As some of you know, I had a hard time getting home for the holidays this year. I left Addis Thursday the 17th on the KLM flight that travels to Amsterdam via Khartoum. In Khartoum there was some issue (it was 1ish in the morning so I’m not clear on what the problem actually was but there was a delay in loading passengers and then they had to take all of the luggage off and match it with the passenger list and then reload). This delayed our arrival into Amsterdam for 2+ hours. Normally, flying to Dulles this wouldn’t matter, but I had chosen to fly to Detroit and then into Baltimore—which is a much shorter connection—and which I missed. I then spent two nights in Amsterdam and one night in Copehagen while I was routed and re-routed to Dulles (as Baltimore was too difficult). Ugh. So while I left on Thursday night and should have arrived on Friday, I actually arrived on Monday afternoon. While I was roaming around the airport, freezing cold cities, sitting on stalled trains, and enjoying my hotel, I wrote down a few things that I would tweet, if I was on twitter. So to recount the tale of my journey, I bring you my tweets below.
I did finally get home and with my luggage (though it arrived 30 minutes later on a different plane) and have since spent a little under a week in Phily with my sister and her family and the holidays with my mom, dad, sisters and families and my younger half brother and sister (and two dogs and a cat). Now I’m back in Baltimore for a few days and then to DC before heading back to Addis. Good times.
Anyway—here are my tweets: (BTW—care of Veronica Mars I’ve learned the Battlestar Gallactica cuss word of frac which I now use liberally)
• Sleeping on the floor of the plane during KLM delay—better than the seat!
• Sweat! Booked on a new flight and bumped to biz class!
• Sorry my flight is when? Oh, frac.
• Could this line be any longer?
• Why yes it could!
• I’ve just met the most helpful man in all of schipol. Hotel, vouchers, care kit? Sweet.
• I guess my room’s not that bad.
• Dinner is that bad.
• Oh frac that storm on the east coast.
• I’m going where?
• Would this woman just SHUT UP?! That is NOT helpful and frankly, I don’t care. None of us do.
• Well, this is a nicer hotel than last night. And another "care kit". I think I'm starting to hoard.
• Train into Amsterdam success!!
• What a lovely canal boat ride!
• Frac it’s cold!
• All set for the cold with my new (very expensive) hat and gloves.
• Now too tired to explore anymore.
• Train back to Schipol successfully boarded!
• Um, why are we stopping?
• Crazy man on the train tracks in the tunnel up ahead.
• Now police are coming.
• Now police are calling in the special police.
• Seriously? A suicide? I’m totally transportationally cursed.
• No I don’t speak French (said in French) so they keep trying to talk to me.
• Shared a cab to airport with other strandees—so that makes plane, train and automobile.
• It’s like the Amazing Race---but not fun.
• Please let Sunday be my luck day…cuz Saturday sure wasn’t.
• Who’s heard of SAS??
• Biz class in a small plane = middle seat empty. Boo.
• If KLM pawns me off to SAS and that flight is delayed—who takes care of me?
• It’s fracing snowing in Amsterdam. You’re kidding right?
• Next year, Christmas on a beach please.
• How can people bike in this cold?
• We’re almost ready to take off. Copenhagen here I come!
• After Schipol, Cope feels like I’m in the Toledo Airport of EU but with good shopping.
• My flight is what?!?!?!
• Canceled in case you couldn’t guess.
• I think I might cry.
• How the heck do I get out of this airport?!?!
• Oh. Cute dress.
• Copenhagen is cool—just freezing.
• People are jogging? Total nutters.
• Ugh—that guy's breath is rank.
• Me and one other woman in the hotel bar? Not a good sign.
• Misery loves company.
• Brittany Murphy died?
• Ah---on to London. Long live the Queen.
• Oh, you’ve been stuck since yesterday? So what?! I’ve been wearing this outfit for 5 DAYS!!!
• Ah London, good to be back.
• What’s the I see? A departure time???
• Holy crap! The Virgin Atlantic lounge is sa-wheet!! Pool table, food, bar, barber, kids play area?? Crazy!
• Boarding a plane to Dulles---yippee!!!
• “Upper Class” on VA is SA-WHEET!!! There’s disco lighting and my seat turns into a bed. Yeah!!
• Through customs in a breeze.
• My luggage is where? No I don’t mind waiting another 30 minutes.
• Madeleine Albright just left Dulles---didn’t see her. Bummer. I love her!
• Reunited and it feels so good!
• Ah the DC beltway. What joy.
• Home at last!!!
