onto conservation

bee hive stand dug into the clay

view from the koppie

hiding from the cold

donkey looking awesome

after a long days work

chasing the cattle into the kraal

donkey rides

bee hive stand

Skipped past the hospitality thing and onto to conservation. On my first course of the conservation side of things the course that I am partaking in is resource guardianship. This last week of conservation has been nothing but the most fun in the world. It has convinced me that this is what I would like to do forever. This is not fun and games and when it is time to work then we work our bums off. On the first day of RG we sat in class and learnt the importance of fires and mapping. We learnt how to read a map and the importance of keys, magnetic north and true north. In the fires we learnt what we will be doing for the nine weeks of being there every single day. Every morning when we get to the class room we have to go and look at the fire fighting vehicles. We have to look if the vehicles are filled with petrol, that they will start, and that the water for fighting the fires will start. We then went out on to the farm and got to know the farm and the roads and where all the important thing on the farm is like our spring.

On the Tuesday we went to the cattle kraal to go dip the cattle and see if they are sick or in bad condition. My job along with two other guys is that we had to chase the cattle in to the dip allocator so that they could be sprayed by the girls. The first time the cows turn at you and test how brave you are is a very scary task but after that they don’t bother you. The scariest incident was when I hit a cow on the ass to get it to move and I didn’t know the cow was partially blind. The cow obviously got a fright and turned around and swung its horns/head at me which gave me a huge fright.

On the Monday we went out with the second years to go dig holes and plant poles to but bee hives on. This is one of the projects given to them and myself and another first year went out to go help out. The first on was a little difficult because we didn’t have the right equipment we only had spades and we needed a pick. We dug a hole around half a meter deep and then planted the pole and covered it up again. The second pole we planted was much more challenging because we needed to dig in to clay which at times felt pointless but with lots of frustration and anger we managed to dig it deep enough and put it behind us. After this we went to the sondela service gate to fix our fence that the fire vehicles drove over. We repaired the fence and “designed” a gate so that they can drive over the fence and it won’t break. This was a nice skill to learn for living on a farm you are forever fixing fences that animals or people break.

On the first weekend of working the first thing that we had to do was learn how to kit up and strap the donkeys so that we can take the kids on the donkey cart for a ride. Strapping the donkeys was really easy and had no problems. My first incident was when a little boy got on to the cart with me and the donkey started running and kicking and then just fell over. The boy started crying but we sorted it out quickly and tightened the straps and was sorted it out. Then after we finished that we went back to the stables and unstrapped the donkeys. As we un-strapped the donkey a stupid warthog run under our donkey and it got a really big fright. The donkey then turned 180 degrees and took a kick at my friend. It was quiet a big shock but after we really had a good laugh because nobody was injured. After all this action the boys were given the task of moving the telephone poles which looked a lot lighted then they really were. We managed to pick up the poles and put them on our shoulders and then took a few steps forward and everybody was laughing so hard that I couldn’t carry it anymore and dropped it. In doing this it scrapped my one friends arm and landed on the other guy’s toe which ended up in us on the floor laughing so hard watching this Afrikaans guy hop up and down screaming and laughing at what had just happened. That afternoon I went on a game drive with my roommate and he just was showing me how to give a game drive and the correct procedure to follow. I just went with as an apprentice so to say so that in the future I can do it myself.

On the Thursday was our big day of adventure. We were all told that we were going out to go do chemical game capture. We first went into the 400 hector and learnt how to track the animals with the animal tracking equipment. We used the Arial and the signal beeper so that the closer you get to the animal the louder the beep and stronger the signal is. After the class we went and tracked the sable males in the bush, the students did it by themselves and managed to find the sable within walking distance. After this we went to the main gate to go and meet the men who were going to dart the animals for us. They went through with us how its going to work and what to do when we find the animal. When you find the animal you first put the animal on its stomach and tuck its legs under its stomach to open the lungs. You then pull out its tongue to open the air waves and so that it doesn’t swallow its tongue. You then lift up the head so that the animal can’t through up the contents in its stomach. It is important to not remove the dart if you are not qualified to do so for you could really get sick or drowsy. We then went out in the bakkie and found our first impala. We managed to shot the buck and it ran off. We tracked it for about an hour and then found the dart but the impala was missing. For our second attempt we shot the impala and then it dropped in 5-8 minutes and then we ran to it and found it, carried it to the bakkie and transported it back to the trailer and gave it the different minerals/vitamins into the impala’s blood system. We then went out to go and get the next impala. We managed to shoot it and luckily it dropped right next to the road. We then ran towards it but then it decided that it wasn’t ready to be taken yet so it jumped up kicking. We then ran at it to take it down from the front. It managed to dodge my college and headed straight for me. I ducked out the way thinking I’m not willing to get kicked but then we brought it down to the ground and got it back to the trailer safe following the procedures which was given to us. That day we caught 7 female impala’s and had a lot of fun.

