The Most Amazing Day - Phinda and Beyond

 Wow! How to explain this day? I'm at a loss; something that rarely occurs with me. For those of you who don't know or forgot, I am spending a week volunteering with African Conservation Experience and it has been amazing. Volunteers help with research: tracking and logging animals in the reserve and we have been setting traps in super high grass with lots of ticks (and who knows what else) to find suitable sights to release pangolins. However today was a different story....and how!

We helped move 5 white rhinos (1 male and 2 females with babies) to different parks and reserves in Africa! They were darted with tranquilizers, injected with a sedative that would kill a human so no touching near the injection spot of course, then blindfolded, horns chainsawed,any wound treated and injected with antibiotics if necessary.  I sprayed antibiotic spray onto wounds on the male, then we got them back on their feet and we pulled with ropes and others pushed on their sides to keep them upright until they were loaded for transport. This is up there with one of the most memorable experiences of my life!!

But then we de-collared a 50 year old bull elephant named Steve.  This involved drones, a helicopter a person hanging out of the helicopter to dart him, the warden and many of the guides as well as us. It was quite an operation and again the experience of a lifetime! It has only been done six times at this reserve and I feel so fortunate to have participated. The day ended after our ant gathering with seeing a pride of lions - 7 in all! What a day! 

Please know that all of this was done humanely. You can watch Steve wake up and the rhinos are sedated until they reach their destination. Mothers are kept with their babies. 

Spraying antibiotics 

Pulling into transport - hard work!

Steve

More Southwest Magic - Nevada and California

 I left my friends in Colorado feeling fulfilled, rested and contented but also looking forward to the next part of my journey - Gold Butte National Monument!  I had seen videos about this place and wrote to the Friends of Gold Butte almost two years ago to get more information.  What I knew is that the area if very large and filled with rutted and sandy roads that made a four wheel drive vehicle and absolute necessity.  Problem was, I don't have one!  I phoned Friends of Gold Butte who kindly arranged for Mike to take me there for a day.  Boy was it worth it!  It is very extensive and the roads are very bad and there is NO cell reception.  We actually encountered four people in a large newish truck with giant tires but their battery had died for some reason and they were stuck!  Good thing we came along as Mike had a battery charger in his Jeep!  They will/should be eternally grateful or they might still be there!  It's pretty remote but very beautiful.  The first 40 miles of road were done by the CCC in the 1940's and that part of the road is decent.  There is still other evidence of them being there.  They built a dam with a trough for local cattle - or donkeys? The dam developed a crack and it doesn't rain much in that area so it's no longer working but there is evidence in the form of stonework that's pretty cool!

Most likely used for tool storage

Our first stop was Little Finland, named because the rocks resemble fins - nothing to do with the country. The red rocks have their unusual and delicate shapes because they have been sandblasted by the desert sands over the years making them very unique and, in my opinion, just lovely!  Here are some examples:

 In addition to Little Finland, I wanted to see the only petroglyph of a falling man - at least as far as anyone knows.  There were many petroglyphs and one pictograph and, of course, the photos don't do them justice. Here are a few photos including the famous falling man.

Look closely for a tiny pictograph

 

 Okay, below is definitely worth checking out despite the not very good photo of the pyramid.  Still, an interesting story . . . any funny.

While we say donkey poo everywhere, we never did see a donkey.  However, the next day I found this trio in the town of Beatty, Nevada???  Why??

 After an amazing day at Gold Butte I spent the night camping near Valley of Fire and the next day through Death Valley (where I saw the donkeys above) to the Alabama Hills and Inyo National Forest under Mount Whitney before heading home.

The moon lighting up the mountains

Mount Whitney and the moon on a morning hike

Along 395 on my way home

 

 

Hope you enjoy until next time.  And hello Zoe!
 

Good Times in Arizona and Colorado

 Well here I am in Nevada having traveled through four states- some twice in the last couple days. Tomorrow I will do something I have been wanting to do for quite a while which is visit gold Butte but there has been so much that I'll save that for another post. The sites I have seen and visited, the hikes I've taken and the time I've spent with dear friends has been just so enjoyable and I feel very fortunate. The photos will explain or give you a feeling of most of it but one or two things that I have no pictures of. I will recap briefly. While in Colorado I spent an afternoon picking apples with my friends in this most beautiful canyon surrounded by Red Rock with an apple orchard in the middle and every animal from several dogs including two Great Pyrenees a couple pigs, some sheep, a whole bunch of chickens. The owner of the property lives in a beautiful yurt and most of the animals including the pigs seem to come and go as they please. But it is beautiful space! The other thing that I have no photos of that is worth mentioning is on a walk from my friend's house a couple of miles down their gravel road. As we were heading back, we were hit with a thunderstorm that was incredibly exciting and wonderful. Now that we're home and safe and sound, but was rather intense at the time! It moved in quickly. The thunder was extremely loud and the lightning striking way too close for comfort! It hailed and then it poured. But we'd made it home unscathed and were then able to breathe this eye relief and laugh about it. I will try to keep the pictures to a minimum but I make no promises. By the way, did you know that going from Colorado to Arizona you go through New Mexico for less than a minute?

Sedona

Mesa Verde and mancos - telluride hikes

Monument valley 

Colorado River Horseshoe bend 

Beehive campground - the new wave hike 

Antelope canyon