I've written about my last weekend at Bambelela here, when loads of action was going on. I recently posted about the week beforehand so if you haven't read that, have a read over it or any other posts you missed if you like. :)
So Thursday was a very chillaxed day in comparison to the hectic Wednesday. Caitlin, Marley, Terre, Jacquie and Sue all went to Zebula for the day so that left me in Handicap by myself. Thankfully though Adele helped take the pressure off me by scrubbing the pooh off the surfaces in the cage for me which really helped! the rest of the day was quiet enough. Although in the evening time, when Silke and Belinda were going around throwing treats into all the cages, they spotted a poorly monkey in one of the rehab cages. It was in the cage Jonas looks after so he had to go in and catch him. Silke could then take him back to the house and examine his health properly. Apparently he looked really skinny but no chances are taken here so they took him in.
A truck arrived Friday morning with big delivery of bricks
for the new Quarenteen cage. The monkeys who couldn’t see the truck, only hear
it, began alarm calling when it was dumping the bricks. I was in Pinkfaces
afterwards and could hear all the monkeys in Kindergarten still talking about
it. It was quite funny! Me and Minette decided it's kind of like Facebook for humans; when something happens, we all talk about it there. They were still chattering ages after the truck left! ...Maybe you just had to be there to understand the funniness... =P
I asked Sue if we'd be able to go into town for a meal before I left. Friday was the best evening for everyone so we headed in after work was finished. Me and Marley volunteered to sit in the back of Sue's jeep as there wasn't enough room for everyone in the front! It was an extremely loud and bumpy ride in and out of town but it was worth the food and chats we had. :) It wasn't near half as crazy or late a night like it was when we headed to the pub last Saturday but it was nice to wake up on Saturday without a hangover and at least 7 hours sleep had!
I asked Sue if we'd be able to go into town for a meal before I left. Friday was the best evening for everyone so we headed in after work was finished. Me and Marley volunteered to sit in the back of Sue's jeep as there wasn't enough room for everyone in the front! It was an extremely loud and bumpy ride in and out of town but it was worth the food and chats we had. :) It wasn't near half as crazy or late a night like it was when we headed to the pub last Saturday but it was nice to wake up on Saturday without a hangover and at least 7 hours sleep had!
Saturday started off as any other Saturday really. Myself,
Jackie and Caitlin we’re cleaning Handicap. Then all of a sudden we hear a few
shouts from kindergarten then Minette shouting for help. Silke and Belinda were
there in a few seconds. It turns out about 6 or so monkeys escaped from
Kindergarten! Ninkynoo, the genius monkey, opened the clasp that locks the
inside gate and then opened the gate itself. By the time Minette realized this
(she was inside the cage cleaning), and ran to the gate, Ninky already had the
outside gate opened and monkeys got out! They were rounded up pretty quickly
though and Belinda went to put them all back in Kindergarten. When she went to
close the gate though, about 10 monkeys attacked her! I only heard the
commotion but it sounded pretty rough, she was ok though, apart from a few cuts
and bruises. It is really strange that they went for Belinda because as far as
monkey politics go, she’s like a president! Her ranking is way up, but then
again they are wild animals after all. I honestly can’t get over how smart
Ninkynoo is either. I have trouble opening those clasps myself the best of
times, and wiggling the gates open. Recently in the Pinkface room she has been
opening the drawers in there constantly. Then the others realise too and help
her take out all the contents like toilet paper (which they get EVERYWHERE) and
bottles of medicine and pens and anything else that has been put in there for
‘safekeeping’. So the handle was taken off the drawer she kept opening. This
only delayed her for a while, eventually she figured out how to open it without
the handle and what-do-you-know, you’re chasing after her and Jelly-Tot, trying
to get the toilet roll back.
After this little
fiasco though, everyone was able to finish their morning jobs. I was cleaning
one of the food crates from Handicap when Belinda came over and asked if I
wanted to do a vet trip. The monkey they took in from that rehab cage on Thursday, Boesman, hasn't shown enough improvement health-wise. So they needed someone to accompany Ben to the vets. Seeing as Silke, Chantelle and Belinda were still busy looking after the newly formed troop and Janina was still sick and Minette was looking after Heleenatjie, they asked me to tag along! I was chuffed and said yes straight away, then ran and got changed into more presentable clothes that weren't covered in pooh. Little did I know until we were in the car and leaving the farm that the vet was all the way in Johannesburg, a two hour drive away! I didn't mind at all though, the trip needed to be made.
