Ostrich - this is is Mrs Ozzy and she deemed Yasmin (my flatmate) and I worthy of her attention!





This is a baby bushbuck rescued at a wildlife sanctuary. He was being very cute til he started using his teeth...

This unusual creature is a pangolin - an anteater-like creature covered in large scales. This one, sadly, was dead and being measured as part of a post mortem - although we were incredibly lucky later on to see a wild one (unfortunately didn't have my camera on me at the time)


Moving on to the rhino work. We were assisting mainly in the monitoring of the rhino's vital signs as it was anaesthetised. The horn was removed from the animal by the vets using a chainsaw. These operations had to be slick and quick, as rhino are poor ventilators under anaesthetic, so we students had to learn fast how to work effectively as part of the team. It wasn't all plain sailing - we had to sprint to one individual across the bush in full boiler suits under the glare of the African sun in one instance, and in another had the car rammed by an angry mother rhino when we tried to separate her from her darted calf (I'll try to get the video up later!), but it was in the end a successful operation and one that will hopefully protect these stunning creatures from an awful fate at the hands of illegal poachers.

The team assembled, complete with helicopter


The student team! (Myself on the far left with Yasmin next to me)


The operation:




Yup... taking the temperature! Students get all the lovely jobs, naturally


More to follow...