Bears

I have been working a lot with the bears this week (they are trying to keep me off primates as I'll want to stick to them once I start). I am starting to enjoy working with the bears more than I used to. Getting over the initail fear and the fact that they are quite slow has helped. There are 26 bears at the centre including one that was rescued this week. Asiatic black bears and Malayan sun bears (much smaller but longer claws). I got to give them a great enrichment, we drilled holes into logs and filled them with mashed banana and seeds. Its was great to see them spend ages tring to get into the logs. Its very hard to come up with enrichments that keep them busy for long periods of time so when we do its a wonderful feeling. They all have large enclosures to roam around in though so they are not usually bored.

Birds, otters, cats and langurs

I have been back at the centre nearly a week and I have only worked on 'other wildlife'. This is a job I did not get to do the first time I was here and is both enjoyable and slightly scarey. The otters are very cute but start to scream when they get hungry and/or bored. You can hear it all over the centre. There are 3 new baby langurs which is amazing as they are very hard to keep alive in captivity. They cannot process fruit and die when feed things like banana's which is usually their downfall when bought as pets by ignorant people. The babies are gorgeous and the oldest one, Pun (see left), has gone in with the adults. The birds are a different matter entirerly. I have discovered Im not much of a fan. Randy, the great hornbil, has a habit of attacking people who enter his enclosure (just for fun you understand but many volunteers dont take it that way). I go in 4 times a day and have so far been lucky but have witnessed his assult on many other volunteers helping me to clean up. It you dont what a great hornbil is imagine a bird about knee high with a beak 6 times bigger than its head.

           He doesnt look as scarey from underneath. If only he would stay up there.

I am enjoying the comforts of my own room but it is in the opposite direction to the other volunteer rooms and when its dark it can be a bit creepy walking home to bed. The first night I could swear I was being followed. Just as I was trying to convice myself that I was just being paranoid a screach came from behind me and Maggie (the food house cat) jumped on my feet, both confirming my paranoia and making me feel very silly at the same time.

Im Here

8 things to do in 8 hours in Doha airport;
1. Buy enough chocolate for 6 months
2. Search for a toilet you are actually willing to use (I eventually found one)
3. Spend a large amount of money on some awful mozzarella sticks and a bucket of pepsi
4. See how many of the wasabi peas you got on your last flight you can throw into the now empty bucket of pepsi (you may be wondering why I didn't just eat these but my teeth are not made of diamonds)
5. Read an entire Alexander McCall Smith book (its not hard)
6. Clean you iPod with a wet one (I'd forgotten the headphones were white)
7. Watch the sleep deprived zombified travellers wander aimlessly around the airport at 4am bumping into everything including each other without really noticing (actually quite entertaining)
8. Take a security stalker on an obstical course around duty free (I'm not sure why he targeted me but I was impressed by his dedication)

I am in Thailand at long last. It seems very strange returning to the sanctuary and its hasn't all hit me yet. I wonder if it will. The very long journey ended in me staying in backpackers heaven (khao san road) in Bangkok. This is not an easy place to deal with at the best of times and is a hase of lights, noise and clothes when jetlagged. My arrival in the remote and quiet centre is very blissful despite viewing the damage caused by last weeks flood. Thankfully none of the animals were harmed but the landscape has changed a bit with large areas being washed away. I have said hello to all my fury friends which is always good. I will have far more interesting and better written things to post when I have caught up on sleep hopefully.