck with a cut up donkey....it's not all pretty :(

Yes my transportation on any given day here is usually sitting in the back of an open cab truck...there apparently a false sense of security here. To up it a notch I also stand in the back of the truck when we are doing elephant research and on the look out for them. I have a picture here of the family of 8 elephants that we tracked today....very cool. We actually had to boot around several different ways to ensure that we could just park the truck and hopefully they would just walk by. They are sneaky though...you would think that you could lose an elephant but they are that good!!

On the way back from the research trip we pulled over on the side of the road to get some pics of the falls in the distance. It's quite spectacular from a distance so I can't wait to see it up close.

On another note we have been striking up a game of Uno (yes Uno) each night and so far I am the champ 3 nights in a row...I think I'm pissing them off.

Well that's it for now. Please keep the comments coming...it helps me feel at home. Jordan thanks for the note...and the sarcasm!! ha ha

Cheers

Lions and Storks and Giraffes...oh my!

Well I'm finally all settled in here. My bag arrived yesterday and I don't think I have ever been so happy to see my luggage in my life. It's been very hot during the day this week and humid at night so 1 pair of jean and pj pants can only go so far :( I literally hugged my bag when I saw it and maybe had a slight tear in the corner of my eye. We had a tour of town yesterday which is cute and has all the things anyone would need. We had a tour of an elementary school as well which was very cute. We then hit a grocery store which I was excited about in order to buy some snacks for the evening.

Today I started off with some free time to unpack. Clean clothes, a shower with soap and brushed my teeth with toothpaste....I felt like 1.5 million $$. I went out on a cub walk this morning as well. They are sooo cute and one of them bonded with me even though she will not tolerate many people. I headed out for elephant research for the afternoon which finally we found elephants and many more animals. We turned a bend in the road and there were 3 male elephants just standing there eating leaves from a tree. We then have to bounce into action and take pictures and start assessing their body conditions. One of the main ways that you can identify and elephant is by their ears. Most have little chips out of their ears which is usually unique. After that we ended up seeing zebras, wilderbeasts, lizards, giraffes, impala, a croc, baboons, monkeys and warthogs....and that was in a span of 2 hours.

Here are some pics for you guys to see a little of my surroundings...Cheers.

I'm here....without luggage

Hi everyone.....well so far so good except for the fact that I only have my carry on baggage still. My big hockey bag didn't seem to make it all the way here yet. Here's hoping it will be here today otherwise my clothes will start walking on their own. I have already been on my first lion walk yesterday which was really nice. I was with a group of people from Malaysia which was cool for the reason of seeing their faces when the lions came out. It was so amazing to be with them again and petting them. After that I came back to my room and settled in. I was having a hard time staying awake but managed to do so and get through supper. As I finished supper it seemed very late so I headed towards bed....oh wait it was only 6:30. Earlier in the day I had a quick tour of the bathroom and shower area and was told to be careful at night for snakes and hippos because they come up to feed sometimes on the grass....well that was comforting!! So when 9:30 came around and I had to hit the loo I tried everything to convince myself that I didn't need to but 6:30 a.m was a little far away. I bit the bullet and did a snake stakeout....I survived!!

Today I started by heading down to one of the future release sites where there are about 12 lions right now. We had to feed one that literally almost died 2 weeks ago because she has stomach issues and had to have a surgery. She looked great this morning though and has made it back to good health. Afterwards I toured around the grounds to get to know the area. There are about 7 elephants that live next door to our program as well which is really cool. I then had a meeting to start to review some of the projects that I will be working on. This afternoon I start on elephant research. Now that we are going into winter and the water is going down in the Zambezi river the wild elephants are coming back. I will also be conducting some lion behaviour research as well for the next few weeks...it's all very exciting.

I haven't started taking pictures yet but that will start today so that I can give you all some understanding as to where and how I am living.

Talk to ya soon.....

2 flights down...1 to go

Hey everyone,

I have made it successfully to Johannesburg. Only one flight left to get to Livingstone. I promise you that I am going to be very honest about how things are going along this journey. So with that....I think it hit me on the plane that this is not a vacation. Of course I had the scheduled crying session yesterday morning as Jordan, Judy and Cindy bid me farewell at the airport. It's a very bizarre feeling knowing that I will not be going home for a long while....I'm nervous. I have feelings of excitement too but right now anxiety is my best friend!! :) So I'm going to board the next plane soon so ta ta for now...

Talk soon

xoxo