How is my life at the moment?

End of May already. Time runs! It´s been 3 months since I arrived here at CCF. It feels as if it was just yesterday, and on the other hand, it feels as if I have been here for ages.

As usual after sunset, I was just sitting outside my little rondavels and watching the night sky. It is amazing. Back in Frankfurt, my hometown, I sometimes also tried to watch the sky at night. But it is different. All the artificial lights of a big city disturb the natural beauty and although some stars are visible, is too bright to see them properly. When I was laying in the park or in my backyard, there was always a background noise that disrupted the silence I wanted to have while exploring the objects in the sky, to fully enjoy this experience. I could never find a spot without hearing the cars on the national highway or the planes in the air, coming from or going to Frankfurt International Airport. It bothered me a lot.

But now it is different, and one of the things I appreciate and celebrate most here. The sky is so dark, and stars and planets are clearly visible. In the last couple of months, I learned a bit about the stars and constellations, and it is always a pleasure to see them coming and going.  

However, while sitting here, I often think what my life has been, and what it is now.

What is my life now?

I get up in the morning with a view to the outside, seeing the sunrise. It is amazing to watch the sky changing from night to day, from black to reddish to orange. It is amazing to listen to the start of the day as well, when all the birds wake up and the silence changes to an excited twittering of the Red-billed queleas, mixed with the clucking call of the Yellow-billed hornbill couple that nests in front of my house. And only sometimes, this peaceful awakening is disrupted by the baboons raiding the camp and I have to jump out of the bed to chase them away, so they do not get used to this habit of being around here.   

I get three meals every day, without the necessity to cook. But also, without a choice of the menu, and this sometimes sucks. I do good in adapting to different food styles, but some of the dishes here I simply do not understand. Three days ago for example, I went to breakfast to have my usual porridge (which I love, but having it every single day for the last eighty days is a bit tough), and found this lovely fruit bowl:

 

I eat porridge every single morning due to a limited selection of other options.

I get tomorrow´s time schedule at 5 pm and having an 8 am – 5pm day. We Interns are scheduled on different tasks every day and receive the next day´s plan just the evening before. The tasks are not very difficult and vary between dog feeding, dog walking, goat bottle-feeding, and cheetah enclosure cleaning. In comparison to my previous life I find this awesome. No “What must do tomorrow” or “What timeline is coming up soon”. No mails, no prioritisation, no reporting. But it is a bit harder than I thought to not have any responsibility and I am surprised how much I struggle with it. But I also see the positive things in it: I have a lot of free time that can be used to walk or learn or listening to nature. 

Io live in a 10 sqm room with only two beds and a wardrobe in it and with an incredible view.

I take a walk around the camp after work sit down for a while at my favourite road crossing. I call it a bush walk, but then I feel silly because it is not the bush I was used to when I did my Field Guide Course. Here, the “bush” is not so wild, and we have few animals around. During those walks I sometimes feel as if I would walk at home in the forest, bush pigs and dear coming around in worst case. But then I must remind me that we indeed have a couple of dangerous animals here. There are leopards outside and I must not feel too confident, even if I am convinced that walking here is safe. But it is exciting I must confess!

I wish I was home but then realising that I am in a beautiful place at the moment, even if I struggle from time to time.

I am looking forward to a beer in the evening but then I remember, that there is no alcohol sold during the lockdown. No problem I thought, I simply go over to non-alcoholics, which was a great idea until they stopped selling this either. The challenge now is to calculate the remaining non-alcoholic beers and hoping they last until the time of the lockdown is over. I am looking forward to my first wine, cool, and with a nice cheese-platter.  

I go to bed with no noise except the dogs barking, the jackals howling and the crickets chirping. From time to time there is some different noise outside, like the clicking of the Eland or a genet jumping on my roof. That can be scary, but it is awesome at the same time.

I watch the sunset. Especially nice with some clouds and the wonderful colouration of the Waterberg Plateau in the distance. I found this nice hide just around the corner, about a five minutes’ walk from my house, where I have a wonderful view on the mountains but also on a small dam. I like this spot. It is very peaceful and quiet and a good place to rethink the day .

I am not able to just go to a supermarket. Which is okay because I got used to not needing anything. But sometimes it would just be nice to get some crackers, or bread, or cheese. But those moments became rare.

I do not have my friends around. Of course, the people here are friendly and nice, but it is different. I can connect to friends via skype only to exchange news, struggles, and happy moments.

I do not freak out when people are upsetting me. Rubbish everywhere, things stolen, …

I accept that my plan is currently not in accordance with the plan of the universe.

I hope for sunshine because our warm water system runs on solar and with the chilly winter evenings, I definitely want a warm shower after work.    

I hope for a filled-up coffee container in the morning. Not every kitchen staff seems to have the keys for the storage room – and I have neither – and it really sucks to start the day with no coffee.

I look into an uncertain future. I am often very selfish and pity myself that I so much hoped to see wildlife and learn more about it and now I do not because we are lockdown. Then I think about all the other people, all the Field Guides and Reserve Managers that have no income in those weird times. They fight for their survival!

I do not care about make-up anymore, neither shave legs, or think about what to wear in the morning (which anyway is ridiculous cause I do not have much of a selection). I still shower though and brush my teeth 😊

I live with only one suitcase full of clothes and three pairs of shoes.

I am excited to see the Slender mongoose running around. Or watch the Ground squirrels collecting food and taking a sunbath. To discover the different bird, mammal, insect, and reptile species here.

I work on a 7-day week and saving the off-day for a vacation. The first ten weeks I did not take one day off. But then, just when I was ready to travel, the lockdown came. I am here for 14 weeks and only had 2 days off.

It is a simple life and struggles are different to those back in Frankfurt. But I love it. It is relaxing life and I am happy when I wake up in the morning or when I go to bed at night.

Good night,
Sininho