Galapagos!

This week I started volunteering at Hacienda Tranquila, a farm nestled in the highlands of San Cristobal, one of the islands of the Galapagos off the coast of Ecuador.

The goal of the project is to increase habitat for the Giant Tortoise by combating the spread of invasive species. And Im serious about the combat part- we basically go around and hack these big guayaba plants with giant Machetes!

Me and Anna attacking the invasive species



We had help today from Engineers Without Borders!

 
The problem is that these plants are highly invasive and will grow into a very dense forest that the tortoises cannot walk through, so they are basically excluded from any areas where this plant grows. Once the program is successful in rehabilitating the tortoise habitat, they will be reintroduced to the area. It is estimated that the population of these guys on the entire Galapagos Islands was about 250 000 before the arrival of humans, but apparently they were very delicious to early explorers who used to land here and take them and keep them on ships as a food source for long voyages! Pair that with the arrival if invasive species that wrecked the habitat, and you have a perfect recipe for disaster for the species. Currently there are about 19 000 left, with only about 700 Tortoises left on the Island of San Cristobal where I am. This place should be teeming with Tortoises!



Giant Tortoise! (disclaimer, I did not take this pic)



So we get to do a lot of other fun stuff around the farm, since it is a real working farm. Here are a few pics!

We peeled all these coffee beans by hand, it took about 2 hours. I have a whole new appreciation for coffee.

Anna killed this chicken, and plucked out all the feathers by hand! UGH!



Then we turned the chicken into this deliciuos concoction!
Unfortunately the chicken was too old and it was really tough to eat haha, but the sauce was delicious!



Internet is painfully slow here, so I will upload more pics soon! Miss everyone!!

Toronto Life

I've had a great 2 weeks being back at home in between trips. It was really nice to relax with my parents and see so many friends!

First on my list of activities was Rockfest in Quebec!! I was so excited to go on a road trip with my bestie and her boyfriend. The event was kinda disorganized, so we ended up with a muddy campsite far away from our car, and had to wait in massive line ups to get into the event, but I guess that's pretty par for the course when you have 100 000 rockers invading a town of 900 people in the middle of nowhere! We had a great time watching the bands, eating poutine, sneaking into secret entrances, swimming in mud puddles (well, I just watched that part lol) and trying to speak French while drunk!

I got to hang out a lot with mom. One day we went down to the waterfront to see the tall ships. It was a beautiful sunny day down by the lake. We also both love yoga so we got to do that quite a few times. I love summer in Toronto!

I met up with a few friends from school one night and we ended up going on a Toronto safari. Turns out they have a nature trail in their backyard that leads to a forest and a marsh. We saw one of the most picture perfect and typical Canadian scenes you can imagine: a family of Canada Geese swimming by in a straight line, with one parent goose at each end and 12 (yes 12!) baby geese in the middle. Then, two beavers popped up and swam by in the opposite direction. It was awesome! We also saw tons of little tiny baby rabbits, so small they could fit in the palm of your hand, hopping along the path. Then we saw a baby raccoon and he was so cute!

I saw so many other friends, and was lucky to be here to celebrate one of my best friend's birthday's this weekend! I had a shopping date with another friend to my favourite store, Mountain Equipment Co-op, to buy her some new gear. I love gear!! I was so tempted to buy everything, as I always am there, but I have almost everything I need now so had to hold back. But, it was lots of fun helping my friend pick out all her new gear!!

Well, I'm off on my next adventure today. I'm heading to the Galapagos Islands to work on an invasive species project for a month!! See you later Toronto!

Reasons number 568- 573 why I love Cape Town

I tried my best to make the most of my last few days in Cape Town, and with the combination of awesome weather and good friends, I was able to do just that! There were so many things I wanted to do, but I had to pick and choose. A special shout out has to go to my new friend Brendan for the guide to leaving Cape Town with a smile. Your recommendations were super helpful, and I haven't stopped smiling my whole trip! The only problem is that I'll have to plan a whole other trip to finish up everything I didn't get a chance to do!

On a day off from SANCCOB, Becca and I went on a tour of the Cape Peninsula and saw a lot of cool sights along the way. One of the highlights was the beautiful view from the Cape of Good Hope, the most south-western point in Africa. This is where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean... so cool.



Feeding a seal at Hout Bay



The amazing view from Chapman's Peak drive

Boulder's Beach

Looking out towards Cape Point- this is the tip of the peninsula on the Two Oceans wine bottle label!



The most south-western point in Africa!

