Vet work, horse safari and an uninvited dinner guest

Unbelievably, this is all starting to take on a certain routine rhythm, as if it is normal to spend the day in the bush capturing wild animals! 7:30 departure meant breakfast and lunch making first thing, then a ride to our first stop. Today we would work with a different veterinarian; although we all think the world of Rita, it would be good to see some differences as well, since there are many different "right" ways to do things.

We arrived and learned that we were to capture nyala and kudu. The first animal was a nyala that was being captured so that he could be identified and his horns measured for an auction listing. He did have impressive horns! They were measured to the exact tip, and data recorded.

Nyala is down and being medicated by Hannah, Summer and Kait. Existing plastic tip protectors are removed from the horns for measuring.

After measuring, a new set of tips is placed on the horns. These are heat-shrink electrical caps, so they fit very loosely until shrunk with a torch. Then a wet towel is applied immediately to cool the horn material, since there is a living layer just beneath the surface.

After measuring that nyala, we divided into 2 groups. One would be darting several more nyala for transport, and the other would be doing the same for a pair of kudu. This went smoothly and the animals were moved from camp to truck to transport trailer without incident.

After a stop at the airport for some paperwork and a couple of shops for students, we were on our way back to the farm to ride horses once again. We had decided that we would continue the same groups from the first ride, but the less experienced group would ask to trot and canter a little this time. Since it had been so warm out, several of us needed to change from shorts into pants before riding; this became important for me a couple of hours later.

We were assigned different horses, except Hannah, who rode Olderon again. I had been hoping for the half-draft, but was assigned Arnold instead. He turned out to be quiet, capable, and easily directed, just like Viking had been on the previous ride. He seemed to quickly figure out that I wasn't going to pull on his mouth, and walked along quite happily. Although we didn't see much more wildlife, except for nyala, kudu and water buck, and a couple of daikkers, we found tracks from a leopard, and could see the marks in the track where he dragged his prey away. Shortly after that, several hyena tracks appeared, following along after the leopard, hoping for a meal. Following tracks and taking in the gorgeous countryside made for a fine ride. We went up and down some pretty steep banks, over stony ground and other varied terrain. The horses handled it perfectly, and it made for a fun ride. We had several good gallops, which the horses appeared to enjoy as much as we did.

Near the end of the ride, Phoebe, our leader, asked to put our phones in her bag, which she hung in a nearby tree. Then we rode the hot horses into the cool pond! They were pleased to go in, drank a little and picked a few plants from the shoreline. Then they seemed to really get into the spirit of things, and Brooklyn's horse Viking (who I rode last time) and Arnold got in a splash fight! Both pawed at the water, flinging it at one another and splashing madly. Arnold decided that he wanted to go into the deeper water, and waded on in. My boots quickly filled with cool water, and I could feel it creeping up my pantlegs. When we got in to my knees, I turned him back toward shore, and he resumed his splash fight with Viking. Phoebe recorded the splashing, then about 3 seconds after she ended the video, Arnold decided that he needed to get his entire body wet. He began to crouch down in the water, and the water level quickly rose above my waist! The cool water felt great, and we were all laughing crazy hard! 

We arrived back at the lodge at exactly 6:00 pm, just in time for supper! Jane, of course, had everything ready, and we were all very hungry. Another lovely meal, interrupted halfway through by an unexpected visitor outdoors. One of the students looked out the wall of windows behind us, and just happened to notice a large snake lounging on the steps leading down to the pool. It turned around and raised its head--it was a 4-foot long COBRA!!! Needless to say, nobody went down to the swimming pool tonight!

Tomorrow we hope to have darting practice and go up in the helicopter. It's our last day with Jessica; someone else will be taking us around on Friday and to the airport on Saturday. More tomorrow!