Saturday, February 25, 2006
Working Out Well
Computer at the resthouse has been out for repairs past 2 days ("computer says no...") , hence the lack of updates. From here on i should be able to do some kind of update most days.
There won't be too many Orang photos from here at Sepilok though, at least not from our work areas as these are not allowed until the time we leave. But i'll see what i can do ;-)
If not, i can still add plenty of new ones from our time at Rasa Ria. Only as a last resort will i revert to more shots of damp underwear drying on the line. Ok Keith? :-)
First work day proper at Indoor Nursery and Quarantine.
Although it's called Indoor Nursery as well as the indoor night cages there are also 2 large outdoor cages where the older and fitter ones spend daytime before they return to the indoor cages for sleeping in. These youngsters are at the first stages of rehabilitation.
The Quarantine area is where new arrivals spend there first 3 months before being allowed to join the others in whatever section is most appropriate for their age and development.
This morning was a bit chaotic, they are not as structured or organised as i would have expected so it was quite hard to keep track of exactly who had been doing what jobs and when. We have some crib sheet instructions to follow but usually we have to try to double check with one of the permanent rangers.
At the end of the morning climbing session i had my first orangutan "golden shower". Merudu (who along with Sogo Sogo is one of two little girls who are particularly frightened of men) decided to panic and unload on me. She placed it perfectly so it looked like i had wet myself, which highly amused Vicky and Nick!
Maybe tomorrow morning i'll have a shave before work, then maybe she'll start to love me a bit more?!
By lunchtime we were a little behind with the schedule but not bad for a first day. The afternoon shift went much better. We had the feeding and cleaning done in good time so the afternoon play session for the older ones was a full 90 minutes. For super-climber Susanna it was a lot longer as she disappeared up into the tree tops and refused to come down by the time we left work!! Elis the Head Ranger reckoned she would make her own way back down after we had left so he said he would put her back in the Nursery later. Fingers crossed she'll be back inside tomorrow or we would have had just witnessed our first release back into the wild (but several years before she is ready!!).
Another good day - all of us now very tired, sweaty and smelly but with VERY BIG grins on our faces. Really feel like we are contributing a lot to the rehabilitation process now.
After a freshen up it was haircut time - resident masterchef Amoi, queen of the ping pong table, dutchess of all card games turned out to be the demon barber too...
...ps i'm not being rude, that's just me ordering a number 1 on the sides, honest ;-)
There won't be too many Orang photos from here at Sepilok though, at least not from our work areas as these are not allowed until the time we leave. But i'll see what i can do ;-)
If not, i can still add plenty of new ones from our time at Rasa Ria. Only as a last resort will i revert to more shots of damp underwear drying on the line. Ok Keith? :-)
First work day proper at Indoor Nursery and Quarantine.
Although it's called Indoor Nursery as well as the indoor night cages there are also 2 large outdoor cages where the older and fitter ones spend daytime before they return to the indoor cages for sleeping in. These youngsters are at the first stages of rehabilitation.
The Quarantine area is where new arrivals spend there first 3 months before being allowed to join the others in whatever section is most appropriate for their age and development.
This morning was a bit chaotic, they are not as structured or organised as i would have expected so it was quite hard to keep track of exactly who had been doing what jobs and when. We have some crib sheet instructions to follow but usually we have to try to double check with one of the permanent rangers.
At the end of the morning climbing session i had my first orangutan "golden shower". Merudu (who along with Sogo Sogo is one of two little girls who are particularly frightened of men) decided to panic and unload on me. She placed it perfectly so it looked like i had wet myself, which highly amused Vicky and Nick!
Maybe tomorrow morning i'll have a shave before work, then maybe she'll start to love me a bit more?!
By lunchtime we were a little behind with the schedule but not bad for a first day. The afternoon shift went much better. We had the feeding and cleaning done in good time so the afternoon play session for the older ones was a full 90 minutes. For super-climber Susanna it was a lot longer as she disappeared up into the tree tops and refused to come down by the time we left work!! Elis the Head Ranger reckoned she would make her own way back down after we had left so he said he would put her back in the Nursery later. Fingers crossed she'll be back inside tomorrow or we would have had just witnessed our first release back into the wild (but several years before she is ready!!).
Another good day - all of us now very tired, sweaty and smelly but with VERY BIG grins on our faces. Really feel like we are contributing a lot to the rehabilitation process now.
After a freshen up it was haircut time - resident masterchef Amoi, queen of the ping pong table, dutchess of all card games turned out to be the demon barber too...
...ps i'm not being rude, that's just me ordering a number 1 on the sides, honest ;-)
// posted by storri @ 1:07 pm 
