Hello Sunshine!!

Four more busy days in Cape Town have passed since my last update. Last weekend I thought I would be working, but found out late Friday that I would be off so I was scrambling at the last minute to find things to do. The weather was beautiful on Saturday so a group of vollies decided to go to the beach at Camp's Bay. The guys bought a soccer ball and kicked that around while the rest of us relaxed on the sand. One thing I am learning quickly is that everywhere you go, people will have stuff they will try to sell. Within minutes of arriving we had about 4 guys surround us with various items such as wooden carved figurines, bowls, jewellery and beaded keychains. I couldn't resist and ended up buying a few things. Afterwards we walked along the street where more vendors were selling items. I stopped for a few minutes to watch a man making a large gecko out of wire and beads. It was very impressive and made me feel good about supporting him by buying a couple of his keychains.

Sunday was much the same, but instead of going to the beach, we went to the green market square in Cape Town where dozens of vendors were selling the same sort of items as the day before. Unfortunately they were starting to close up, but I still had some time to run around and pick up a few things. The first time I tried bargaining a deal it was a little frustrating, but after a couple times it gets exciting. Every booth you pass by they tell you "I give you good price, today only" I have now heard this line at least a hundred since I've been here. I'm looking forward to going back to the green market someday when I have more time to browse.

Yesterday was a tiring, but good day at work. I was placed on ICU for my first time which is where all of the weak, sick and injured birds are kept. I was very confident feeding them and I also learned how to put tubes down their throats to give fluids and formula. This I learned quickly is not an easy task and it is also intimidating because you have to be very careful not to put the tube down their breathing hole.....or they will die. I think for my first time doing tubes I did pretty well.

Today I was placed on Pen 2 again where we currently have 18 penguins, many of whom had recently been oiled and then cleaned. I am now able to do all the tasks required in Pen 2 - feeding, tubes, and giving medication (putting pills down their throats with your finger - a little scary considering how insanely sharp their beaks are.) Now that I have done most tasks at least once I'm able to work almost anywhere in the centre. The only area I have not yet worked is with the oilies which I have heard is very difficult because they are not happy birds. Oh well, it's all part of the job.

The Sun, Moon, and New Beginnings

Today I went on a cultural tour of District 6 and three of the townships in Cape Town, in my opinion a definite must for anyone wanting to visit Cape Town. It really gives you a sense of what the blacks and coloured people of South Africa went through during apartheid and what they continue to struggle with today. The tour began with a drive through District 6 which was the first area deemed by the government during the days of aparthied as whites only. Any homes that were owned by blacks or coloured people were demolished. All that remained were homes owned by white people and places of education or worship. Many areas in District 6 are still empty to this day although they are now beginning to build homes for the original people of District 6 to return. After driving around the area we went to the District 6 museum to get a better idea of what the people who lived their went through.

After the museum we went to Landa (Afrikaans for 'sun') which is one of the many townships in Cape Town. When the township was first built only men were allowed to live there, meaning they had to leave their wives behind. After a few years the government allowed women to move into Landa because they realized women were needed to do jobs such as childcare in the area. We were taken into an arts centre where we met residents who were busy making pottery and picture frames to sell. Because the unemployment rate is so high in the townships, programs like these are created to teach the people skills that they can use to make a living.

Next we visited another township, Nyunga (Afrikaans for 'moon'.) The first stop was to visit a medicine doctor where we learned about natural healing and how witch doctors are chosen by fate. The witch doctor was in a tiny shack filled with tried animal parts and random bottles of liquids and creams. After visiting the witch doctor we went to an outdoor patio restaurant for lunch called Myzoni's Meats. The table was served a giant bowl with bbq'd chicken, lamb, and sausage along with a loaf of sliced bread. For the vegetarians, we were served creamed spinach, creamed pumpkin and a traditional dish made of maize. It was very delicious and the first cultural meal I've had since I arrived.

The last township we visited was Khayelitsha (Afrikaans for 'new beginnng') which is the largest township on the Western cape and the second largest township in South Africa next to Soweto. It currently has over 2 000 000 residents. We stopped off at Vicky's B&B, the smallest hotel in South Africa. The B&B was started in 1997 to allow tourists to experience and better understand life in the townships. Vicky is also very involved in the community and helps to feed the hungry and keep children busy and out of trouble. Afterwards we went across the road to Beauty's B&B and Sewing Project. Beauty was a very inspiring person to meet. She is also very involved in the community and helps train people to sew which they can use to make a living for themselves.

Out on the streets we had many children coming to meet us and all wanted to have their pictures taken. Everywhere you turned they were more and more children coming. As we drove off the children would run behind the van until they couldn't run anymore. It was certainly a site to see.

I feel very priviledged to have had the opportunity to meet some of the people in these townships and to hear their stories about their triumphs and their struggles. For those who are still struggling even after apartheid they don't give up because they know that tomorrow could bring big changes to their lives.