Hope everyone had a great holiday and here's wishing you a Happy New Year!!!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Some photos from South Omo
Hi everyone,
I went to South Omo Zone with a colleague to monitor some programs and so I could check out the situation.
Here are some photo highlights:
I went to South Omo Zone with a colleague to monitor some programs and so I could check out the situation.
Here are some photo highlights:
 |
| Trip to South Omo |
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Thanksgiving weekend—a lot to be thankful for, especially for one lioness.
As you may read already, when traveling to southern Ethiopia to monitor programs I learned of and saw a lioness cub and then worked with James at The Born Free Foundation in Ethiopia to bring her back to Addis in a safer, healthier environment. While James was able to quickly bring Safia back to Addis, the issue of where to keep her remained. Safia spent a few weeks at James’ house (eating lots of meat and a whole chicken!) while he worked to establish a new temporary home for her on the new BFF land.
The Born Free Foundation (BFF) has been able to get 73 hectares of land about 25 kilometers from Addis Ababa from the Government of Ethiopia to use as a new wildlife center. The perimeter has been staked out and BFF now has trained and uniformed guards patrolling the area while BFF works on installing the perimeter fencing.
This weekend, I got to help James and the vet move Safia to her new home. It’s a temporary enclosure where she’ll live for a few months while the perimeter fencing and a larger permanent enclosure is built.
I arrived at James’ house in the morning and while we waited for the wildlife veterinarian I said hello to his other animals. BFF currently cares for a number of lions in a zoon in Addis, several additional lions and a cheetah currently living at the President’s house, and some animals residing with James. They include a cheetah, an owl, and several tortoises of varying sizes. The cheetah, Menelink, has a few toys that she likes to bring over to you and likes to be pet through the fence. Amazing!!!
Once the vet arrived, she got down to business. First up was darting Safia with anesthesia so that we had better access to her and she could be moved. From upstairs we could hear her growling. I thought it was cute…others found it a bit more intimidating. Once Safia was asleep, we brought her outside, got her weight (27kg), took her temperature, listened to her heartbeat, checked her stool (she has worms), and looked at her front left paw which is at a bit of an angle—though useable. I was also given the honors of cutting off the chain which has been around her neck since she was at the village where I first saw her.
Once the health check was over, we loaded her into a dog crate and headed out to the new site and she was transferred into her new quarters. We waited a while and she slowly started to come out of the anesthesia. If she focused on us close to her (but on the other side of the fence) she would growl. She eventually was able to shuffle herself around a bit and got herself into the corner of the room (she seems to like corners!).
A bit later James put in her dinner and she seemed to perk up a bit. I mean, who wouldn’t get excited at 1.5 kg of raw meat (plus a deworming pill and some calcium powder) in close proximity? Kidding aside, the instinct for meat was really strong. So she shuffled herself over to the meat and ate a bit…but it was like watching a little kid who wants the food but is so tired they can’t stay awake. And she kept up the growling when we moved around so that we wouldn’t get too close to her meat!
After a bit of the meat, her curiosity got the best of her and she drunkenly made her way over to the gate outside. The set up is similar to that of a zoo in the states where there’s the indoor enclosure where she’ll be at night and then a gate that can be opened so she can be outside or inside as she chooses during the day. She needs to be inside at night because there are hyenas, baboons and other animals that might find her—say we say interesting?—and she’s still quite young and can’t really defend herself. Another perimeter fence will be built with barbed wire and that will help as well.
Watching Safia go outside was really cool. It was the first time she’d been in the sunlight or felt wind for months. She tentatively stepped off of the concrete to the dirt and then went back inside. She came back out, took a few more steps off of the concrete and again went back inside. After another 15 minutes or so she managed to walk down to the far corner of the enclosure. By the time we left, she’d walked about halfway back up and had settled in a semi-sunny area to bask.
Needless to say I think she’s quite happy. I’m going to go back out on Friday to say hello and see how she’s getting on in her new home. I’m glad I told James about her, but I’m really glad that BFF has been able to set her up so nicely and so quickly. She really is a bit free now and will have a much better life. I’m going to try to keep supporting BFF and Safia in particular while I’m in Ethiopia. Maybe I should start looking for work in the conservation field???
A big thanks from Safia, James and me to those of you who’ve helped out and supported the costs for keeping her. The ones I know of are Stephen F, Eyerusalem H, Jamie S in Ethiopia (or by way of a staff person in my office) and Michelle S, Johanna O, Stef H and Sarah G in the US. Your contributions are making a HUGE difference!!!