On the Friday I witnessed a little miracle right in front of us in our very own farm yard. We walked past and saw that the sheep was giving birth. A lady and the staff were helping the sheep give birth. Unfortunately the lamb was suffocating and actually stopped breathing. One of the men then put his hands straight into the sheep’s vagina and pulled the lamb out and then held it by its hind legs and shock it around a little and then lay it down and pulled its tongue and just like clockwork it started breathing again.  This was really a weird experience especially to watch but in the end it really turned out well and everything was happy and good again.

as time goes by

profesional wear

The beginning of reception was very scary for most the learners and all we were answering the phones all day every day. I have done the chefs course already for 3 weeks and now I have done my 3 weeks in reception.  Every Friday and Monday for the last 3 weeks I have been doing I have been doing check ins. The check in procedure is very rough and quick because of impolite customers. We have to be a quick as we can be because we don’t want to keep the guests waiting. The problem is that when we do things to quickly we start to miss small things like outstanding payments. We haven’t had any problems with guests yet but a few have complained that I haven’t been able to speak Afrikaans but this all happens over time. When I look back I have been able to complete so much already. I have done-

1.       First aid level 1

2.       Basic fire fighting

3.       Chef skills course

4.       Reception skills course

This is all happened so fast and I must say out of all the things I have done so far I think that reception was the most fun I have ever had. I love everything I did in reception and never had one bad day in my whole 3 weeks. The people I work with are all so lovely and I wish I could have stayed. It has all happened so fast and now its time to move on to the next course.

day of activities

On heritage day my friends and I had an awesome day out doing a few activities on the farm. First we did the tour at the wild life centre and it was so much fun except there was a few stupid questions like do giraffes have two hearts which was very funny. That was just an hour long and was so happy to do a professional tour and not just a joke. Then after we went to the wild life center we went on a game drive for two hours and honestly were so boring. It just dragged on and on and on. We leant a lot of stuff about the wild life, trees and grass and was interesting but the delivery wasn’t very well done. after all of this was finally over we went to the stables and went on an hour horse ride which was fun but after my bum was so sore but had all the fun in world. It’s good to be home but it finally feels like I’m leaving my home to come home but getting used to it quickly.

my awesome reception skills

This last week was the first week in my new world as a receptionist. The first thing we learnt to do was to answer the phone in a professional manor. As they were explaining to us how to answer the phone, the phone rang and my heart just dropped. Immediately I grabbed the phone and answered as follows-“Sondela nature reserve, Matthew speaking how may I help you today”. This is how we had to answer the phone every single time the phone rings and after the 100^th time it gets very boring, but for some odd reason I love answering the phone and helping strangers. The hardest thing in reception is the training manager’s name is Matthew so when anybody calls the name then we both look but half the time we get it right. So far I love my work  and it was been a very different  experience dealing with all different types of people but nothing I can’t handle.

01/03/2012

Today was the best day for me in the kitchen because instead of washing dishes or preparing or the food we actually got showed step by step how to cook a beef stew by Chef William. He went through all the steps and thought us how to make the most amazing beef stew that I have ever tasted. So far it has been an incredible journey through the kitchen and I have learnt so much (chef’s are all bipolar) and that it is easy to cook anything because you can use whatever ingredients you like and if it tastes disgusting just start again in till you get the satisfaction you deserve. Enjoying myself so far just wish to be taken more seriously.