We got to the vets around 12:15. The first thing she did was give Boesman an injection to knock him out, can't have him biting us, he's a grown adult monkey! He was then weighed and it was confirmed he's very underweight for a monkey of his size and age. Over the past few days he hadn't been able to eat food. He'd take it, and chew it, but not be able to swallow anything. So they put a scope down his oesophagus all the way down to his stomach, but no visible problem could be found. So they injected a few hundred millilitres of fluid below the skin on his back which his body will absorb. They did give him other medicine too but they were speaking Afrikaans most of the time so I didn't catch some of the things they did or why. Seeing as they only examined him internally with a scope and didn't find anything, I would have thought they would have done an x-ray or other scan of sorts to see if the source of the problem was in the brain or lungs or heart. I'm not in any way educated in medicine or veterinary though so I said nothing and let the professionals do their job!
The end of Boesman's tail was also very damaged from having been bitten very badly there so they put Wound Magic on it and wrapped it in a good, sturdy bandage. Before we put him back into his travel cage we had to take out all the food that was in it. We had to make absolute sure that he didn't eat anything until he gained complete consciousness again, otherwise he could choke on the food. On the way home we bottle-fed him milk and vitamin drinks and anything else Ben handed me to give him. He was still very drowsy and unable to move properly yet so he didn't always drink but took his time when he did. We arrived back at the farm around 5pm and brought Boesman back into the main house where he would be kept under observation. My job in helping Boesman was over then so I returned to the volunteer house to get dinner and tell the other volunteers of the trip.
There were new guests staying in one of the chalets so another bonfire was organised for the night. This I was very happy about seeing as I was leaving on Monday morning and didn't want Wednesday's bonfire to be my last one at Bambelela! A TV had also been installed in the bar by the pool so some of us went up to watch some rugby matches that were on. They were all South-African teams playing so I hadn't a clue who they were but one of the teams had a guy that looked Irish with the second name of O'Malley or something, so I just cheered for his team! Jacquie then showed us a Snake Attack Kit she brought over incase they got bitten by a snake, which was very funny. Especially the venom extractor! I asked Chantelle how Boesman was doing and it turns out he's now eating onions and chilli sauce so hopefully that's the start of him getting better! It was a lovely night around the bonfire full of laughs and stories. It is absolutely impossible to get the fact that I'm leaving on Monday out of my mind though. But that's making me appreciate every last minute even more!
Sunday came and I stepped into the Handicap cage to scrub and rake it clean for the last time. It was just me and Caitlinn cleaning this morning as Terre and Jacquie are leaving at 11 so they're packing. I knew Janina still wouldn't be well enough to help Caitlin clean the cage after me and Jacquie leave so I was trying to make sure she knew everything that had to be done and how to do it. I have good faith in her though, I know she'll be fine! And hopefully Adele will be able to help her out like she helped me too.
After the cage was clean and fed I had a shift in the Pinkface room from 10 to 10:30. Then I went and got breakfast before heading to Terre and Jacquie's chalet to say goodbye (and get their leftover food from them, like Nutella! And CHEDDAR! ). It was a long goodbye and a sad one. Yet again I was only being reminded of the fact that I'd be gone within 24 hours.
After their departure we got the morning jobs finished and any raking that needed to be done. There wasn't really any project work to do so I thought I'd take an early lunch after packing and go for one last swim in the pool! RJ, Marley and Caitlin swam as well so it was a good bit of fun! Even despite RJ nearly drowning me. =P Obaru, the one-armed-bandit monkey also decided to come down and have root through my stuff while I was in the pool. He lifted up my towel, found my camera and then ran off with it!! The cheeky fecker!! So I had to get out and run after him and try make him drop it. Thankfully Oufa, one of the permanent workers was around, so he helped me chase him. He climbed up on top of Diniledi (Sue's house), then I thought it was gone forever! D: He dropped it eventually though and I got it back and it was working relatively fine, so I can laugh about it now! ^_^ Lesson learned!
