I'm still alive...this might be a little long!!

Hi Everyone,

o.k. to start off we had a wicked storm 2 days ago that took out the power. We have been running on generators but we couldn't use the computer so everyone has been going a little willy ever since!! BTW, you may see me use British slang now because I have been engrosed in it.

To recap: Since arriving in Bulawayo, I ended up staying with the mother of the lodge owner because he didn't have room that night at the lodge. It was interesting but I couldn't stay awake after 6:30 so i headed off to bed. The next day I had to jump on the local bus to get here. A whole 2 white people and man did we stick out with our luggage. Needless to say I sat in the front out of fear!! In the end it was fine and i made it to Gweru. At the stop I was hoping to see someone and sure enough Simba was there. Not the lion from the Lion King but my group leader. It was only a 10 minute ride to base camp so all was good.

Now what have I been doing: Well every day we are up at 6:00 and get ready for our first job of the day which is at 6:30 sharp. Everything is very punctual here which feeds my OCD very well. We eat at 8:30 and then we have another task from 9:30 to 12:00. We eat lunch and then we have two more tasks in the afternoon. We have a staff meeting at 6:30 to know what we will do the next day and then we are done for the day. The evening usually consists of supper which we all dig into and then sitting by the fire or in the volunteers lounge. Staying up is a challenge since the days are long and tough.

What have been some of my activities so far: Elephant cleaning, elephant rides, horse training and riding today, tour of the phase 2 site, and snake training. Did i mention that during the elephant cleaning I got some in my eye and all the way up my back. It's a story that i keep thinking of. Now the lions....I have lion walks everyday and sometimes a few times a day. I have been with the little cubs that are only a few months old, 11 month old, 15 month old and today I will be walking with full grown lions. It is incredible!! It's actually unbelievable that you walk and touch these lions. With one group, which we call the TM's, you can walk with them and have their tail in your hand. We sat with two lions that are new yesterday and not quite used to people interactions. Basically we call this cub sitting and we want to get them used to human contact so that they eventually go on walks.

Well there is a big cue for the computers so I will sign off now and get one again later with hopefully a few pics.

Bye from Zim