In search of ... "birds flying high you know how I feel, sun in the sky you know how I feel, breeze drifting on by you know how i feel, its a new dawn, its a new day, its a new life for me.....and I'm feelin good ..." just call me Ella!

Hi all, so much to say, so little time (there's a q for the PC). Aaahhh where to start, ok South Africa is an amazing county, absolutely beautiful, stunning mountains, abundance of wildlife.  Our accommodation if that's what I can call it (kinda like a cow shed)but in a great location right in the depths of the game reserve, we have a view of the Drakensberg mountain range so every morning when we rise at 4.30 you just look out the window and all complaints fade away (even the fact your surrounded by a chorus of snoring, sleep talkers, oh and of course the most incredible smells-and that just the humans, we also share our rooms with bats, spiders,fireflies, in fact most of the insect population of Africa!) Actual its really hard to explain how great this place is, right in the middle of the Africa bush, you feel like you're in a totally different world. I couldn't list everything that I've experienced so far, so just some of the highlights are here...and I've only been here just over a week. Seen most of the wildlife you would expect on safari, eg Lions, Cheetahs,Elephants, Hippo's, etc..but its so much more than simply sitting in a truck and sight seeing these beautiful animals, you actually get embroiled in their lives, we track them twice a day, 4hrs in morning and 4hr in evening so monitor their every move. If we can't locate an animal for a day, you feel worried as to whether something is wrong. Yesterday we saw our focus Cheetah that gave birth to 5 cubs in Dec, sadly she only had two with her so we all have our fingers crossed that she will be able to keep the last two safe. (it really is like Big Cat Diaries). Most of you won't believe this but my fear of spiders and moths has gone.. honestly I held a Golden Baboon Spider (tarantula) the other day, and a scorpion...it kinda comes with the territory, you cant be a sissy girl when you're living in the bush. Its a frequent experience to be hit by spiders (these things are big over here, no little house spider) and all sorts when driving through the bush....so i stopped the screams after the second day (that was after they named me Princess..so thought I'd better toughen up!!) Oh yeah and we had a Spitting Cobra in the bathroom the other day too so that was entertaining. As for the people here, there all really nice, no nasty ones so far although there are a couple of strong personalities so I'm enjoying watching and waiting for the big kick off which is gonna happen any day. It is like living in the big brother house, because unless you're out on research you have to stay at the base, you cant just take yourself off for a walk (the Elephants and Hyena like the garden). It does get a little claustrophobic at times and we're all expecting to be pacing by the end of next week. We did sleep out under the stars the other night tho which was fun, I ended up drinking a whole box of red wine (I was suppose by sharing it with a Scottish guy but he felt ill, so I couldnt let it go to waste!)and me and two others kept everyone awake with our singing..we sang a song for each letter of the alphabet...twice! The staff weren't that impressed as we had a 4am drive, but we enjoyed it and it kept the lions away. So as you can probably tell I'm having a fantastic, I love it here and really wish I had longer to travel around Africa, but will definitely return. That's me for now, will, try to update once I'm back from the mountains in a week or so. Oh and if anyone is trying to get me on my mobile,I cant charge it,the solar charger broke on route here. So email only for now. Miss you all xx