Herd of Cats? (Nobody mention the Lion)
Trip Start
Sep 25, 2007
1
26
35
Trip End
May 29, 2008
Ascuncion Gurayas,
Bolivia
Saturday, February 23, 2008
It is hot and extremely humid - our boots have already started to get mildew - and we are living in the Amazon Bason amoungst a bunch of tropical birds, howler monkeys, a few coati, lizards, frogs and snakes, and massive butterflies, dragonflies, spiders and stick insects of every colour and description. There are also a few rodents of unusual size around - about small-medium dog size - which I donīt know the name of yet. You can tell them from the rats because they donīt have long tails. Yesterday I even saw an armadillo on the way out to my cat. The park has maybe 18 volunteers in total, about 16 cats and a bunch of other animals, and there is heaps of work to do. We have both lost a bit of weight on camp food as there is hardly any fat or protein in it, so we are looking around for some goodies like peanut butter at the moment.
Yes, we are both caring for cats which, for one reason or another, cannot be in the wild. First I walked very friendly cats with lovely dispositions called the three sisters - pumas weighing about 60kg - (only one at a time). After struggling nobly to walk them through swamp up to my arse, having tripped on sunken logs and been pulled over by their sheer size and strength more times than I could count, I decided that while itīs what you do when you fall that counts, it was going to be an utterly, utterly miserable, wet month if I continued to be walked by them each day (the sisters also have the added challenge of their entire cage being completely flooded, so they will stay out on their trail until after dark rather than go back there - there are plenty of dry platforms and walkways, but going in means getting wet). So gladly they reassigned me to a stroppy ocelot called Vanesso. He bites and jumps a bit, but the mud doesnīt go past my gumboots anymore, and as he only weighs about 20kgs heīs physically much easier to deal with. Vanesso was seized from a chinese restaurant in Potosi as a cub by the police, donated to a zoo who didnīt want him, then signed over to Inti Wara Yasi on the condition he is never freed, as he is too accustomed to humans. He is now 2.
Nick is working with a female puma called Wayra. She weighs about 40kg (light for a puma) and is currently too agressive to be walked, but he and Mira (another volunteer) are working towards her being able to walk at least daily (all the cats have their own trails cut into the jungle owned by the park.
2 months ago the park acquired a sad lioness from a local circus, which had lived most of its life in a cage about 2x2x4m. A new cage is nearly finished, but yesterday government officials came to inspect the park. The day before, she was whisked off to a remote border of the park under the pretext of īquarantineī, presumably so she didnīt excite any difficult questions from the officials. When I got back to camp from the morning work one of the howler monkeys was on one of the officialīs heads, and he was chuffed that she was grooming him, so everybody seemed happy on the day.
The mosquitoes really are very rough - I think we both have more than a hundred bites on each hand, but weīre not in a current malarial zone, and weīre taking our preventatives as a precaution.
The park is about 50km north-west of Asencion Gurayas, where we currently are on a half day off.
And mum, my mum, I am frankly disappointed that there were 3 emails waiting ostensibly supporting what Iīm doing but then complaining that you havenīt got any responses. I am not in the Amazon Bason to help you learn to use the internet. Use internet, donīt use it, approve what Iīm doing, donīt approve, just stop grizzling - Iīm living 50km away from the nearest internet and get half a day off each week. Everything moulds, the cochroaches are bigger than miniature poodles, Iīm covered in insect bites, living in a dorm with people who go out boozing until 5am and my main responsibility is a cat which can eat bones the size of my fingers with relatively little effort. I care about your well being but right now couldnīt care less about the thrush in the holly tree or the x-partners of cousins I havenīt seen in 20 years.
We Like - Howler monkeys - thereīs no sound like it at 6.30 in the morning - the baby tapir named Herbie who lives in the park with a few deer, military grade mosquito bed nets, and when the cats are loving, not biting.
Nick Doesnīt Like - cold showers. Come on! Itīs over 30 degrees here.
Amiria Doesnīt Like - the straw mattress she had to sleep on for the first week - scratchy!!!