To view the photos, click here.
Abrazos to all,
Jane
To contribute for Safia:
http://bornfree.wildlifedirect.org/category/born-free-ethiopia/
http://www.bornfree.org.uk/campaigns/further-activities/born-free-ethiopia/
(Let me know of your contribution and I'll tell James...you might get a shout out like Michelle S!)
If the link doesn't work, this slideshow will show you the same:
The Born Free Foundation (BFF) has been able to get 73 hectares of land about 25 kilometers from Addis Ababa from the Government of Ethiopia to use as a new wildlife center. The perimeter has been staked out and BFF now has trained and uniformed guards patrolling the area while BFF works on installing the perimeter fencing.
This weekend, I got to help James and the vet move Safia to her new home. It’s a temporary enclosure where she’ll live for a few months while the perimeter fencing and a larger permanent enclosure is built.
I arrived at James’ house in the morning and while we waited for the wildlife veterinarian I said hello to his other animals. BFF currently cares for a number of lions in a zoon in Addis, several additional lions and a cheetah currently living at the President’s house, and some animals residing with James. They include a cheetah, an owl, and several tortoises of varying sizes. The cheetah, Menelink, has a few toys that she likes to bring over to you and likes to be pet through the fence. Amazing!!!
Once the vet arrived, she got down to business. First up was darting Safia with anesthesia so that we had better access to her and she could be moved. From upstairs we could hear her growling. I thought it was cute…others found it a bit more intimidating. Once Safia was asleep, we brought her outside, got her weight (27kg), took her temperature, listened to her heartbeat, checked her stool (she has worms), and looked at her front left paw which is at a bit of an angle—though useable. I was also given the honors of cutting off the chain which has been around her neck since she was at the village where I first saw her.
Once the health check was over, we loaded her into a dog crate and headed out to the new site and she was transferred into her new quarters. We waited a while and she slowly started to come out of the anesthesia. If she focused on us close to her (but on the other side of the fence) she would growl. She eventually was able to shuffle herself around a bit and got herself into the corner of the room (she seems to like corners!).
A bit later James put in her dinner and she seemed to perk up a bit. I mean, who wouldn’t get excited at 1.5 kg of raw meat (plus a deworming pill and some calcium powder) in close proximity? Kidding aside, the instinct for meat was really strong. So she shuffled herself over to the meat and ate a bit…but it was like watching a little kid who wants the food but is so tired they can’t stay awake. And she kept up the growling when we moved around so that we wouldn’t get too close to her meat!
After a bit of the meat, her curiosity got the best of her and she drunkenly made her way over to the gate outside. The set up is similar to that of a zoo in the states where there’s the indoor enclosure where she’ll be at night and then a gate that can be opened so she can be outside or inside as she chooses during the day. She needs to be inside at night because there are hyenas, baboons and other animals that might find her—say we say interesting?—and she’s still quite young and can’t really defend herself. Another perimeter fence will be built with barbed wire and that will help as well.
Watching Safia go outside was really cool. It was the first time she’d been in the sunlight or felt wind for months. She tentatively stepped off of the concrete to the dirt and then went back inside. She came back out, took a few more steps off of the concrete and again went back inside. After another 15 minutes or so she managed to walk down to the far corner of the enclosure. By the time we left, she’d walked about halfway back up and had settled in a semi-sunny area to bask.
Needless to say I think she’s quite happy. I’m going to go back out on Friday to say hello and see how she’s getting on in her new home. I’m glad I told James about her, but I’m really glad that BFF has been able to set her up so nicely and so quickly. She really is a bit free now and will have a much better life. I’m going to try to keep supporting BFF and Safia in particular while I’m in Ethiopia. Maybe I should start looking for work in the conservation field???
A big thanks from Safia, James and me to those of you who’ve helped out and supported the costs for keeping her. The ones I know of are Stephen F, Eyerusalem H, Jamie S in Ethiopia (or by way of a staff person in my office) and Michelle S, Johanna O, Stef H and Sarah G in the US. Your contributions are making a HUGE difference!!!
To view the photos, click here.
 |
| Born Free and Safia |
Abrazos to all,
Jane
To contribute for Safia:
http://bornfree.wildlifedirect.org/category/born-free-ethiopia/
http://www.bornfree.org.uk/campaigns/further-activities/born-free-ethiopia/
(Let me know of your contribution and I'll tell James...you might get a shout out like Michelle S!)
If the link doesn't work, this slideshow will show you the same:
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