Because of all the rain recently the grass in all of the animal camps is growing out of control! Duma’s camp is particularly overgrown and the long grass is beginning to affect the electricity supply to the fence around her camp. Therefore the co-ordinators and the volunteers were sent into Duma's camp this weekend to clear away all the long grass and overgrown bushes and generally tidy up her enclosure.
Duma was put into a capture cage inside her enclosure so that the volunteers could work away safely. It was an extremely hot day so whilst Duma snoozed quietly in her shady capture cage, all the volunteers and co-ordinators worked incredibly hard pulling out grass, clearing paths around the fence, removing tree branches and picking up old bones and hartebeast heads which Duma had been storing away!
After about 8 hours of hard labour from the volunteers and co-ordinators, the camp was deemed ready and Duma was released back out into her newly cleaned enclosure. Clearing away the grass will not only help ensure the electricity supply is always on around Duma’s camp but it will also give Duma much more space to move around in within her camp and give her less cover for hiding in when she is stalking the volunteers on enclosure patrol!
Next weekend it's Ombeli's and Shakira's turn for a camp spring clean!
 |
| Duma relaxes in the shade whilst her camp is cleared |
Ombeli and Shakira have grown up so much over the last few months and are starting to revert back to their wilder nature. As a result they are no longer being taken for walks as it just wouldn’t be safe to take volunteers out with them anymore, after all leopards can never be truly tamed. Ombeli's last walk with volunteers was early February and Shakira's on11th March.
Much like Duma’s camp, Ombeli’s and Shakira’s camp is in dire need of being cleared as the grass is so overgrown and again is beginning to affect the electricity supply. So now that Duma's camp has been done Ombeli and Shakira will be put into capture cages so that the volunteers can go in and clear their enclosure. Hopefully the clearing process won't take too long although I am sure that as long as Ombeli and Shakira have a tasty bit of meat in the cages with them, and some shade, neither of them will mind the whole process at all. After all Duma and the Lions certainly didn’t seem to mind!
 |
| Ombeli |
 |
| Ombeli |
 |
| Shakira |
 |
| Shakira |
