Goodbye South Africa, hello Namibia!

I've been packing all my stuff up to leave for Namibia tomorrow morning. The next part of my adventure is to spend four weeks at the Naankuse Wildlife Sanctuary, which is 42km east of Windhoek. The sanctuary was set up in 2007 and takes in mostly orphaned and injured animals that cannot be released back into the wild. It will be very much a hands-on experience with the animals, which I thought would be a nice complement to the game reserve experience I've had in South Africa. And my visit to the Born Free Foundation on Friday has given me some idea of what to expect.

The sanctuary is also very committed to uplifting the local community, through providing education, healthcare and employment. They currently provide accommodation to 20 bushmen families. I'm sure it will be fascinating to meet people from these historic tribes.

My day-to-day duties at Naankuse will be:

• Cutting raw meat and throwing it to the lions, leopards, cheetahs and African wild dogs
• Hand-feeding the meerkats (simples!)
• Preparing vegetables, fruit and bottled milk and feeding it to the baboons and farm animals
• Cleaning out the animal enclosures to remove any old food, including bones (they don't mention poop-scooping but I fear it will also be required)
• Walking with the tame Caracals
• Spending time with the tame and semi-tame cheetahs in their enclosures (how do you tell the difference?)
• Conducting border fence patrol
• Helping the bushmen to build any new enclosures and maintain the existing ones

It seems that most of the work is with the 16 or so orphaned baboons, who range in age from 3 months to 2 years old. Volunteers also have to take the baboons for a walk every other day to allow them to forage naturally and give them regular exercise. And we have to take it in turns to bottle-feed them and sleep with the baby baboons overnight.

The wildlife sanctuary has its own Facebook page and I recently saw a photo of a newly-acquired baby baboon in a nappy. So I'm hoping to pass another key milestone in my life while I'm there - changing my first nappy. That it will be on a baboon and not on a baby will not diminish the challenge of the task, I believe. I'll be sure to take a photo (and possibly video footage) to mark the occasion.

I'll be staying in one of two volunteer houses. One of them has a canvas roof, so I'm advised to bring ear plugs - no doubt to minimise the cacophony of animal noises that could keep me awake throughout the night. Although if I'm up bottle-feeding the baboons, I will need something to keep me awake.

In my free time, I will also have the opportunity to play football with the local bushmen. Another first. Before I came away, I had a dream that I was playing football so it must be playing on my mind. I'm not bothered about getting in with the cheetahs, but I'm a bit stressed about the football.

I don't expect to have much access to the internet - or even electricity - while I'm in Namibia, so if I disappear off the radar, you'll know why. Either that, or one of the cheetahs has turned on me. But I'll put some posts up when I get home to share my experiences. I am enjoying writing the blog and thanks to those of you who have sent me comments. It only encourages me to play to my audience.. ;-)

In the meantime, Game Ranger Stalker wishes you all a happy Christmas and the very best for 2011.