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January 17, 2004 Howzit!!! Hi it’s me, and yes I am still alive and kicking. No the Lions, Hippos, Cheetahs, or Leopards have not eaten me yet. I have been here (Tshukudu Game Reserve) just over 6 weeks and I love it with all of my heart. I am going to start at the beginning when I arrived here at Tshukudu so this is going to be a rather long email, but which ones of mine have been short? I left Jo’burg (Johannesburg) early Sunday morning on the 30th of November on the one and only bus that goes to Hoedspruit (Hoedspruit is a very small town near Tshukudu). At first I thought I was going to be the only white person on the bus, but then one other lady got on. It was not a problem that I would be the only white, since I am not racist in the least, but you still feel quite strange when you are not use to being a minority. Our bus stopped in Pretoria, which was not lekker (good, wonderful, extra…) in some ways, but very lekker in others. The other passengers from Jo’burg had brought too much luggage and so had the ones from Pretoria so it was not going to all fit on the bus. I luckily had only one suitcase in the underneath storage and two carry-ons under my seat. So I was fine. Others were not being allowed to take all of their luggage. Also some other white people got on the bus. A young Africaans man sat next to me and we talked the whole trip. At first he tried to talk to me in Africaans and I had to say that I only spoke English. He is going to University in Pretoria and plays for the Rugby team on a scholarship. It was the holiday for him and he was going to visit his friend up in Phalaborwa. I really had been dreading sitting on a bus for six plus hours with only my music, book, and magazines. The hardest thing in life is meeting the most wonderful people, spend a few precious hours with them, and then you will never see them again. I arrived in Hoedspruit 2 hours late, but oh well at least I made it. Duncan (a ranger at Tshukudu) picked me up in what we call the Zebra car. Literally the car looks like a zebra, it was originally fire engine red then Duncan painted it white with black strips. I was laughing so hard when he pulled up in it. We went to the Bush Camp and I met my new home, and then Duncan took me up to the main lodge so that I could meet everyone there. My first week at Tshukudu was an unusual week @ the lodge. The Rangers were all being evaluated. This is a new requirement by the government, so no one had any idea of how things were going to go. Needless to say all of the Rangers were quite stressed, even though if they did not pass they did not lose their jobs. It is actually quite weird. There was one other volunteer (Marianne) who arrived the same day as me and then another (Stefanie) on Monday morning. Marianne is a 19-year-old student at the hotel management school in Cape Town and is doing her practical here. Stefanie is 32 and from Germany. Her boss has been here several times and was a volunteer for a month, and he recommended it for her. The best part about it is that we are all BLONDE!!! We became known as the three musketeers. Now I have some very sad news and I cried when Duncan told me on the way to the Reserve. Nonsense, or Ntako, the baby elephant was killed 2 weeks before. It was mating season for the Rhinos and there is a very high drought at the moment. Sadly, the most aggressive male Rhino went after Ntako because she was to close to the water and a female who was in heat. He put his horn right through her stomach. They tried to operate, but she only made it through the night. Everyone was very upset and it is still a very touchy subject due to the fact of how her body was disposed of. Some felt it should be buried, while others said they should feed it to the lions, since that is how she would have gone in the wild. I really do not know what I would have done if it was my decision, but I miss her dearly, so I cannot imagine how the Rangers are handling it. My first two days at Tshukudu were spent feeding the animals. I went out with two of the black workers. We loaded the truck with Lucerne (alfalfa) and a large container of Molasses. Then you drive around to the different dams or feeding areas around the Reserve. You spread out the Lucerne and mix it in with the large bales of grass that are already there. Then you pour the molasses on top of it. This is being done twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. When we hopefully get more rain we will be able to stop the feeding when the new grass begins to grow, but right now there is just not enough food for the animals. The later part of the week I was trained as a hostess. What they do with the volunteers is have you work one week at the lodge and then two or three weeks out in the bush. Which is fair as far as I am concerned. This was also the easiest thing for me to be doing since the Rangers were all preoccupied with their evaluations. When I work as a hostess, I am @ work at 7:00 a.m. checking the stock before breakfast. After breakfast I pack the cooler boxes for the game drives and then finish all of my numbers and stock up all the fridges. If I am done early I go to the office and see what else needs to be done. Lunch is at 12:30 p.m. Siesta time is from 2:00 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. I then have to pack boxes for the afternoon game drive. I do not have to be back at work until 6:45 p.m., since supper is at 7:30 p.m. Then I am up until all of the guests go to bed, which sometimes is not until 10:30 p.m. or later. I did this for my first week, which was a nice way to really start off my stay. I was able to become familiar with my new environment and also the staff’s names came quicker, since I was around them more. It is also a nice way to interact with the guests, because if you are just working in the bush then you do not see them except at meals, and you have no idea what their names are. Breakfast and lunch take place on the veranda, along with the afternoon tea. Dinner takes place in the Boma, which is an enclosed area outside that has