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened" - Anatole France

I can't believe another two days have by already!! There is never a dull moment at work and before I know it's 5:00 and I'm on my way home. Yesterday didn't turn out how I had expected it. I was scheduled to be part of the Blouberg Conservation Area crew which was going to be chopping an invasive species of trees, however there were not enough volunteers scheduled to be at SANCCOB so they asked if I would like to stay since I had done so well with the penguins the day before : ) I accepted and was assigned once again to Pen 2. Even though I had only worked with the penguins once, I felt that I had been doing it much longer. My reflexes were much quicker and I felt a lot more comfortable and confident catching and picking up the penguins. Feeding went much more smoothly as well. I was warned on Tuesday that the juvenile penguins (called 'blues') can be very difficult to feed because they wiggle a lot while you're trying to put the fish down their throat. They weren't kidding about the wiggling, but they are my favourite to feed because they are so small and cute. We have a penguin in Pen 2, #197, who is very curious and loves to hang around while you are trying to feed the others. He is a free feeder meaning he will eat a fish on his own if you hand it to him. The reason penguins at SANCCOB need to be fed by hand is that in the wild they catch fish while swimming so it's not natural for them to eat a fish out of water.
Yesterday a release was scheduled for 5 penguins and 2 cape gannets, but the boat that normally takes them out is unavailable until further notice. Luckily for the penguins there is a research boat that is going to bring them out on the weekend, but unfortunately they will not be able to take any volunteers. I still have another 4 weeks so I'm sure I will have the opportunity at some point.

Today was a little different than the last couple of work days. I was sent to the Cart Horse Protection Association which removes abused and neglected horses from owners, rehabilitates them and then hands them over to the ASPCA for adoption. It was an hour and a half drive each way so we only had a few hours available to work, but I feel like we accomplished a lot in the short time we had there. The first two hours we picked weeds in a few of the pens with horses wandering around us. After we had finished weeding we were shown how to brush a horse and for the next hour we brushed 3 horses. It was my first time grooming a horse and I absolutely loved it!! Because many of the horses have been abused, some did not like being touched and would try to bite, but there were others who were quite content with being brushed and shown lots of love and attention. Although working with horses is not what I signed up for, I still enjoyed it and felt like I was making a difference.

I Did It - I Fed a Penguin!!

Today was an exciting day full of learning and lots of penguin bites. I was assigned to Pen 2, along with Luc, where we had 12 penguins and 2 cape gannets. The morning was quite busy, after our supervisor gave medication to a few penguins with wounds, we put the penguins and the gannets in the pool to swim. There are three different types of swimmers at SANCCOB - 1 hour swimmers who swim for a minimum of 1 hour but can stay in longer if choose to, 20 minute swimmers and those who are not forced to swim for any set length of time. The reason for this is that some penguins' feathers are not yet waterproof and cannot stay in the cold water for long. Today Nola, the vet at SANCCOB came to Pen 2 to weigh the birds, do blood work, and check their feathers to decide whether or not the birds are ready to be released. Five penguins passed the test as well as our two gannets. The release will be done tomorrow, but I will probably not have the opportunity to be go out for this one. I still have almost 5 weeks left so I'm quite sure there will be other chances. After Nola was done with birds, it was time for the morning feeding. To feed the gannets we put them in the pool and throw fish at them - quite easy. Penguins on the other hand are not so easy to feed as I learned today. Both Luc and I had the chance to feed penguins for our first time today. My first few tries didn't work so well as I was getting used to putting the fish into their throats properly and also holding their beak so they don't move around too much. Some penguins will eat the fish really well while others you literally have to push down their throats until just the tail of the fish is left. By the afternoon feeding I started to feel more comfortable and was much more successful. I do however still have lots of work to do in catching the penguins quickly without them biting my ungloved hand. The other volunteers make it look so easy, but I have to remind myself that they were all new at one time. Practice makes perfect and I'm sure after 6 weeks at SANCCOB catching and feeding penguins will be easy.

Chocolate and Wine - Two of my Favourite Things!

Mmmm I love wine : ) Today I went on a winelands tour through AVIVA with 10 other volunteers from the various programs. We started our tour off by visiting the Waterford Estate winery in the Stellenbosch region where we had the opportunity to try 6 different wines. The first was probably my favourite wine of the day called Mary Rose. The next two were reds, one of which was one of the worst wines I've ever tried, tasted a little like a wet campfire (that is really the only way to describe it.) The last three were paired up with three different chocolates. The first two were reds paired with two different types of dark chocolate and were really delicious. The third was a dessert wine which was way to sweet for my liking and was paired with a milk chocolate that tasted like soap (also not to my liking.)

The next stop of the day was to the Cheetah Outreach program where I had the opportunity to pet a cheetah and have my picture taken with it. Was very rushed so I only got to pet it for about 30 seconds but it was still a neat thing to do and the entry fee went to the program which helps save cheetahs from poachers. Next we went for lunch in a lovely little town just outside of Stellenbosch. The town was built with a lot of French influence and it really shows in the architecture and looks very different than the other parts of Cape Town and surrounding area that I have seen so far. What I loved most was that the area was surrounded by these incredible mountain ranges and huge grape fields.

