hard work

The last couple of days I've been anything but a pampered guest. I decided to help out in the creation of two waterholes. Dirty, hard labor, but very rewarding. First we dug the holes--about 6-8 feet across and two feet deep. Then we lined them with stones, fitting them together like a puzzle.

The next day we mixed cement to cover the rocks. There's no better way to do this than getting IN the hole, letting our bare feet squish through the cement, filling every hole around every rock and then smoothing--all with our hands and feet.

Then they dried and we filled them with water--one for the cheetahs near the lapa (their fence had been moved back, excluding their other waterhole) and one for the wild dog puppy next to the cheetah enclosure. I can't remember the last time I got so dirty. I had cement dried between my toes! But it was such a sense of accomplishment. I was so tired the last night I barely remember hitting my pillow. But oh such good sleep that I really felt I earned!

And now, because this probably isn't very exciting for those of you working on things you can actually put on a resume, I'll include this hilarious picture I took of a volunteer named Melissa. In normal life, she's a police detective just outside London, but on this day, she was a visitor to one of the meerkat enclosures. Meerkats love to get as high off the ground as they can. A moment to remember!