St Lucia Crocodile Centre day trip
Eight of the nine of us photographers decided to go on a day trip to St Lucia again, but this time for a behind-the-scenes tour of the Croc Centre. Our guide showed us all of the crocs there.
He also gave us a good briefing about them. Note: they can hold their vice-like grip for over 2 days (their jaw muscles do not get tired) so the only way you’re going to open their jaw is with a jack… Also note that wheelchairs may go astray…
We were given a baby croc to hold – though his mouth had to be held shut with a rubber band otherwise we might’ve lost a finger. I fell in love with him and wanted to bring him home – if only he wouldn’t get any bigger. I also found out there were dwarf crocs but even they were still too big to fit in a bathtub!
Vervet monkeys were scampering about the enclosures, and some brave ones even went inside them. Not sure if a croc would attack one if it was hungry but they probably shouldn’t try their luck.
Our guide called in a vet as there was a sick alligator. The two of them walked into the sick alligator’s enclosure and stood about 2 metres away from it to see if they could diagnose it. It was a little difficult so instead they decided to get scale samples and test properly, and would need to capture the alligator tomorrow to do so. The vet received a call on his mobile during his prognosis and was casually talking on his phone with this huge alligator lying right next to him.
We were asked to cut away the undergrowth from around an open water tank for the crocs. The water tank had a shade cloth on it to stop leaves and other stuff from falling in, but it needed to be adjusted and re-erected. We only had enough time to help with the first step, and used machetes to cut the surrounding bushes.
One of the African pythons had a tick on its head so our guide went into the python enclosure and picked up the one with the tick and brought it out to us. The python wasn’t happy and let out a gooey, yellow-coloured excrement all over the guide’s arm. He removed the tick without a fuss, and before the python could wrap itself any tighter around his forearm, he put him back in its enclosure.
It reminded me of my good friend Sandy’s behind-the-scenes zoo tour, where we had a close encounter with Burmese python, Long John Slither (although he is much, much bigger!)
Lion removal
Two lions escaped from Thanda into a different part of the reserve called ‘King’s Land’. At present, the two reserves are separated by a fence, but one day they will be joined together. For now though, the lion isn’t allowed there as there is apparently a sick lion in the community next to King’s Land – yes in the actual community, eating livestock and causing havoc, and it could make our lion sick too. One of the lions was able to be coaxed back with some fresh impala meat, but the other one was quite happy in his new territory. He therefore had to be ‘removed’ from King’s Land and put back on Thanda, and a dart was the only way to get the job done.
A group of professionals went out to track the lion and dart him. Us volunteers had to wait until he had been darted as it was unsafe for us to go otherwise. Apparently he had to be darted 3 times as the drug didn’t seem to work on him. We had gone to our rooms as we weren’t sure if we could go out at all as it was getting a little tricky. But Mariana knocked on our doors at about 9pm and we quickly grabbed our cameras and headed out on the Landrover to find them. The lion had gone to sleep once we got there but he had to be loaded up onto the back of a ute and driven firstly onto the right side of the fence, and secondly away from the other lions in the area, as they could try to wake him up and hurt him if he didn’t respond due to the drugs.
We followed the ute to a nearby open savannah area where around 5 of them lifted the lion and lay him on the ground. He was sprayed with a purple gauze to protect the wounds he had on him. The whole time his head was covered with a cloth so he couldn’t see the lights and also to buy them time should he wake up earlier than expected! We got out of our Landrover and stood around the lion.
We were allowed to pat his paw with the warning that lions carry worms that eat your brain so don’t touch your mouth afterwards and make sure you disinfect your hands. We stayed out for another hour or two after that so I had to quarantine my hand and not touch anything with it.
We jumped back in our vehicles and had to wait for the lion to wake up to ensure he was safe. For a long time he didn’t move, and then at one point, we saw one of his ear’s twitch. He tried to lift up his head but couldn’t. Over time, we saw him attempt to get up, and then slump back down again – poor thing. Eventually he managed to get up and we could then all go to bed.
Mafa school visit
After a few hours of preparation, a group of us found ourselves in front of 19 kids in Grade 7, teaching them about a cycle: the elephant eats leaves, bark and roots from the trees, and then the dung beetle rolls the elephant’s dung. The nutrients and/or seeds from the dung then go back into the soil, which help new plants to grow for the elephant to eat. Keith ‘Dung Beetle’ expert and I had the dung beetle part covered evidently. Jody, Carice and Annie talked about animal tracks, and later we played a game of matching up the animal to their track.
We also had a potato and spoon race (we don’t have eggs), popped balloons, and had a dung beetle race (one kid holds the legs of another kid as they walk backwards on their hands).
After the kids had lunch, they did some zulu dancing along with our zulu staff, who dragged most of us up to dance with them. (Luckily?!) I was the self-designated photographer that day.
Buffalo photo shoot
On our last game drive, we went to see the buffalo herd. After a while, Mariana asked us if any of us wanted to go under the Landrover to take some eye level pics. She promised she wouldn’t drive over us and I somewhat believed her. I went first and crawled army-style under the vehicle, holding my camera in one hand. I had taken only a few shots and was joined by Jody. The buffalo were smart enough to realise that we were under the vehicle and started approaching us to have a look at what we were doing. I got a bit spooked, particularly when they get so close you can’t even see them through your lens anymore! I got out from under the Landrover pretty quickly and hopped back in! I was very dirty but the shots and the experience itself was worth it.
The 4.30pm Lion Show
On our last day, Martijn came to ask us if we wanted to have a look at some lions. There were 3 lions right outside our camp fence: I call it the 4:30pm Lion Show (as opposed to our daily morning Gecko show where the geckos fight and the loser usually drops on our bed or on the floor). We were watching the lions safely from the balcony of the lodge when we realised Peter was down a few metres from the fence line behind a mound of dirt shooting photos of them. The stabiliser in his lens makes quite a noise and he later told us the lion’s ears were pricking up every time he took a photo. In one sudden movement, one of the lions charged Peter and began running at him towards the fence. It could’ve jumped over the fence if it really wanted to we believe, but it stopped and sat down again. Meanwhile Peter had turned around and began walking calmly away from the fence as we were all saying how wrong that incident could’ve gone! It really could’ve been Peter’s ‘last’ day… Obviously unperturbed by the incident, he later went back to the fence with Romeo to see where they’d gone. We’d heard a warthog squeal earlier and knew they’d be snacking on it again. Doesn’t mean they wouldn’t have another snack if they had half a chance though…
No comments:
Post a Comment