Düsternbrook Guest Farm, Namibia

Well, Our final volunteer project of 4 has finally arrived and we are now into our second week of time on the farm.

We are located about 50km from the capital of Namibia, Windhoek 18km on a dirt track to the oldest farm and guest house in Namibia.

The Farm House

The farm acts as a lodge for mainly German tourists passing through, but it's specialities are a Leopard and Cheetah feeding tour each day, as well as game drives on the farm to see some of the wildlife that Johann has got.  Wildlife includes Giraffe, Zebra, Kudu, Oryx and a few other specialities.

• As volunteers here, we have taken on a few responsibilites.  There is a Kindergarten for the workers children, currently 4 children, aged 3 to 5 years.  The Kindergarten had not been in use for a while, so job number 1 was to sort it out. Now I have been running it for 2 weeks and we have been having a great time, planting lettuce, learning sounds and making and painting.  I am lucky again that this Kindergarten has been well stocked with resources as there is plenty of play learning to be had.

Jeyda and Anto

Snack time

The classroom

• Rich has designed a playground in the mini football pitch and has begun digging and collecting scrap material for this.  For the guests children, this will look great when it's finished.

Sand pit preparation

The current football pitch

• As well as running the Kindergarten, Johann, the boss, has asked us to get his guides trained in safari guiding and also the staff in First Aid.  So, using a manual created by a past volunteer on animals, I have commenced training the 2 emergency drivers in wildlife! A learning for me as well as them! So I'm finding out a lot about the animals here.  I have also started the first aid training with the staff, some of which though that to put our a fire on someone was to blow a fan at them!!! Or that the recovery position was lying on your front! Oh well, at least I will teach them something!

Old Lapa Dining area

• In the evening, Petch and I head up to open the bar whilst the site manager is on his leave.  We serve the guests their drinks before dinner and then join them at the table for a 3 course meal.  So far we have had Oryx roasted and stewed and meat-balled and Impala steak.  All meat is hunted on the farm and used here for dinners and also the feed the leopard and cheetah's.

The Bar

We are able to jump on a tour whenever we like too and so I took the opportunity to get some pictures of this and went this week.

Leopard Feeding in the tree

Jumping for the Oryx meat

The cats are in enclosures. There are 2 leopards kept separately, and 4 Cheetah's kept together, and a 5th with only 3 legs in another encloure.

Christian coming back from fetching the Cheetah's

A still hungry Cheetah

Reception area

The pool

Part of the scenery

river

The farm is HUGE and the scenery is quite spectacular with plenty of marked out walks which we have been going on, mainly for exercise to burn off our 3 course meals!

hippo dam

On of the 5.2km tracks takes us out to a dam where the 4 Hippos live, alongside warthogs and baboons.  It certainly makes the evening run entertaining! I jut hope that a wild mountain leopard is not lurking somewhere in the long grass, though I've been told that my meat is a lot tougher than it's preference of young game!