Our first group of volunteers for the New Year has arrived and we are finally settling into the flow of a very crowded house. With eighteen volunteers and eight staff it makes for a very busy place around here. The volunteers range in age from 18 to 70 with most of them being in their early 20’s and they come from all over the world – Australia, America, the UK and Europe. They are seem very excited to be here and are very helpful. Last Friday the sky darkened and the heavens opened and it poured and poured here with 120mm of rain in one night. The next morning we were unable to go out on research as it was still raining. By the afternoon we had learned that all of the 4 rivers on Karongwe were extremely high and flowing fast, many of the dams had overflowed creating new rivers and washing away many of the roads. This week as the rains have died down and the hot sun has emerged we find ourselves not able to locate many of the animals. Not because they had escaped or drowned or anything like that but because every time we turn around we get stuck in a new sinkhole or unable to pass a road that has been washed away. I have been stuck 8 times in the past 3 drives.
It is so frustrating yet we have fun digging ourselves out. Yesterday I had all four wheel sunk into the ground and the car completely bottomed out. Andreas came to rescue me and he ended up getting stuck, or should I say drowned, in what he thought was just a puddle but turned into a massive whole that covered the hood of his truck. We were both eventually rescued by one of the other lodges me only to get stuck not even 1 minute later in another sink hole. It is a bit ridiculous but I think the volunteers are secretly enjoying it. There is a competition around on who gets stuck the most. I think I am winning.
