55. Shadowing a Wildlife Vet

Now that's cute, isn't it?!

Monday morning, I woke up bright and early and still very sleepy at 5am. We drove out to a farm to measure, deworm and eartag a sable, then came back to the Osmers farm and had to do the same for the three of their sables. Bossie, the veterinarian, let me inject some of the animals with their intramuscular injections. After that, Zander and I drove Lyndsey, the girl from Oklahoma to the Three Bridges restaurant/oasis where she caught her shuttle to the Joburg airport. After that, Zander and I went grocery shopping, and fortunately I already knew how to work a Pick’n’Pay. Like a pro J haha! We bought a lot of sandwich stuff and some meat of course and some vegetables and fruit only because I insisted. Men and grocery shopping… pshhhh. (just kidding...mostly.)

In case you're wondering where I am in the world - one of my friends told me she wished she could picture where I am... here is a map showing where I am:

 Zoomed in a little bit more:

And zoomed in a little bit more...

I'm somewhere in the green between that red A dot and the word "Phalaborwa." 

I should also note, this day was a national public holiday in South Africa, because 16 June is Youth Day (the anniversary of the Soweto school march and shooting in 1976), and since it fell on a Sunday, Monday was the public holiday. As a result, there wasn’t a whole lot going on in the afternoon in terms of veterinary appointments. As a result, I spent most of the afternoon hanging out with the Osmers family at Ben’s house, went on a quick game drive to see his black impala (extremely rare animals) and saddleback impalas (also pretty rare). We also went to see the rhinos…there are seven of them living on the farm and so we went and looked at them munching away, grazing. That was cool. On our way back from visiting the rhinos, Zander and I were riding in a four wheeler (ironically, a rhino – kind of like our gator), and a mama ostrich with four babies got really mad and chased us. She was extremely protective and quite aggressive. Her legs got pinkish red in front, apparently a really bad sign, a “you better run like you’re running through hell” kind of sign. So we drove away quite speedily. Ostriches: officially the scariest animal to me. Bossie told me that he'd rather face a buffalo than an angry ostrich. That's saying a lot. Ostriches are super dangerous. Stay away. 

The next day, just on the way to pick up Bossie, I encountered rhinos, giraffes, warthogs, baboons, zebra, vervoet monkeys, steenbock and saddleback impala. What did you see on your way to work? We made a trip to Moholoholo rehab center, a conservation farm right outside Kruger National Park. It has many animals, lots of whom were brought there by Bossie and SA WorldVets because they were injured or orphaned and too young or hurt to fend for themselves in the wild. That’s the nice thing about privately owned animals versus ones in National Parks. Privately owned ones can be rescued and saved. National Parks animals…well you have to let nature take its course. If an animal gets hurt or orphaned or left behind or whatever, you have to just sit back and watch it. I don’t think I could ever have a career in that. Actually, I’m sure I couldn’t. At Moholoholo, since I was a vet student and because of SA WorldVets’ relationship with the rehab center, I got VIP treatment and was allowed to get very up close with some of the animals. With some of them, they try to minimize human contact if they are going to mature/heal to the point of being able to be released back into the wild. If some are never going to heal (for example an endangered vulture species member with a wing that was broken by a power line and had to b eventually amputated), they just let them remain at the rehab center until they die. Which is kind of nice. It’s not the wild, it’s not exactly their natural habitat, but they have huge enclosures and promote conservation education. Since I’m prevet and was with SA WorldVets, I got to meet their cheetah and leopard. The leopard had been caught in a snare and pretty badly injured beyond repair. I got to fed the vultures and batterons (another wild bird species that is endangered). I obviously didn’t touch the honeybadgers, because that would’ve been pretty stupid. We all know how honeybadgers behave. Also, the honeybadgers here were extra bad. 

In the afternoon, we drove to a scenic viewpoint…on the farm. It was gorgeous. I couldn’t believe it was right there. You can see for kilometers and kilometers without interruption. It's incredible! 

