Nov 25, 2016

A Humbling Experience

PART TWO

Most of the daylight hours at the sanctuary were taken up with the daily routine of preparing, feeding and watering all the sanctuary inhabitants. Mind you, depending on how thin on the ground the available volunteers were on any particular day, there could be a bunch of night-time hours involved too.

There were around 40 whole frozen chickens wanting getting chopped up first thing in the morning in order to feed all the raptors housed there; small bits for the Sparrowhawks, slightly larger pieces for the Buzzards and then bigger chunks for the Eagles and Vultures; and let’s not forget the 5 foxes.

Then the various water birds needed their fish. Boxes of fruit and vegetables needed carrying up from the cold-room to the preparation kitchen and heaps of this was required; seven primates, two raccoons, two Coarti, five goats, two donkeys, one pony, a plethora of different species of birds and a partridge in a pear tree … all ate fruit and veg of a sort.

Throw in a few ferrets, Chip ‘n Dale (I learned how fast chipmunks really are!), four dogs together with five or six cats and their food requirements and the day filled up quickly. Not sure if it was a subconscious thing, but somehow I managed to avoid having to feed the two pythons.

On top of all of this there was cage cleaning, building, repairs, maintenance and my personal favourite (read ‘not’ here) which came with an element of risk, mucking out Obelix’s enclosure.

Obelix was a young’ish male wild boar (you can’t say someone there doesn’t have a sense of humour) who took great delight in waiting until you’d filled the wheelbarrow with his muck and discarded food before he playfully tossed it across the enclosure so you could start all over again. Of course batting him with the spade meant the game was really on and then one had better be agile and quick.

The daily goings on at EKPAZ revolve around a very special man by the name of Yiannis who more or less runs the show. He lives on the property and has dedicated his life to saving any and every creature he possibly can within his lifetime. And for that, he asks not a cent in return. In fact all he asks is two simple things; to be left alone to do what he does best and for all human beings to show more respect and compassion towards all other species we inhabit this planet alongside - lesson number two in humility for me.

I arrived at EKPAZ not really knowing what to expect, excited to be somewhere different and looking forward to new experiences. Some good friends were made in my time there, in truth there certainly was more of an unanticipated challenge involved at times, but without any doubt I left the richer for the experience and gratefully humbled.

Oh yes, and more skilled too - reckon I know how and where to look for sustenance should I ever end up ‘on the street’.

What lessons and where one learns them along the journey of one’s life is often a surprise, but then that’s what makes travel the great leveller and teacher it is.