tables, a bar and a place for the food, which is all around the fire pit. Right now we do not really need a fire going and most nights we do not want a fire because it is too hot, but I can imagine in the winter that it feels absolutely wonderful. All of the meals are served buffet style, that way you can choose what you want and how much. After my first week was up they gave me two days off. I got up and went on the morning walk, and a game drive in the afternoon, otherwise I slept, tanned in the sun, or read my book. My first day in the bush I got to feed the lions. Riann, Vicky and I all went out. Our meat of the day was calf. Most of these were cut in half with the electric saw, but other pieces were so small we did not have to cut it any further. We loaded it all in a trailer and attached it to one of the game drive vehicles. Now what is supposed to happen is you are to throw the meat over the electric fences, which are about 9+ feet tall. Well we will just say that I was not able to get the meat up and over the fence, it was all too big and heavy for me. Riann actually did most of the work. While we were in some of the camps I was the lookout person for those lions who would try to sneak up on us to get at the meat in the trailer. The quality of the meat was actually quite good, compared to what it is a lot of time, but my hands still stunk for a long time and you do not want to put them anywhere near your face. Overall the experience was great and it will make cutting up chicks at Free Me’s a piece of cake. (Free Me’s is an animal rehabilitation center in Johnannesburg which is where Katelyn is supposed to go in February.) Since I did this all what seems like weeks and weeks ago I cannot remember all that I have done since, so some of this is going to be a little scrambled. I worked in the bush for a week doing everything from checking fences, to feeding the animals, and any other maintenance that needed to be done around the property. I also spent a couple of days in the office helping send out the lodges newsletters: fold, fold, stuff, lick envelope, lick stamp, lick stamp, lick stamp, lick stamp, lick stamp, lick stamp. Ya mom I know I should be used to it from doing all of the ones for us, but multiply our number by at least 10!!! Stefanie (the woman from Germany) left after completing her three weeks here and those of you who know me well enough know that I cried my eyes out. She and I had become really close and it was so nice to have a female to talk to. While she was still here, Mariaan, Stef and I would sit out by the pool and look up at the stars just talking. We also slept out one of the nights down at the bush camp. It was so much fun!!!! Sadly when she left the three blondes were no longer. A couple of days before Christmas I moved up to the lodge because Duncan’s brother was coming to visit and needed a place to stay closer to Duncan. So I moved in with Nicole and Mariaan. It was cool to have the three of us girls together. We got along great. You would be surprised at how well three girls can share such a small bathroom. The move up to the lodge was a good one too because I was the only one available to work as the hostess over the Christmas week since the other volunteer was off and Mariaan had to be in the kitchen. It was a bit hectic, but not to bad. Christmas was really weird here. I was running around in a tank top and shorts sweating like a pig. (It was 96 degrees F. or 35.5 degrees C.) They had some decorations up, but most of the guys around here were not into Christmas at all. They really don’t like the carols, which is one of the best things, I think. Lunch is the big celebration here on Christmas Day, and they open up their presents the night before. I received my package from home a couple of days before, so I did not feel left out to say the least. I opened my PJ’s on Christmas Eve, just like I do every year, and thank goodness Santa was smart and bought me summer ones or I would have boiled to death. After I was done being the hostess during Christmas, I was given 4 days off. I wish that they would have told me a little sooner that I would be getting that much time off, then I could have organized to go back to Jo’burg. The getting down there was not a problem, the return was. So instead I stayed at the lodge and had a restful and fun New Years. It rained that night, so the bon fire down at one of the dams was cancelled, but we still had music and everything up at the lodge on the veranda. The worst thing of the evening was that the girl, who was the hostess, was bitten on the foot by a snake. So that meant when I came back to work that I was going to be the hostess again. Yah it was not what I wanted to do, but hey that happens in life. On my last day off Nicole had to go to Tzaneen to do some shopping. She was moving to her first job at another lodge so she had to furnish her new room. I went with her and it was so nice to get out for a bit. We had such a fun time that day, just the two of us. I bought some sandals that I will be able to wear when I work out in the bush, and a few other things. I went back to work as the hostess and was there for a little over a week before we received some new volunteers. I trained the two girls for a day and then was able to go back out into the bush. I have been doing whatever is needed, feeding, checking fences, painting, and tree clearing. It has been hot. The other day it was 104 F. or 40 C. in the shade. I had a couple days where I was feeling ill and I took a day off and slept to get well and then went back to work. Now I have two days off and it is quiet so I am finally getting this letter finished. I know that I have left out a ton of things, but I wanted to let you all know that things are great. I will be leaving Tshukudu around the 29th, because I am going on a backpacking trip with the other Rotary exchange students and it leaves on the 31st. So sadly my time here is drawing to an end. At least I should be back once more in April, with Mom and Dad, when they come to visit. Till next time, Katelyn
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