After the swim it was feeding time. I spent as much time as I could in the cage with Kingsley and Aapstert, taking photos and playing with the monkeys. I'm really going to miss them when I leave! Then I had a long shift until 5 o'clock in the Pinkface room so I took loads more photographs and chilled with my favourite monkey, JoJo. When Sue came in to take over from me, I had to stop myself getting emotional saying goodbye to them. The fact that JoJo didn't want to get off my shoulder and clung to me really didn't help. But I left eventually, while trying not to cry!
I spent my last night watching movies with RJ after I finished packing and took one last look at the extremely bright stars.
I woke up just before 6am and lay there until 7:20. The car was coming at 8am so I got dressed and packed my last few toiletries and pyjamas away, all the while hoping the car would be late or not come at all and I could stay for longer. My hopes were dashed though as the car arrived early and I had to start saying my goodbyes. I instantly began bawling as soon as I began hugging and thanking people. Eventually I got into the car and was driven off while staring out the back window watching Bambelela get smaller in the distance as I left it behind.
I feel quite sorry for the driver as he had to put up with me bawling the whole way to Jo-Burg. I arrived at the airport, composed myself, got some food, checked in my bag and began the looooong journey home (after I stocked up on ridiculous amounts of alcohol in duty-free of course). I didn't sleep on the plane, I couldn't. I listened to music and tried not to cry more, and watched the plains of Africa pass below me, until eventually, there was only sea. I arrived in Dubai 8 hours later, it was close to midnight and 34 degrees. I was prepared for the heat this time though, I wasn't wearing sandals! I got more food here, then found my departure gate and a lounge chair to lie on where I would be waiting for the next 7 hours. I caught up on some blogging and reading. Then I tried to have a nap but I fell into such a deep sleep that I was moaning . . . while there's people all around me. Anyone who knows me well knows I moan a lot in my sleep. I woke myself up at one point, and people walking by were just staring at me, and the fella sitting on my left was also staring at me. . . So yeah, that was slightly embarrassing!
I started noticing all the Irish people around though, and feeling a strange sense of familiarity, which I hadn't felt in a while. I boarded the plane eventually though. I never slept on this one either, just watched loads of films and overate waaaaay too much. We landed into a cloudy, 12 degrees, very green Dublin around 12.30pm.Of course I knew we were in Ireland as we were delayed getting off the plane as the tunnel-thing that attaches to the door was broken! Welcome home.
Dad walked into the airport just as I walked into the arrival area, so that was pretty good timing! I felt awfully sick though, I'm pretty sure it was from all the weird vegetarian food I overate on the plane! It wasn't long before I was vomiting in my sister's house, only a few minutes after arriving! I managed the train journey home, then got sick in the train station, then got sick in the car then got sick at home! I thought you all need a vivid description of this. >=] I said hello to my dog, who obviously now hates me for leaving her for so long and coming back smelling like monkeys. :( I then collapsed into bed and seeing as I hadn't slept in about 36 hours, I was out for the count. I woke up on Wednesday at 10am, in Ireland, and feeling very sad.
That was the end of my four weeks at Bambelela. I know it might not seem like much to you, especially considering there was so much that I just couldn't write down for fear of boring you and lack of time.
I have one more blog post to write, containing my thanks and what I think of Bambelela and the people there, now that I've had time to reflect on my journey! It will be a very heartfelt and honest blog and I will most likely cry writing it, like I cried writing the paragraph in this one about me saying goodbye. (And like I cried again reading over and spell-checking it). So if you're interested, I'll post that one as soon as I can.
Thanks for reading,
Ceara (:
<3
There were new guests staying in one of the chalets so another bonfire was organised for the night. This I was very happy about seeing as I was leaving on Monday morning and didn't want Wednesday's bonfire to be my last one at Bambelela! A TV had also been installed in the bar by the pool so some of us went up to watch some rugby matches that were on. They were all South-African teams playing so I hadn't a clue who they were but one of the teams had a guy that looked Irish with the second name of O'Malley or something, so I just cheered for his team! Jacquie then showed us a Snake Attack Kit she brought over incase they got bitten by a snake, which was very funny. Especially the venom extractor! I asked Chantelle how Boesman was doing and it turns out he's now eating onions and chilli sauce so hopefully that's the start of him getting better! It was a lovely night around the bonfire full of laughs and stories. It is absolutely impossible to get the fact that I'm leaving on Monday out of my mind though. But that's making me appreciate every last minute even more!
