Road Maintenance

I slept so well last night, when I woke up, I thought I was back in my bed at home. It is nice in a way though to think I am feeling so settled here that I can sleep that deep, although I think it could also be the fact that the weekend has just completely tired me out. I got out of bed and finished unpacking my stuff from the weekend since everyone is now awake, and we have light I can see what I am doing; then I quickly pulled on shorts and a t-shirt so I could run to make breakfast in time. This morning we found out we would be doing some road maintenance in the actual game reserve to make it a little less unpleasant to drive along. We had to smash up larger rocks and dead termite mounds to fill up buckets so that we could then fill up any holes in the road and use a shovel to even it out and try to make it compact. It felt ineffective though as we only had 3 buckets to fill up with rocks, so it felt as if we spent more time riding back and forth from the pile than actually making a difference. We did suggest some of us stay at the pile and just continuously fill up buckets, however, because we were in

the actual game reserve, we were not allowed to do this in case a lion came along, and we had to jump into the truck. Normally spending more time in the truck would not bother me but today it was so uncomfortable as we had to squeeze four of us along the back seat so every bump we went over, I would get a wooden arm rest straight in the ribs as I was sitting in the corner which was not pleasant and, in fact, now starting to bruise. Eventually I decided it was more comfortable to hold on to the poles and perch what I could of my bum, on the armrest and just brace using my legs although by the time we got back for lunch, it had felt like I had done a major leg day at the gym as they were shaking from the pressure they had been under. Lunch today was so nice, it was spaghetti and spicy meatballs with some red Leicester cheese; it reminded of home to be honest, I am not sure why but any type of pasta I just find so comforting. After lunch everyone went to the rehab centre and the petting zoo, but I didn't feel too great so stayed behind to have a nap which definitely helped me feel better.

This evening we had our night game drive, which was surprisingly good; before we left, I was thinking what on earth are we going to see as it is pitch black out there, but I was soon shown otherwise. Tonight's game drive was only an hour long but yet we managed to see 2 lion cubs hunting, 2 rhinos, loads of springhare which are nocturnal,

so you don't normally see them although essentially, they are a cross between a squirrel, rabbit and kangaroo. I tried to get photos but where it is so dark, they have not come out very well. The stars out here are so amazing even when loads are covered by clouds the ones you can see are so bright, so the intern, Judith, gave us all a little astrology lesson as well. I find stars so fascinating; it is just a shame that due to the light pollution back in London you cannot see them very well otherwise I think I would get into it. Anyway, that is all for today so bed time is calling. Goodnight!