The next stop was another winery where we were able to choose 6 wines to try from a very extensive list. I tried a variety of whites, reds and a dessert wine. Generally I'm not a fan of dessert wine (including the one I had earlier in the day) but the one I tried at the second winery was quite lovely and tasted almost like fresh peach juice. At this winery we were also able to taste different cheeses with our wine. The name a selection of the wines was Goats on a Roam so of course they had goats at the winery! We also passed by a lot of other wineries in the region (there about about 200 in the area) some of which had pet wildebeasts, zebras and ostriches - certainly not your average house or farm pet.

The last stop was another winery about two minutes down the road where we were served 7 wines very similar to the first winery we visited - 1 rose, 2 whites, 3 reds and a dessert wine. I enjoyed all of them, but there were none that jumped out at me as being spectacular or unique.

Overall a very enjoyable day. One week down already!!

Table Mountain - What a View!

Two more busy exciting days have passed since my last post. Yesterday went completely different than I had originally thought. When I went into work my team was told that we would be working with a group of conservation officers to catch zebras in an area where they are overpopulated. We were of course very excited about this and everyone who wasn't part of my team was very jealous. When we arrived at the conservation area we told that the group had left without us and that we could just clean up garbage along the beach instead. We cleaned up for about one hour and then left. Apparantly there are people who are paid weekly to do that and they clearly were not doing a good job. We went back to SANCCOB at 9:30 and were told we could take the rest of the day off. Because I was already going to be off for 3 days I wanted to stay. I told them I hadn't yet worked with the penguins and was really interested in getting started. I stayed for 3 hours and learned how to pick the penguins up and pass them to someone. Despite what you might think, penguins are not cute and cuddly (just cute.) Even with a glove on I still managed to get some bruises on my hand, not looking forward to getting bit where I'm not wearing arm guards or gloves. After I left work for the day I was planning on going shopping to pick up a few things, but found out that a group of the volunteers were planning on climbing Table Mountain so I decided to go with them instead. Our taxi ended up being an hour and a half late so by the time we got there we only had two hours left to hike up in order to catch the last cable car down from the mountain. I made it about 30 minutes up and then realized I was too slow and tired and there was no way I was going to make it up in time. I decided to hike back down and take the cable car both up and down instead. Being on top of Table Mountain was incredible. The view from both sides, whether looking down on Cape Town or looking at the 12 Apostles, is stunning. Because my group was hiking the whole way I ended up being alone the entire time, but asked many friendly tourists to take pictures of me on my camera. I met up with my group just in time for the cable car ride down. After our trip we were all too tired to cook so we just ordered pizza instead and then went to bed early.

Today was another busy day. Many of us had the day off so we decided to go on a bus sightseeing tour. They were calling for rain all day but we got lucky and just had overcast instead. The first stop on our tour was the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. Unfortunately because it's winter there wasn't much to see because most of the plants were dead, but I still learned some new things. The next stop was the World of Birds sanctuary which has thousands of birds, monkeys and other animals. We were only there for about an hour and a half but I could easily have spent a whole day there. Many of the enclosures you were able to get quite close to the birds because they were not fenced in. The next stop was the Imizamo Yethu township, one of approximately 140 townships across the Cape Town area. We were given a guided tour by one of the residents named Ken. We were able to go into a couple of the houses and see how the people there live. There were many kids running around, trying to get our attention and some would even run up and give us hugs. Certainly made me appreciate what I have. We ended our tour where we started which was the V&A Waterfront which has many shops, restaurants, buskers and of course lots of boats. After walking around for a couple of hours we returned to the AVIVA house where we were prepared a delicious pasta dinner by the Italiens. I've been so spoiled this past week, don't know what I'll do when they leave!

Dogs Need Love Too

Just got home early from my third day of work. Yesterday was basically the same as day 1, I was assigned to Pen 1, the aviary and general duties. Yesterday I was actually able to catch the large gulls myself (although not that well.) Once I realize that I am not going to pop their heads off or break their wings I will be a pro. I haven't yet had the chance to work with penguins, but I was able to pet one of the permanent residents, Rocky the rockhopper penguin. Unlike the African penguins at the centre, Rocky is very friendly and will even let you pick her up. She is sometimes brought around to schools to teach kids about penguins.

Today was quite different from my first two days. Generally this is a very busy time of year at SANCCOB because the winter months are windy which often washes oil ashore and oils numerous penguins and other seabirds. This winter has been a little different and at the moment there are too many volunteers and not enough penguins to keep everyone busy. Because of this, SANCCOB has found other conservation type volunteer projects around Cape Town to keep the volunteers busy. Today I was volunteering at a dog and cat shelter about 40 minutes away from SANCCOB. There were five volunteers and one staff member working there today. Our task was to build a-frame type dog houses because all of the dogs are in fences outside. We were able to complete two dog houses and then we ran out of nails so we finished a little early. Tomorrow I have been assigned to volunteer at the Blouberg Conservation Area. Not sure what I will be doing there yet by stay tuned for information in my next blog update : )