Sunday came and I stepped into the Handicap cage to scrub and rake it clean for the last time. It was just me and Caitlinn cleaning this morning as Terre and Jacquie are leaving at 11 so they're packing. I knew Janina still wouldn't be well enough to help Caitlin clean the cage after me and Jacquie leave so I was trying to make sure she knew everything that had to be done and how to do it. I have good faith in her though, I know she'll be fine! And hopefully Adele will be able to help her out like she helped me too. After the cage was clean and fed I had a shift in the Pinkface room from 10 to 10:30. Then I went and got breakfast before heading to Terre and Jacquie's chalet to say goodbye (and get their leftover food from them, like Nutella! And CHEDDAR! ). It was a long goodbye and a sad one. Yet again I was only being reminded of the fact that I'd be gone within 24 hours.
After their departure we got the morning jobs finished and any raking that needed to be done. There wasn't really any project work to do so I thought I'd take an early lunch after packing and go for one last swim in the pool! RJ, Marley and Caitlin swam as well so it was a good bit of fun! Even despite RJ nearly drowning me. =P Obaru, the one-armed-bandit monkey also decided to come down and have root through my stuff while I was in the pool. He lifted up my towel, found my camera and then ran off with it!! The cheeky fecker!! So I had to get out and run after him and try make him drop it. Thankfully Oufa, one of the permanent workers was around, so he helped me chase him. He climbed up on top of Diniledi (Sue's house), then I thought it was gone forever! D: He dropped it eventually though and I got it back and it was working relatively fine, so I can laugh about it now! ^_^ Lesson learned!
I spent my last night watching movies with RJ after I finished packing and took one last look at the extremely bright stars.
I woke up just before 6am and lay there until 7:20. The car was coming at 8am so I got dressed and packed my last few toiletries and pyjamas away, all the while hoping the car would be late or not come at all and I could stay for longer. My hopes were dashed though as the car arrived early and I had to start saying my goodbyes. I instantly began bawling as soon as I began hugging and thanking people. Eventually I got into the car and was driven off while staring out the back window watching Bambelela get smaller in the distance as I left it behind.
I feel quite sorry for the driver as he had to put up with me bawling the whole way to Jo-Burg. I arrived at the airport, composed myself, got some food, checked in my bag and began the looooong journey home (after I stocked up on ridiculous amounts of alcohol in duty-free of course). I didn't sleep on the plane, I couldn't. I listened to music and tried not to cry more, and watched the plains of Africa pass below me, until eventually, there was only sea. I arrived in Dubai 8 hours later, it was close to midnight and 34 degrees. I was prepared for the heat this time though, I wasn't wearing sandals! I got more food here, then found my departure gate and a lounge chair to lie on where I would be waiting for the next 7 hours. I caught up on some blogging and reading. Then I tried to have a nap but I fell into such a deep sleep that I was moaning . . . while there's people all around me. Anyone who knows me well knows I moan a lot in my sleep. I woke myself up at one point, and people walking by were just staring at me, and the fella sitting on my left was also staring at me. . . So yeah, that was slightly embarrassing!
I started noticing all the Irish people around though, and feeling a strange sense of familiarity, which I hadn't felt in a while. I boarded the plane eventually though. I never slept on this one either, just watched loads of films and overate waaaaay too much. We landed into a cloudy, 12 degrees, very green Dublin around 12.30pm.Of course I knew we were in Ireland as we were delayed getting off the plane as the tunnel-thing that attaches to the door was broken! Welcome home.
That was the end of my four weeks at Bambelela. I know it might not seem like much to you, especially considering there was so much that I just couldn't write down for fear of boring you and lack of time.
I have one more blog post to write, containing my thanks and what I think of Bambelela and the people there, now that I've had time to reflect on my journey! It will be a very heartfelt and honest blog and I will most likely cry writing it, like I cried writing the paragraph in this one about me saying goodbye. (And like I cried again reading over and spell-checking it). So if you're interested, I'll post that one as soon as I can.
Thanks for reading,
Ceara (:
<3
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