Settling in

3/10

We started our day with a brisk 3- hour morning walk with the aim of finding otters. We did not see any, which is really not surprising, but we managed to find some old scats and well as a couple of tracks. The weird thing was that we could all smell them (very distinctive otter smell), but they were just nowhere to be seen! Cheeky little buggers. Our main researcher here is an otter specialist so she initiated the activity. I love meeting true animal species fanatics as they always talk about their favorite animals with great enthusiasm and spark in their eyes. It really makes your want to learn more! Anyway, the whole time I was just humming “Hellllooo from the OTTER SLIIIIIDEEEE” in my head. I can’t help it. How is Adele doing anyway, I wonder. I have no contact with the rest of the world as my 3G status sits consistently on “E”. That’s as good as it gets I guess. My celebrity goss will just have to wait.

To my disgust, we also discovered a poaching site today, the blood was fresh which means the kill was either earlier in the morning or the day before. It is such a massive issue here and so many animals are affected. I guess I am not the one to judge though, as I am very privileged back and never suffer hunger whereas these people here shoot animals for food (amongst other things).

Talking about food, it was my turn to cook today, so for lunch I made rice, fresh salad and a veggie stir-fry and for dinner I prepared a hearty tomato lentil-bean soup. Girls seemed to like it and I was definitely happy to be eating my “no meat-no eggs- no dairy- no oil-basically what rabbits eat” food. I have never appreciated my cooking skills as much as I do now!

Anyways, I’m off to bed now. I have set my alarm for 3.30 AM as we are going for a “hyena drive” and doing Large Mammal Transect survey right after. I also have a whole bagful of clothes waiting to be washed so I will have to get it all done tomorrow. Hand washing FTW. My dearest washing machine back at home, if you’re reading this, please know that I will never take you for granted EVER AGAIN and I miss you so much! xx