 

 

Then we drove to Ben’s place and Ben’s dad shared some biltong (I don’t know what animal it came from...kudu maybe?) with me and then we went to dart a reedbuck that was lame. But the reedbuck ran so fast after it was darted that we couldn’t find it for about fifteen minutes, and by that time it had been lying on its side for so long that it was barely breathing. As a result, we couldn’t treat the lameness and had to immediately wake it up. Wildlife medicine. Ooof. That was a close one. On the way back, the car’s engine caught on fire and started smoking, so that was…interesting. We all leapt out, all the guys ran to lift the hood and look at engine parts and shout things in Afrikaans. Meanwhile, I stood far off to the side until the emergency was over and things were ok and we hopped back in the vehicle and drove back for dinner.

The rest of the week, we worked with lots and lots of animals at lots of different farms. We darted sable, moved them. I got to do some pregnancy tests on cows via rectal exams. Yeah, that means putting most of your arm inside the animal’s rectum to feel around for a fetus.

I got to practice my IV injections a lot on different animals, but it took a lot of trials before I finally got it right, which was really frustrating. We went to a game farm called Selati where Bossie had to move sable and collar rhinos. Casual. All in a day’s work.

Pregnancy diagnosis

We drove past a place called Fawlty Towers that was a hotel/restaurant. For those of you who have never seen this old BBC John Cleese tv show, watch an episode. I promise you won’t regret it. I had kind of forgotten about this show for a while, but Mariah had mentioned it one day and I think she’s the first person I’ve met in college who has seen every episode/heard of Fawlty Towers. So it was fresh on my mind and then I saw it. The next day, we drove past it on the other side, and I saw that it had the signs for all the rewordings of Fawlty Towers, such as “Warty Towels,” “Flowery Twats,” Fatty Owls,” “Farty Towels” and many more. I got a kick out of that.

We went to a farm that had nyala and eland and sable and giraffe, oh and ostriches too, but we never work with ostriches…but this farm was owned by BJ Voerster’s family. For those of you not up on your 20^th century South African history, he was an apartheid-era president of South Africa. I felt really conflicted about being there and it made the whole race conflict/dynamics/apartheid legacy very fresh on my mind. But more about that in another post about culture shock.

             For those of you interested in history: BJ Voerster

Bossie has a bunch of lectures that he gives to students who take his wildlife medicine course, and he emailed me all of them but since it was one-on-one he made it more like a conversation so we got to talk about the things that interested me the most. We talked about zoonotic diseases and how they control them and how moving wildlife policies work and testing animals for various diseases and the epidemiology practices he follows and the Kruger vets follow. It was SO COOL. (Nerd alert, but it’s my passion, so no shame.)

One night I was walking to my chalet to go to sleep and a loud sound of something crashing through the trees/grass in front of me shocked me a little. I was nervous and fumbling to find my flashlight and turn it on, so whatever it was was gone by the time I had it on. The  next morning, I told Ben that I was pretty sure there had been some impala outside room the night before, and he said “impala? You sure?” and I was like well no, but I assumed they were...what else would it be. And he responded with, “well the rhinos love to hang out there, so it was probably the rhinos. Don’t worry. They’re shy, not aggressive.”

So much going to bed at about 8 or 9pm and waking up at 5am. I love it actually. I have turned into my dad. It took a few days to get to the point where that was normal, but now it is and I love it! Thanks, Dad! :)

The family have sixteen dogs collectively. That's a lot of dogs running around. But they're really well behaved and nice dogs. Four of them are little and indoor dogs. All the rest are border collies and outdoor dogs. One of them is very pregnant and she's such a sweetie pie. Can't wait to see her babies.

Rambo. He follows me everywhere.
I tried working in my personal statement one afternoon, but he wouldn't get his head out of my notebook.  :) 

Ok, so the farm is also a hunting farm, which is kinda weird to me...considering I'm here to do vet stuff. But whatever, I'm not the one doing the hunting. And I've learned a lot of interesting thigns about hunting culture that I'll have to think about and research. I've also learned a little bit about how hunting and conservation, if done properly, don't necessarily have to be at odds. Some food for thought. But anyway, the game lodge was literally cluttered with heads of animals. Most of them died by natural causes...but some of them were hunted and shot by people. And then they were stuffed and used to decorate the room. Literally everything is made from a tree, is a tree, or is an animal body part. There's a giraffe casually peering down from above. There are kudu, impala, waterbuck, springbok, warthogs, hyena, zebra, a whole cheetah. The backs of the chairs are made from crocodile skins. And the table is literally a tree sliced in half, flat side up. There are a couple trees growing in the middle of the room. 

