Days 57 & 58

Thursday 1st December:
This morning I got a text from Will at 6am to say get up and ready to leave in 10 minutes to go and work on Rhino. We got into the game viewer and drive to Gtown. Siseko hadn't put the sides down on the game viewer so it was already wet inside as it had rained overnight and then it began to rain as we got into Gtown, by the time we got to Will's house it was pouring with rain and we were completely soaked. We had to wait at Will's house while they offloaded mud from the back of the trailer which was needed for Will's new garden. By then the rain had lightened up and so we made our way to Kwandwe which is where we were darting the rhino.
When we stopped there and Will had drawn up his drugs and got into the helicopter he pointed at me and told me to go to him. When I got there he told me to get in, luckily I had my camera over my shoulder already as I wasn't sure which vehicle I was to go in. I wasn't expecting to get in the helicopter so it was a big surprise, it was really cool though. It looks awful from the ground as they tip it up to get the animals to move and to separate them, but when you are inside it isn't so bad. We couldn't find the group that we were originally looking for, but we found one of the ones they wanted to move. The group we were looking for was the same group that we looked for when I was first here on the very first vet call out I went on, but just like last time they disappeared completely.
Will darted a female sub-adult, knotched her ears and microchipped her horns and then loaded her into the trailer to take her to another part of the reserve. We went back up in the helicopter to try and find the others and then it began to rain heavily and there was a thunderstorm and so Grant, the pilot, dropped us back at the vehicles where we first stopped as there was a backie left there that we could wait in for the others to get back. We got out of the helicopter and it took off, walked to the backie to discover that it was locked. So we put Will's drug box, his dart gun and my camera under the back to keep them dry and then waited for the rest of the vehicles to catch up. Luckily we didn't get too wet.
Then we came back to town and went to Will's house. He is moving this weekend and so we had to clean the trailer out so that he can use it. I got so muddy doing this, I don't think I have been that dirty since I was about 5. Then we got KFC and came home, as we hadn't eaten anything yet today, and it was now 3pm. I got some food for Stacey as well and bought it back and she was really pleased. When I got back I showered, ate my food and then went to sleep for an hour as I was shattered. Then I got up, Stacey and I put a film on and worked out some of the things for the bar.

Friday 2nd December:
Today I got up and dressed and then Stacey and I were sat on her bed talking about the work stuff and she was just cleaning nail polish off her nails when Siseko walks in and tells me that Will is waiting for us at Pumba to dart and move lion. So I rushed off to get dressed and Stacey made me some toast, as I hadn't eaten yet and we went over to meet Will. We waited out of sight in Will's vehicle for the lion to be darted, which took a long time as they were skittish after last time they were darted. Then they were loaded and taken to the bomas to be released in a few days.
Then we came back to the club, had lunch and then helped Stacey with some of the work things. Then she did my nails and straightened my hair ahead of Sam arriving tomorrow. Then we went over to the club as a couple of people had come over for a few drinks, it was Rhian, Julie and their son Sam. He is the most gorgeous little boy. Then we came back over to the house had dinner and watched a film and then went to bed.