Chapter 8
Door: Sarajan Graanoogst
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Sarajan
10 November 2014 | Zuid-Afrika, Bloemfontein
"Of Skydiving Norwegians and South African markets and a heartbroken lion"
On Saturday the 5th the majority of the volunteers had to wake up early as 4 of us went skydiving (Thrine, Tormod, Andreas & Hector). All the Finnish people and Martine, Jamie-Lee and me went to the South African farmer’s market. We had lots of fun browsing the locally produced products that varied from homemade jam, marmalade and honey to belts, woodworks and other souvenirs. There were also lots of foodstuffs like cake, meat, etc. I was however mostly interested in the handcrafted souvenirs. I found some nice things for my housemates, my mother, kid brother and myself and I’m planning to get something still for my dad and my brother. Afterwards (before picking up the skydiving Norwegians that were still waiting for their jump) we went to a safari-midget golf-park. In the distance we could see Zebra’s, warthogs and impalas.
On the way home, after we watched Ade, Tormod, Thrine and Hector jump, we did some light shopping (to Norse standards :P). We went home loaded with chips, pizzas and soda drinks.
After we got back all I did was chilling and munching. And at the end of the day we watched the match of the Netherlands against Costa Rica at Jeanna’s place. We might have won with penalties the match was from entertaining. At the end Damien was thoroughly depressed. When it was finally over we went home shivering because the temperature had dropped to -6 °C. It was so cold that when I got back I needed extra clothes and socks before I finally fell asleep shivering under triple blankets. I still got less sleep than I had gotten in any of my South African nights before.
The following day other excitements had conspired to tire me out even more. Some guys came back to pick up the seven nicest Servals (Sylvestre, Milan, Lebombo and the brats) to put them into the release back into the wild program. Things however went completely wrong. We were instructed to place all the Servals in the enclosure with the brats, Lebombo and Alzu. They were however completely unaccustomed to other Servals and to the smell of lion so close by and they got scared shitless. One of them got so scared he climbed the fence despite the electric wires. It took a lot of effort, multiple shocks and a lot of effort to get him back.
When the Servals were finally taken away we were halfway through the basics and Alzu was left all alone. The poor guy spent the rest of the day moping and when the night arrived he was still yowling whilst looking for his palls. It was quite sad to see and combined with only six other people helping with the rest of the tasks I ended the day tired frustrated and a little sad. I just hoped Alzu would feel better the next day.
I even wrote a poem about him:
After the Servals were taken away
Alzu lost his favourite games
He could play and roughhouse no more
So sadness crept into his soul
He now spends hours pacing back and forth
Crying out for his friends and other Servals
None answered his calls but he would not relent
On finding company all his thoughts were bent
Those weird volunteers started hanging out
In his enclosure answering his shouts
They gave company and hugs to take away the pain
They’ll continue doing so till he feels better again
On Saturday the 5th the majority of the volunteers had to wake up early as 4 of us went skydiving (Thrine, Tormod, Andreas & Hector). All the Finnish people and Martine, Jamie-Lee and me went to the South African farmer’s market. We had lots of fun browsing the locally produced products that varied from homemade jam, marmalade and honey to belts, woodworks and other souvenirs. There were also lots of foodstuffs like cake, meat, etc. I was however mostly interested in the handcrafted souvenirs. I found some nice things for my housemates, my mother, kid brother and myself and I’m planning to get something still for my dad and my brother. Afterwards (before picking up the skydiving Norwegians that were still waiting for their jump) we went to a safari-midget golf-park. In the distance we could see Zebra’s, warthogs and impalas.
On the way home, after we watched Ade, Tormod, Thrine and Hector jump, we did some light shopping (to Norse standards :P). We went home loaded with chips, pizzas and soda drinks.
After we got back all I did was chilling and munching. And at the end of the day we watched the match of the Netherlands against Costa Rica at Jeanna’s place. We might have won with penalties the match was from entertaining. At the end Damien was thoroughly depressed. When it was finally over we went home shivering because the temperature had dropped to -6 °C. It was so cold that when I got back I needed extra clothes and socks before I finally fell asleep shivering under triple blankets. I still got less sleep than I had gotten in any of my South African nights before.
The following day other excitements had conspired to tire me out even more. Some guys came back to pick up the seven nicest Servals (Sylvestre, Milan, Lebombo and the brats) to put them into the release back into the wild program. Things however went completely wrong. We were instructed to place all the Servals in the enclosure with the brats, Lebombo and Alzu. They were however completely unaccustomed to other Servals and to the smell of lion so close by and they got scared shitless. One of them got so scared he climbed the fence despite the electric wires. It took a lot of effort, multiple shocks and a lot of effort to get him back.
When the Servals were finally taken away we were halfway through the basics and Alzu was left all alone. The poor guy spent the rest of the day moping and when the night arrived he was still yowling whilst looking for his palls. It was quite sad to see and combined with only six other people helping with the rest of the tasks I ended the day tired frustrated and a little sad. I just hoped Alzu would feel better the next day.
I even wrote a poem about him:
After the Servals were taken away
Alzu lost his favourite games
He could play and roughhouse no more
So sadness crept into his soul
He now spends hours pacing back and forth
Crying out for his friends and other Servals
None answered his calls but he would not relent
On finding company all his thoughts were bent
Those weird volunteers started hanging out
In his enclosure answering his shouts
They gave company and hugs to take away the pain
They’ll continue doing so till he feels better again
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