Buffalo and wildebeest and porcupines.
And the wildcat always sits on the perch in the corner.
When she moves it freaks me out because none of these animals are supposed to be moving... 

Cupholders? made from Ostrich feet because...why not?

Everyone wants a whole cheetah sitting in their dining room, right?

I also got to do a lot of helicopter riding with Ben and Bossie darting animals out of the chopper (well, I just watched, but still…I was there which was pretty cool). He darts them with a tranquilizer gun and so they are chemically immobilized and then he can work on them. And I get to help with that part. And then we wake them up and fly away while they drunkenly stumble to their feet, sober up within 30 seconds, and wander back into the wilderness to join their herds or continue their lonesome ramblings. I decided that if I didn't want to be a vet, I'd want to be a chopper pilot. Riding a helicopter is like more fun than a roller coaster ride. Also, Ben is one of the best pilots in the world, so...yeah. He goes all over Africa to fly people, so I guess I have an unfair opinion/experience of what a chopper ride is supposed to feel like. But still, I'm now addicted. Taking off, just rising into the air, like on wings, flying sideways yet somehow magically not falling out of the craft, it's incredible. I can't describe it adequately. So just go ride a chopper! 

Ben's Chopper

Sunrise at the heli hanger

View from my seat in the chopper...

Kinda blurry view from the chopper.

Ben flying the chopper and Bossie darting an animal from the chopper

view from chopper again...

Baby zebra orphan we had to take care of.

At the end of the week Zander had to drive to Johannesburg and he was the only other person staying at the lodge, so Ben and Bossie decided to relocate me to the main house. Mr Osmers left for a trip to their other farm a few hours away the same day, and Mrs. Osmers didn’t like being alone in the house, so she wanted me to stay with her. And everyone thought it would be safer that way. There is a big floor to ceiling gate in their house between the first and second floors that she locks at night. We sleep in the upstairs bedrooms several locked doors and gates away from the outside world. Weird world it is here.

54. Back to the Land Where Dreams Come True

Sunday 16 June

At 5am, I met Angelo, one of the International Office student drivers, outside Concordia with my two suitcases and my backpack, ready to leave. Well at least physically. But I was also super excited to get to my internship. And also really really sleepy.

He dropped me off at Cape Town airport and I was alone again, on my way to adventures, much like I'd been three months before. The airport was so easy, as usual for South Africa. I just casually checked in, dropped off my really heavy bag and didn't have to pay for it, walked right through security, bought a croissant and scrambled egg for breakfast at Mugg & Bean (almost like a South African version of Starbucks but with better food selections).

The first flight was great...I journalled for a bit, thought for a little bit, then slept. I SLEPT ON A PLANE! That's pretty much a first. I felt like a new person when the man in the seat two over from me (I was in the window seat and the middle seat was empty) had to reach over and nudge me because the flight attendant loudly telling me to open the window shade wasn't enough to wake me from my sleep. Haha!! I woke up, a tiny bit embarrassed and then was just filled with a sense of accomplishment at having slept on a plane. Wow. Go, Marie! Let's hope I can work the same magic when I fly from Joburg to London to Chicago.

In my layover in Joburg airport, I got a bit lost. I didn't know where I was supposed to go, but finally a nice porter showed me the way to a desk to ask someone where my gate was for my flight, then I had to go through security again, but it was still really chill and then I had about two hours until my flight. And I bumped into some of the Medill journalism kids. They were at the gate next to mine and were flying to another Kruger airport to go on a safari for a few days. Same time. Same day. Next gate over. What are the odds. Gotta love Northwestern.