25/02/2012

pancakes

And so the beginning of the pancakes commence.  First thing in the morning the chef tells us that before we go on leave at 13.00 he wants 500 pancakes. I was so shocked at this thinking how the hell am I going to cook 500 pancakes in just a few hours this is near to impossible. So the second years showed us the proper way to cook a pancake and I was so sad because they said to us that we were not allowed to flip the pancake in the pan because it is unprofessional which I didn’t think was true. So after we had made about 100 flops of pancakes and we were finally getting into things they gave us another pan so that we could cook 2 at a time which just made everything worse again. By the time it was lunch the chef said that we had made good progress and let us go home, little did we know that it was only the beginning of the end for us

24/02/2012



custard



declairs

Today was a crazy day in hell’s kitchen. As soon as I got to work at 7.30 in the morning I was placed at work in the training kitchen. This is actually where we were supposed to train how to cook but instead we used it to cook all the pastry. First thing we did was to learn how to cook short pastry which seemed fairly simple. We cooked chaux’s which is basically like a declair. This was very simple to mix but the actual way of making this was too complicated for a skills learner to do. Then we cook tartlet shells which taste kind of like cheddar’s without flavor which wasn’t very nice. But this was the easiest thing I have ever made in the kitchen and there was nothing to it at all. After all of this I had to whisk the custard through a sive to get rid of all the chunks of gelatin which really took forever and after 20minutes left my hand feeling numb but was such fun and a very eventful day and enjoying it more and more.

becoming a chefie

fresh shaux

cleaning all day long

first course of sondela and i started with kicthen skills.we started on the tuesday with just an introduction to the course with our training manager Natalie. we had to do a role play on bad customer service and fortunatly Daniel and i had to be the angry customers. after that it was lunch which is always my favourite part of the day. during the afternoon we had a sondela sports day where all the staff on the farm had to participate in different sports on the farm. we played volley ball which was so much fun and soccer and tug of war.Wednesday was here and it was our day to start in the kitchen. we had to litrally clean our training kitchen from the roof to the floor. then we had to clean the equipment out and clean every single  piece od equipment. this took us all day to clean this kitchen and when we finally finished, it was so lovley to go home and sleep. then on the thursday and friday we worked in the pastry kitchen and made or differnt types of things. we made a lemon cheese cake, custard, shaux and declairs. i also had to make 500 pancakes for the friday welcoming which was very differnt but my hands hurt in weird places but im always happy to help out. im excited to carry on with the skills course and excited to learn all the differnt things one needs to know in the kitchen.ps-this doesnt mean ill cook for family and friends now.

WOP is finally over

so far everything has been so much fun and the orientation program is over. the last week has been very relaxed in terms of work but we are never out to rest. we have been classes all week intill friday was here. on the friday we all had to sit with great patience waiting to write the tests that they had waiting for us. we waited from 8:00 intill 13:00 well all the other groups wrote the tests. everybody walked out the room with there heads down in disappointment when not one person in the 1st year passed the tests. but we learnt very quickly how the high standards of sondela is. we worked the whole weekend.firday i had to stand at the pancake stand and had serve the guests wine and juice. this was a long day but felt good to go home at the end of the day. saturday we had to work at the wild life center which was an experiance and a half. we did lion interactions,food preperations and cleaning cages which was so much fun. sunday i did another game drive at the caravanpark with the site guide james which was an amazing experiance and just took in so many new aspects to my new life in the bush.

2nd week of the WOP course

second week of the WOP course has been more relaxed but have still been hard at work. on the first weekend of working properly we had to work Friday, Saturday and Sunday. on the Friday i worked at the main gate. we started at 13.00 in the afternoon and worked till 21.00 at night. i had to write down the name of the car and color, the surname and where they staying for the weekend. then i had to radio the different welcoming and give them the different information they needed to do their jobs. Saturday we did hard labor which was very intense work but did have a problem doing it. Sunday i woke up and they told me i had to do a game drive at 9 in the morning which stressed me out but once i had started it went fine. in the week we have just been doing unpacking of different unit standards(mind maps). last night we saw our first snake by the house it was very interesting. it was just under 1m long and was a cape file snake. its been a long time away from home but its Friday and is finally time to go home,cant wait

the life of WOP(workplace oriention program)

WOP started on the 23rd of January. we went through a crash course of all the rules and how the farm works. we learn't about all the names that we had to know like the head departments and training mangers. we learn't all the different departments that are ran on Sondela for example life style center and resource guardianship. then we got split up into 3 group and i was placed into the 3rd group and then we started with our official WOP. We had to do 3 courses of which each took 2 days each. we started our first day by sitting the whole day in the class getting introduced to most the staff on the farm. then the next day we walked around the farm yard and learn't about important tree's,grass's and birds that are inhabited on the farm. then we experienced a basic fire fighting course and then were taught what would take place in the experience of a fire on the farm. then the last course we did was a first aid course which i think was the hardest out of all the courses. its been a little over a week and we have been hard at work ever since we arrived and the hours are long but im not scared....yet