Week 3, IPR

Day 15 and 16 - Trapdooring Enclosures and Pretoria Town Visit.
Day 15 marks the third set of trapdoors I've wired into the marmoset enclosures, this time teamworking with Evelyn on Pecan's and Shacked's enclosure. I managed to get 4 long-ish wire scratches down my forearm whilst at work, once again accumulating the number of skin nips and scratches down my right arm. Always a great souvenir to bring home and as Bryony said, 'scars have stories' :).

Trap door wiring 

Pecan checking out the new trapdoor

Other then 1:00pm trapdooring and 9:00am chopping, Day 15 was relatively quiet. 5:30pm saw a team of six of us all go together  for the bowl collection. 1 row each, run down the row, stack up the bowls and chuck the food out. Must have been completed in IPR record time :).
Day 16 - A day off! Me, Charlotte and Bryony originally planned to go to the Kolonnade shopping centre, however we were unable to get a lift thus we settled with a town trip to Pretoria. Day 16 marks the first time of travelling solo outside the sanctuary, via public transport. Leaving at 10:00am, I think we were all a little apprehensive! South African public transport uses 'combi' buses, basically small white people carriers that act as public taxi's. It became incredibly difficult to decipher between white buses, cars, vans and other general vehicles from a distance and this general fear settled in of accidentally signalling a normal car to stop for us. Twenty minutes in, we signalled a combi to Hammanskraal (local township), to the bus station then another bus to Pretoria for 17 rand for a 45 minute bus ride (£1.70). We spent the day doing a little souvenir shopping, internet surfing, and exploring the local craft market. We wanted to grab some renowned South African steak from Castello (recommended by Jax) but we found it closed and crossed the road for Fish and Chips.....very disappointing I know.

South African Taxis

Day 17 and 18 - General Volunteering!

- The weather turned crazy cold. Ice was found where the monkeys have their water bowls!

- Enriched Flea's and Kismit's new enclosure with a little creativity, a hanging box, a T-shirt hammock, a old bra and hanging colourful goodies. 

- Monkey Time! With: Monique and Monika (who kept hiding in my hood!) and the squirrels, Honey and Girlie! 

Honey and Girlie <3

Honey 

Monique and Monika

Day 19 - Kolonnade Shopping Centre
Day 19, I start to feel really quite tired and run-down. Me and Lauren had a day off together and we consulted with Ros about nearby places to go, Kolonnade shopping centre it is, we decided :). We waited for ages for a dang combi! A police truck drove past us twice, then pulled up, asking what on earth we were doing in the middle of no-where, telling us it was unsafe due to highway robberies to be here. We told him we wanted to get to Zambesi Drive and he waited with us for about twenty minutes, trying to signal combi's that were all full up on the way to Pretoria. Sweet guy :).

We ended up doubling back to Hammanskraal bus station and taking another x 2 combi's to the Kolonnade, without getting lost of course :). Upon arrival, we grabbed KFC and explored all the shops! The shopping centre also had a ice skating rink, cinema and go-karting. GO-KARTING for FIFTY RAND =] (£5.00). Lauren well and truly owned me at driving (her first time on go-karts and my second), giving a cheeky grin whenever she zoomed past! I blame Clapham racetrack, I'm still pretty terrified behind the wheel from crashing a few months back! All brilliant fun and got back to the sanctuary in good spirits :).

 It was dark when we got back (oops). According to Lauren there was a single bloke just standing there, moving slowly and hovering. I couldn't see ANYONE, it was extremely dark walking back down the driveway, and we didn't bring torches. Lauren said to walk extremely quietly, seeing as he was quite a bit ahead. Turning down the sandy path back towards IPR was a crazy relief but we still ran back (quietly!!) just in case! 

Day 20 and 21 - Horrible Illness, Cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning.
Day 20. oh day 20. I couldn't SPEAK. I woke up with this really horrible, raspy cough and no voice. I've never lost my voice before, so it was a first experience. Bryony blamed my lost voice on 'too much kissing', always calling me a 'wee hussy'. Oh Bryony, anything but :).
Days 20 and 21 I was put on cleaning. Monas.............I don't think that smell will leave me for a while. Their bed-boxes had no drainage holes, so it all just kind of 'puddled'. Enough said, it had to be done, always good to get your hands dirty in a while :)

The Monas.........

Cleaning the Primate Kitchen 

Scrubbed and bleached!

Cleaning the macques

Also spent day 21 doing the macques with Lauren and the Primate Kitchen with Neil. Dragging out tons and stuff, bleaching the surfaces, mopping the floor, sweeping away rat droppings and putting it all back again. All good fun. Oh maybe it wasn't, just satisfying to do. 3:00pm, Tracey asked me to give pellets for the bigs for the first time, which was brilliant fun to do.

Pelleting the macques

Pelleting the macques

The night of Day 21, we spent planning our venture to The Lion Park for day 22! I've slacked a little in mentioning the abundance of new volunteers we've been receiving, but day 21 marks the occasion of Intrajit arriving at the sanctuary. We were getting overly crowded, beds were being dragged around from everywhere (including a dog's bed!) to accommodate for the increasing number of people staying. From general memory we had Me, Lauren, Ollie, Vicky, Katie, Bryony, Liam, April, Gabrielle, Donna, Katie, Clyde,Nikki, Emily, Neil, Louise, Intrajit, Krystelle, Louise and Didler. Nearly everyone was 18 - 20 which was pretty crazy!!

 Our cosy little dormitory: >>