After they left for their flight, I still had a while left before mine and I was journalling again and there were two American ladies sitting behind me, all decked out in their proper safari costumes, talking on and on and on and on about their kitchen remodeling and curtains and I was trying to write about Kayamandi and things like that. These women - I gathered from listening to their conversation; it's not eavesdropping when they're basically shouting in your ear - had clearly just flown in from the States and were going straight to Kruger to go on their fancy safari and then were running home. For all intensive purposes, they were escaping South Africa, hiding from it out in the bush with the lions and elephants and other foreign tourists. I think I journaled two or three pages ranting about their conversation and I was rather impatient and not very understanding. But still, I think I was a tad justified in my frustration. They come to this country and they don't interact with any of the people. They don't see a city. They don't see a township. They don't see reality. They don't see life. They miss the whole picture. Ughhhhhh!!!!!! Tourists!!!!!!! I'm sorry if I have ever traveled somewhere in the world like that. Ignoring reality. Forgetting that the sights are really a part of someone's home, part of a bigger picture, just a tiny fraction of what's there, just the ears of the hippo (that's what they use here instead of "tip of the iceberg" since icebergs don't really exist in South Africa, but hippos in rivers do).

Ok, sorry for ranting. Again.

The next flight was just in a tiny prop plane and it was really quick. I was the only person in the front row, and I had to do the Exit row briefing with the flight attendant, and he told me to look out the window for smoke and flames. And he also gave me instructions on what to do when (he really should've said IF) he passed out and was unable to open the doors. Fortunately I'm not a nervous flyer. So I just giggled at him.

I landed in Hoedspruit again, grabbed my luggage, walked out of the house, I mean the airport, and into the bright warm sunshine and saw a quiet guy standing outside the door, but he was the only guy, so we did that awkward staring thing, and then he approached me and asked me if I was looking for SAWorldVets, which of course I was, so I then he introduced himself as Zander, took my bags for me and loaded them into a game viewing vehicle. SAWorldVets had just conducted a course for students, and one of them was still here, not leaving until the next day. And she was from Oklahoma and had quite the southern drawl. She was a pre-vet student at OSU. She had just come to South Africa for the two week course and had spent no other time here. Kind of like the ladies from Joburg airport, she missed the big picture of South Africa. It made me feel really really lucky and grateful to have had the experience that I have had. Three months and I still feel like I've barely scratched the surface of this incredible country.

We drove at full speed in the open game viewing vehicle to first grab a quick lunch from a filling station, then go to a game farm and pick up some things, then to another game reserve called Thankerton, owned by the Osmers family. This game farm had a lodge with a couple big guest chalets, and the girl from OSU and I were put in one of them for the night. We went on a drive around the game farm in the afternoon, and immediately saw three young rhinos. Babies. It was really exciting!!! Here for less than an hour and already seen three rhinos. Anyway that was cool!

my room in the lodge chalet :)

view from the lodge. 

not another building in sight 

In the evening, we sat around the fireplace at the lodge. The entire Osmers family was there celebrating the mom's birthday. There were grandparents, the three children and their significant others, some other family members and/or friends I never figured out exactly who they were and some kids. For dinner we had an actual braai, which was really cool and very South African. There were lots and lots of different meats and of course other things too, like salads and soup and pasta and a pudding for dessert. Dinner didn't happen until ten though, so I was exhausted, having been awake for SO long with only a few hours of sleep and I had to be up at 5 the next morning, so I ran to my room as soon as was polite, called dad to wish him a happy father's day, then went to bed immediately, quite happy and comfortable, and quite worn out.

53. Cape Town: A Final Hurrah!

Friday 14 June - Saturday 15 June

Friday morning I got up and began the sad ritual of packing. I had a few hours and I put on some music and began. It was mostly easy in terms of choosing what to put in my suitcase – that always makes return packing so much easier. But still, it was sad. I rolled my clothes and everything fit with ample room for the souvenirs and items I’d picked up along the journey of the last three months. Almost fittingly, it was pouring rain as if to signify my mood; as if Stellenbosch was sad that I was leaving too.

At 11am, our shuttle bus arrived to take us to Cape Town. We got dropped off at Greenmarket Square where I’d been a few times before. Twelve of us had booked a hostel right off of Long Street, just a block away so we walked there to check in and drop off our stuff before setting out on the day’s rainy adventures. The hostel was pretty nice and only $15. And there were a couple huge rooms with ten and twelve beds that they split us up into, but we didn’t have to share the rooms with any other visitors so had tons of extra space and one of the rooms even had a balcony overlooking the bustling city street below.

View from our balcony at the hostel

Bizarre lunch place...

