Wandering Wildlife Vet

Week one in Namibia is finished. This week I was at the main sanctuary outside Windhoek doing work similar to what I did in Zimbabwe. The schedule is nice though because we are always doing something different between the morning and afternoon. I am leaving tomorrow to go to Etosha National Park in the northern part of the country for a 3-day camping safari. I’m excited to get some relaxing time to see the other parts of the country.

Tuesday I was working with the research team. The morning is field work so we went out to check some camera traps. While we were out, we saw different antelope species. We were checking one camera and a pair of warthogs ran up. These two were hand raised and then released so they are very used to people. Unfortunately, warthogs can be very dangerous so we had to wait to finish our work until they left. They decided to enjoy a nice bath while we were waiting. In the afternoon, we went through all of the pictures from the camera traps. We had to sort them based on what animals were present in the photos. The majority of the photos had nothing though which was quite boring to look through. We also got to feed Hope, an orphaned rhino. Her mom died from natural causes but the farm owner did not have the resources or space to care for her. Naankuse was asked to help and they accepted. Once she is old enough, she will be released back on his property. For her safety, we were not allowed to take pictures but she is so so cute.

Wednesday morning my group was on enclosure cleaning and feeding. We were responsible for feeding the mongooses, meerkats, genets, African striped polecat, ground squirrels, rock hyraxes, vervet monkeys, tortoises, and a little orphaned lamb. Each species has its own diet that is prepared the day before and is specially catered to the species. For example, the rock hyraxes eat leaves and foliage so we go out into the bush and cut branches for them. The rock hyraxes also just recently had babies which are adorable! Interestingly enough, the closest relative to the rock hyrax (in the last photo) is the elephant! They have almost identical bone structure and digestive systems.

In the afternoon, we were assigned to baboon walk. We were supposed to take out the same group I had been with on Saturday. However, someone had to stay behind to keep two of the very young ones company while all the others were gone. I volunteered since I had already been on a baboon walk and the other people in my group had not. I was responsible for watching Ruby and Philly. Philly is very used to people as he has been hand raised since he was very young. Ruby just recently came in so she is not used to people yet. They were very sweet though and very interested in me for the whole time.

Yesterday, we were assigned to the horses! In the morning, we cleaned up all the poop from the pen and then we got to ride! It was so nice being back on a horse even though it was very different from what I am used to. I rode a beautiful mare named Julie. We rode for about 2 hours through the bush and saw some wildlife while we were out. In the afternoon, we were deticking all of the horses. Unfortunately, they get quite a lot because they are out grazing in the bush. After we removed all of the ticks, we sprayed them with preventative to try to keep their load down.

Today, we had another baboon walk but this time we took out the older group. They are still not fully grown so they don’t have their huge canines yet. They were much less interested in us than the younger ones but they still love a good cuddle. While we were there, a herd of about 7 giraffes came up to try to get a drink of water. They got so close to us, about 50 feet away. It was an incredible experience. Unfortunately, they were too afraid of us to actually get a drink but it was still amazing to be that close. We also had a family of warthogs come by but they were also too afraid to get a drink.

For all my readers who haven’t seen, Monday night (Namibia time), I got the greatest news I could ever receive. I was accepted to the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine!! This is something I have wanted and have been working towards since I can remember. I am so incredibly excited and happy that I get to continue to work towards a career that I will love everyday that I get to do it. I will start classes in August and be moving back to Athens when I get home. I want to thank my family and my friends for always supporting me and pushing me to continue to pursue my goals, no matter how hard they are to achieve. I couldn’t do it without them. Now I will be looking for a new place to live but luckily, I have some great new classmates who are helping me out while I am here. Here’s to 4 more years in the Classic City!