this and that

Christmas at Harnas was low-key and nice, as usual. This is my 4th Christmas here! Christmas Eve the Bushmen children put on a show, singing and dancing. Then Santa showed up and had presents for every child, every volunteer, and every staff member. It was great. Christmas Day the children recreated the Nativity Scene and then we ate all day in between feeding the animals. That was it! Nice and simple.

Some odds and ends you might find interesting: Doing my laundry has become a contact sport--me vs. the ostriche. For some reason, when I hang up my clothes, the ostriche that hangs out near my house comes and pecks at the little clips, the clothes, and my hands. I chased him away several times, but he's persistent. Maybe he thinks there is food there. Who knows? They came up with the term "bird brain" for a reason.

Next, babysitters are very different things here. When Marieta needs someone to watch the baby baboons, she turns to her trusty dogs. Here's Captain giving the youngsters a ride. If you can get the dogs to go where you want, you get the baboons to go there, too.

Finally, we haven't found Pride yet. Today makes a week she's been missing. The day before Christmas, though, Erin and Anja found her tracks and those of her two cubs. They also found a recent kill, showing she's all right, her cubs are okay, and they're eating. That afternoon, I went with them to track her with Bessa, an expert Bushman tracker. We started at 3:00 and tracked until the sun set around 7:30. It was truly amazing to watch this guy track. He saw signs that were invisible to me. Unfortunately, we didn't find her and that night it rained, washing away the tracks. Back to square one, but at least we know that she and her babies are all right.