Then we went to eat lunch at a bizarre place on Greenmarket Square that had weird chandeliers, strange comics on the backs of the end chairs which were also giant upholstered armchairs and then on the side seating, it was just shiny silver upholstered benches. Strange candelabras with lots of candleholders stood on the table. And the menu was Italian food…. Anyway, I split a pizza and a salad with Neha. The pizza wasn’t bad but I’m pretty sure it gave me a stomachache later. C’est la vie.

Also at the bizarre lunch place...

After lunch, we shopped around Greenmarket Square and I got bullied into buying something I didn’t want at all. It makes me angry how the people there are such skilled con artists. And I know it in my head the whole time, but I when I’m alone I find it impossible to walk away from them when they harass me and follow me and refuse to leave me alone until I give them money for something I don’t even want. Ughhhhhh. I totally failed but it made me angry too. I finally ran away with R100 ($10) fewer in my purse and fuming mad at the guy who had practically grabbed the money from my hand. I felt better when I was reunited with my friends and I forbade them from leaving me behind again when somebody stopped me. Chance didn’t hesitate to yell at them, “No, sir, we don’t want your stuff today thank you. Please leave us alone!” It’s such a difficult situation. I’m glad they’re not actually mugging people (cough cough) but at the same time, what they’re doing isn’t exactly the best or most honest labor either. Are they really all handmade objects? Somehow I doubt that. So are they lying to me? Am I bad for thinking that? Markets are the worst. Is it ok to harass innocent looking tourists? I think not.

Ok, rant over.

We then walked over to the Two Oceans Aquarium which was right on the waterfront, only about a thirty minute walk away and fortunately it wasn’t raining. We walked around the aquarium and I saw lots of cool things, from spotted leopard eels, fish that looked like someone crossed a helicopter with a snail (lol), tiny seahorses the largest crustacean in the world, the giant crabs, watched one of these giant crabs (that looked more like aliens than anything else) fall backwards off a rock. The crabs were about two feet tall and stood on roughly half of their legs and stared at us, then we went to a touch pool and touched some sea anemones and starfish and seaweed, saw some sharks, penguins and frogs, read about conservation of the seas.

Giant gross eel. Actually that's parts of two eels. (Shiver.)

Helicopter/Snail fish. 

Little seahorses

Monster crab

Neha mesmerized as the giant crab starts to fall backwards off his rock perch. 

We then went to the waterfront and walked around. Neha, Chance, Soad and I went on the Ferris Wheel. I looked over at Robben Island and the pier where we caught the boat over to Robben Island that first Saturday I was in South Africa, and  it was weird. My trip was starting to come full circle. (But this time my camera wasn’t on black and white setting.) We ate dinner at a place called Wang Thai and I had sushi…it was delish. Mmmmmm.

City from the ferris wheel

Wharf from the ferris wheel

Lego Man

After dinner, we took cabs back to our hostel and paid about $5 (total) for 6 people. What??? Anyway…it was lovely! Then we hung out at the hostel for the night, made an excursion to find milkshakes and found everything closed except Ol’ Faithful Mickey D’s. So I got a McFlurry. Can’t really go wrong with that.

Saturday morning, a bunch of us went to hike Lion’s Head. It had been on my bucket list of things to do in South Africa since I got here. But I never was able to make it happen due to other program related excursions, people bailing on me, or rain. Friday was originally supposed to be the day, but alas, the rain had prevented that. So it ended up that my last day in Cape Town was the day that I hiked Lion’s Head. I can’t think of a better thing to do on my last day in Cape Town. The weather was absolutely perfect. Probably mid 60s to mid 70s depending on time of day and elevation on the mountain. The climb was quite difficult, especially towards the top where you literally have to go straight up and rock climb. Fun stuff! A bit scary in places, but we all survived. We actually summated the whole thing and were met with the most incredible view in the world. Maybe even better than Table Mountain. Actually, I can’t decide. I don’t think I could live without either. We took lots of pics, including a purple shirt coordinated human ‘NU’ and some Neharieariah explorer pics. So sorry for the overload of pictures now. But, I'm not really sorry. This was one of the highlights of my trip, and in fact, my life. 

Cape Town in the early morning. From the foot of Lion's Head. 

Note the dog in the corner? He's a SAPS (police service) dog and he was standing next to a bunch of officers. This was me trying to sneakily take a picture of the gorgeous dog. :)

Table Mountain

Don't misplace your foot!