On another day off, a few of the other penguin volunteers and I went sea kayaking with the penguins at Boulder's Beach.

Shellsea with the penguins

Some of my favourite ladies!

We also went on a tour of the townships in Cape Town. The townships are the poorer areas where people live in a variety of conditions. We learned a lot about the history of apartheid in the country and what is being done to bring these areas up. We also visited a gospel church since it was Sunday and listened to the beautiful music played with so much spirit!

A whole family lives in this space in one of the older buildings

The upgraded newer housing the government is building to improve conditions

We went to the local "bar" and tried the local "beer" (I love beer, but this stuff was gross!)

I had to get some adventure in as well, of course, so I decided to rappel off the side of Table Mountain! It is the world's highest commercial rappel and is 110m long. Let me tell you, it did feel really long! Hanging off a rope on the side of a huge mountain with sheer cliffs on either side and absolutely nothing below my feet was terrifying, but awesome!

I am about to poop my pants

Just below that edge you can see, was a 50 m vertical cliff followed by a 50 m overhang... gulp!

Then I spent my last day sandboarding with Downhill Adventures! It was pretty similar to snowboarding, so I was naturally really good at it (haha jk!)  I had a totally amazing time with my guide Neil on my private tour. Having such a great last day definitely made leaving that much harder! I am ready to hop on the plane right now and go back!

The dunes were so beautiful

  

The only sucky thing was walking back up the hill each time, but it's awesome exercise

Me and Neil!

Until next time, Cape Town!

Feeding an Albatross

The good news is that the Albatross we have at SANCCOB seems to be improving! The even better news is that today I got to tube feed him to help him gain back some strength! I was so freakin excited to get to feed this beautiful huge bird. My heart was pounding when I went to pick him up. But he proved to be fairly gentle, given that he is still in a weakened state. I tube fed him "formula" a pretty gross (to humans) but delicious (to birds) blended smoothie of fish and vitamins.

We also have another new penguin patient at the center. He somehow got himself covered in blue paint. So some of the volunteers tried their best to wash him off. He will go through a series of washes over the next few days in hopes of getting all the paint off. When he's all cleaned up he will be released back at Boulder's Beach. 

 

 

 

 

New Patient: Black-browed Albatross

We had a bad winter storm here in Cape Town last week. It was really chilly, the wind was howling, and it rained cats and dogs for a few days straight. We even had hail! It was a bit miserable for sure.

We ended up getting a new patient at SANCCOB who was blown in with the bad weather. A young Black-browed Albatross was brought in because he was very weak and a bit battered from the storm. This species is usually found cruising far out on the ocean, so it was strange to find him here on shore. He was badly in need of some TLC. He's been at SANCCOB for a few days now and seems to be on the road to recovery.

 

Black-browed Albatrosses are huge with a wing span over 2 meters. They can live over 70 years.

You can see the salt glands which look like little nostrils on the beak. These glands help to remove salt from the ocean water they drink.

The Penguins of Boulder's Beach

Just about an hour's drive from Cape Town, in the seaside community of Simon's Town, you will find a totally amazing place - Boulder's Beach Penguin Colony! It is an incredibly beautiful spot. The thousands of penguins inhabiting the colony live and nest amongst giant granite boulders scattered along a white sandy beach.

Boulder's Beach

The colony started off with only 2 pairs in 1982, but has grown to about 3000 pairs today. This is good news for the African Penguin population, which has been reduced by an estimated 90% since the beginning of the 20th Century. A 90% reduction, that's horrible. African Penguins are currently listed as Endangered by the IUCN.

I'm Endangered, save me!

That is why the work of SANCCOB is so important, and why I am volunteering to help every sick and injured penguin return to the wild. SANCCOB is the South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (I'm not sure where the N in SANCCOB fits in - I think it's from the Afrikaans name possibly?) and they work mainly on African Penguins, but also other seabirds, like the Gannet from my last post.

It was so encouraging to visit Boulder's Beach and see the healthy penguins doing well in the wild! There were so many swimmers cruising the waves, and nesters with chicks in their burrows. We even saw a bird that had been released from our center last week, happy and healthy, hanging out with his new friends!

Here are some penguin pics, enjoy!

The penguins were nesting in the shrubs

Hello chick!

Some of the penguins were nesting in the forested area



Quite a few chicks were hanging out at the beach too

This chick is losing his down and becoming a "little blue" as we call them because their juvenile feathers have a bluish tinge.

The beautiful beach

Parent and chick getting snuggly

Time for a swim

Enough of that!

I want one of those houses!