Day Two: Poo

I know you may not want to know all of the miniscule details of my day, but you're going to get them anyways-starting with 2 A.M this morning. Aparently the six hour time change didn't quite agree with me. That, or the fact that I had a cat on either side of me pinning me in a single very uncomfortable position may have had something to do with this early wake up call. So I just was there, on my bed, not at all sleepy. I grabbed my nook, read some Feast for Crows, pet a cat, tried to sleep, failed, read some more, and finally fell back to sleep around 5 A.M...Only to wake up to an alarm at 6:30. I did not mind at all, because I was so excited for my first day with the cheetahs!
The fact that my first day with the cheetahs started off with poo duty did not dampen my spirits in the slightest. In case you are curious (because poo duty sounds so fascinating), poo duty involves a bucket, two spades, and quite a bit of walking at 7:30 in the morning. Once you succesfully spot a poo, you collect it and decide if it is: A) solid B)bit runny or C) very runny, and then the data recorder (DC) records your observations accordingly. This may sound a wee bit strange (I'm picking up Scottish lingo from Dane, who hails from Scotland), but I actually did enjoy being out in the early morning time and getting to see the cheetahs and the land. After poo duty, we returned to home and had breakfast with the the rest of the volunteers. I forgot to mention that we are broken into "teams" for duties like meal-making and early morning duties. So Mia, Dane, Leante, and I are on one "team", while Tone, Paul, and Zelia are on another. So tomorrow, the other team does early morning duties and I get to sleep in a bit.
After breakfast, we started working on Phase Two. Phase Two refers to the second part of a three part plan that has been developed to reintroduce cheetahs back into the wild. This has never been done before. Phase One involves obtaining and breeding the hand-reared cheetahs, and trying to teach them hunting skills by using the lure and running them. The most promising "wildish" female cheetah will then be  be put into a large enclosure stocked with suitable game, and human contact will cease (Phase Two). Once the cheetah has adjusted, male cheetahs will be introduced and hopefully the female will have cubs. The cubs will be reared by the mother cheetah, with absolutely no human contact. After about two years, when the mother naturally chases off her young, the "wild" cheetahs will be removed from the enclosure and relased back into a private game reserve (Phase Three). The part I play in Phase Two is that of a bipedal weedwhacker. This morning was spent clearing away a variety of plants, all of which were well armed by thorns and spines. It was a long and desperate battle betwixt I and the spiky sprouts, but by noon we had cleared a pretty impressive portion of the area. At least, it felt impressive. There is still a great deal left to be cleared.
After battling the brush, lunch was eaten. We had break time until 2, at which point we checked to make sure the cheetahs' meat was thawing, and then we had "cheetah time". To be able to sit down next to a cheetah and have it lay its head on your lap as you stroke it is an unbelievable experience. I could not be any happier, I think. I also had plenty of opportunity to take photos and sketch a little. The cheetahs we were able to meet today were Nala and Jemimah. We also were lucky enough to meet the cubs, Jade and Tippy, who are only 10 months old. Cheetah time was suppossed to end at 4, at which time we were suppossed to go get the meat out of the warmer and feet the cats. However, the electricity went out and the meat could not be served cold...so we extended cheetah time and lounge-about-lazily time while waiting for the electricity to return. It came back on at around 5:30, then we got going on feeding. We didn't get back to the house until 6:15. I was tired and hungry, but very very happy.
So that's it. My day in a quick blog. These words are not quite enough to describe how amazing it is here, but they are a good try.
Over and out,
Taylor