Admiring one of the new seven wonders of the world: Table Mountain. 

Last day together in South Africa. So sad. But such a beautiful way to spend it!

Hello Cape Town!

So I realized I throw my hands up in the air a lot of the times when I'm  posing for pictures.
And people follow suit. 

Not sure if that mountain in the background is an erupting volcano? 

REPRESENT. Coordinating a GO U - NU! shot with the kids in Northwestern tees. 

I met Soad in September 2010 when she lived a few doors down from me.
Almost three years later, we reminisced on that moment on the top of Lion's Head Mountain. 

My feet sticking out over the top of Lion's Head.

Neharieariah Explorers. 

We walked down towards Camps Bay when we climbed down Lion’s Head, but realized that it would be a multi-hours walk because we had missed the short cut. Consequently, we decided to cab it the rest of the way so we did and ate lunch at a seafood place right on the water. Watching the waves crash against the shore while eating more sushi, I was quite at peace with the world.

After lunch, Soad, Mariah and I cabbed it over to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens for one more enjoyable relaxing, peaceful session to absorb the gardens, take in the beauty, breathe the sweet clean air, lie on the grass in the sun rays as they dropped down behind the mountain, take some pics and end my time in Cape Town in my favorite spot. I love the botanical gardens because they’re not posh and pretentious and they’re not racist and they’re not dirty and they don’t smell bad. South Africa is a land of extremes, most notably, extreme wealth and extreme poverty coexisting. I’m sure the botanical gardens utilize quite a bit of money to garden them and make them look as perfect as they do. And they aren’t free. But they don’t really fall exclusively into the world of the rich or the world of the poor. Stellenbosch campus and downtown fall exclusively into the world of the rich. Kayamandi falls exclusively into the world of the poor. There is minimal crossing over. These botanical gardens are natural beauty. The mountains make the perfect backdrop as they have stood there for millennia. The first humans, likely to have lived in this part of the world, probably gazed at these mountains and wondered at them as I wondered at them on this crisp, sunny afternoon. I wondered which of the stately ancient trees had stood over these ancient people, which ones prehistoric eight year olds had climbed. 

Guinea fowl in the gardens. 

Mariah and I with our favorite plant: Olifantskos (literally "elephants' food").
It's soft like a pillow. 

It’s definitely a romanticized place in my mind and in my heart, but it’s so gorgeous and so incredibly peaceful. It’s quiet and calm and beautiful. And I wanted to lie in the grass there forever. But alas, the next adventure lay ahead, I was being called back to rural Limpopo to shadow a wildlife veterinarian. I was being called to the next phase(s) of my life. Study Abroad was rapidly drawing to a close. The sun was setting behind the mountains just as the sun was setting on my study abroad experience. I wanted to reverse time, I wanted to rush home. I wanted to be in Kruger. I wanted to stay in Cape Town forever. So many conflicting emotions. I guess that’s because I am truly blessed in the most amazing ways possible. I had a marvelous study abroad experience. I love my home and family and friends and country. I am so excited about veterinary medicine and wildlife and conservation and animal science. I guess that’s why I was eager to be home, be on my research internship, and stay in Cape Town all at the same time. I guess all good things must come to an end however, so I walked out of Kirstenbosch, returned to Stellenbosch in a cab, finished packing and tying up loose odds and ends, and then walked to Cal Cacchio’s for dinner with almost everyone in my group plus some of our South African friends. That is coincidentally the restaurant where I’d eaten my first dinner in South Africa. Thurstan had taken those of us who had arrived on the first day to dinner there to get pizzas. And there I was again, my final night in Stellenbosch, sitting there eating pizza surrounded by people who were strangers the last time I ate there, who are now dear friends, with whom I have shared some of the most remarkable experiences of my life. After dinner, we went to the gelato shop and got ice cream.

In the evening, we all hung out in someone’s room at Concordia and talked until the night was late. We went out for a little bit since it was someone’s birthday, but I had to come back at a “reasonable” hour (aka 12:15am) so I could take a nap before my ride to the airport at 5am. Good night, Stellenbosch. Good bye study abroad. Farewell, Thurstan and Dillon and other friends I’ve made in Stellenbosch/Kayamandi/Cape Town and the rest of South Africa.

Tot siens, Cape Town. I’ll see you someday.