When we arrived here, there were another couple of volunteers, one from Columbia and one from the US, Navdeep (from the US) was helpful in giving us an idea what to expect and translating for us as many of the staff here have only a little English. We really liked her and it was a shame when she left.
On the first of many mornings we were woken early by Parrots screeching or monkeys jumping on the roof of our hut or torrential rain with lightning and thunder ( It is a rainforest after all) .
The working day starts at 8 am and breakfast is at 9am. Back to work at 10 then lunch at 1330 hours. Back to work at 3 pm until somewhere between 5.30 and 6.30 pm or when ever the job is finished.
On our first couple of days, I was in the Aviary and Jayne went to the specials (I’ll explain later).
The work was physical and hot. I didn’t quite get what was required of me at first and Gustina who is the keeper of the birds tutted a bit ( universal in any language). I soon realised what she needed and really it was like gardening, cleaning the droppings off stones onto the earth and clearing up food that falls onto the floor. The next day I was like a thing possessed! Gustina at the end of the day said ” you are a strong woman” and then sang my praises at dinner and so Jayne now calls me ‘teachers pet’, hahaha! Jayne got sacked from birds after one hour! (No not really, she had a cunning plan).
You are not supposed to talk to the parrots, to try and give them a more natural existence and not to traumatised them. Occasionally a couple of birds said ‘Hola’, ‘Hello’ and the odd wolf whistle. Clearly they had been pets. As I went round the enclosures I began to notice some of the birds had either paired up or had favourites and would sit, fly and feed together all day. They are unbelievably noisy and after a while it sounded very like gossiping! Some had behavioural problems and would peck me while I was working (Jayne said that was sensible), I quickly learned to put the bucket between me and them.
Also in the enclosures was an Agouti that only came out in the evening and several red footed tortoises. One of the latter I rescued, stuck half over a log, really they need a longer wheel base or tank tracks if they are going to climb logs!
On the following days Jayne who has volunteered before and handled monkeys in Africa persuaded the center to let her help with them (normally here you need to have volunteered for at least two weeks). I then went to Specials which basically was animals that don’t fall into any other bracket.
I met Alex (18 years old) and who doesn’t speak English, in the animal food preparation room. We collect our bowls of fruit, etc and went to feed the red backed deer of which several have to be kept on their own because they are as Alex says ‘ combative’ or in one case one had a skin disorder. He is very careful of my safety. Then we fed the Capybara named Capitan who is very tame. Most of the animals have a pond with fresh water running through it, Capitan is no different although his looked a bit muddy.
In his enclosure are two armadillos, (they love an egg for breakfast) and a very grumpy tortoise that I nicknamed Victor Meldrew. He would charge at us so, one of us would have to keep him occupied while the other cleaned or put food down. I would lead him away then step either side of him and walk in the opposite direction, he seemed to think I had vanished into thin air. It’s strange he doesn’t chase the Capybara.
We move onto the Lowland Tapir, wow what an amazing animal, this one is tame to a point, he is big and male. His enclosure backs onto our hut so sometimes he greets Jayne and I with the sweetest noises, a bit like Yoshi in SuperMario. He also enjoys a lie-in because they are normally nocturnal which means we have to call him for breakfast. I was able to touch him once and he is all muscle!
We also have some Toucans to feed and I didn’t realise they are omnivores and will eat live food. This particular one is ‘combative’ so I didn’t go in with it.
Later we go and remove left over food and clean the feeding stations.
The next round starts after lunch. Our own meals here are mostly good (we’ve had a couple that were a bit unimaginative and plain) and we get three a day which I’m always ready for! They don’t seem so keen on vegetables or fruit although sometimes they do make a salad to go with whatever we are eating. Jayne and I are envying the animals food because it’s always fresh fruit and vegetables lovingly prepared.
Over the two days with specials I clean out the terrapins pool and a tortoise pool and find an injured terrapin that has to see the vet.
We have a moment when one of the ‘combative’ deer injures another who subsequently disappears into the enclosure and is not seen till the next day. The vet asks me to photo the injury when the deer come to feed in the morning.
While we are feeding the Tortoises and they are always eating or copulating (a sound I will never forget). A spider monkey comes to Alex for a cuddle and a groom. I can see Alex is a bit worried for me, he indicates for me to put my glasses in my pocket which I do. I don’t look directly at the monkeys face. When Alex sits, I sit.
This is not the one, I think this one is female and slightly smaller. The one that sat on his lap before was male. The male then came to my lap to be groomed. No pictures I’m afraid, they are devils with glasses and phones. He put his tail around my neck and legs around my waist and laid back over my knees and I set about parting the sparse fur on his tummy. I knew all those years of combing head lice for Paris would come in useful one day!! That was was a really special experience!
Eventually he got off, much to Alex’s relief I think!
The Travelling Bee 