Baby Animals

The weather here is extremely hot and humid at the moment, and as I type the rain has just started to come down, with huge peals of thunder and flashes of lightening. Its a great view from our apartment!

We've been working very hard for the past few days, lots of meetings and paperwork, but had a day working out in the zoo today on completing the construction of and furnishing the new Coati enclosure. We collected branches and logs this morning and spent this afternoon shovelling about 15 tonnes of soil into the enclosure. I have blisters all over my hands - I hope the coatis appreciate my pain! We have also resurrected the coati hammock we built last year, which the coatis really liked last time, so hopefully they will again.

We will finish the enclosure tomorrow, in time for the bank holiday weekend, which is the start of the Zoo summer season. Hooray - 4 day weekend !

Anyway, here are some pics of the baby tigers in their outdoor enclosure:

And we found this lovely mother and baby red squirrel zooming about by one of the lakes. The mother was "chattering" away at the baby while we took photos, and then tried to jump into Steve's backpack!

Animal Pictures

Beautiful Carpathian Lynx

Amba having a paddle

Ibis Aviary

Baby Llama

Snoozing Rhino

Eric's Enclosure

Eric

Eric again

Tudor's Enclosure

Tudor thinking about having a swim

Static Electricity

I'm having some real issues with static electricity at the moment, seem to get "zapped" by everything. It's quite annoying.

The weather here is amazing. Really hot outside at the moment, which is helped greatly be ice-cream and cold beers! It seems to me that as the weather gets hotter, the women of Kyiv wear less and less clothes, higher heels and even more make-up.

I've had a very succesful meeting this week with the other managers and vets, we planned the refurbishment of the elephant's enclosure and his enrichment plan. Just need to find tyres, chains, tree trunks and lots of mud now!

The baby tigers have been in their new outdoor enclosure today. They just exhaust themselves with exploring and playing. We forgot to take the camera with today, so didn't get any photos of them.

Photos from Sunday in the centre of Kyiv

London - 2135km away

I have no idea what this is about !

Amazing buildings

At the metro station

Damn BBC

We got up quite early today. Lewis (younger brother) is running in the London Marathon, so I’ve been trying unsuccessfully to find a website where I can watch live. Unfortunately the BBC seems to be able to tell that I am not in the UK and won’t let me watch anything on their site. I still have a valid UK TV licence, but that doesn’t seem to matter now that they have my money!
Anyway, as the weather is so lovely here we have been for a bit of a wander in the centre of Kyiv. Successfully navigated the Metro again (hurrah) looked at some beautiful buildings and lots of shops.
We’ve been people watching in the zoo as well. It’s extremely busy in the zoo today. People here who visit the zoo are different to those in the UK. At home I feel that people visit zoos if; they have a young child, are on a school-trip, are a tourist or really really like animals and conservation. Here it seems to be a popular way for anyone to spend time at the weekend or after work. The zoo is open till 7 every evening, and is usually busy up until then. Visitors are families with children, old people, groups of teenagers, young couples – everyone really. People like having their photos taken. They try to pose in front of the animals or in front of the flower-beds. The gardening department here have made some exquisite displays (photos to follow).

The Travels of Arkadii Popov

This is the first translation from my Russian Course, it’s just thrilling!

At Finland Station, Leningrad
Svetlana Denisova: Excuse me, are you Arkadii Popov?
1st Passenger: Arkadii Popov? No, I’m Sergei Borisov
Svetlana Denisova: Sorry, Thank you........ Excuse me, are you Arkadii Popov?
2nd Passenger: No, I’m Petrov, Viktor Petrov
Svetlana Denisova: Sorry, Thank you

Svetlana Denisova: Excuse me, are you not Arkadii Popov?
3rd Passenger: Popov? No, I’m not Popov
Svetlana Denisova: Not Popov?
3rd Passenger: No, not Popov!
Svetlana Denisova: Sorry, Thank you. Where is Arkadii Popov? Where, where is Arkadii Popov?

Inside the carriage of a long-distance train
Arkadii Popov: Excuse me please, is this Leningrad?
Attendant: Yes, this is Leningrad
Arkadii Popov: Thank you, and where are my bags?
Attendant: Your bags? Arkadii Petrovitch Popov – is this you?
Arkadii Popov: Yes, that’s me
Attendant: Here are your bags
Arkadii Popov: Thank you
Attendant: You are welcome
Arkadii Popov: And where is my magazine?
Attendant: “Soviet Tourist”? Is this your magazine?
Arkadii Popov: Yes thank you, it is my magazine. And my passport? Where is my passport?
Attendant: Your passport?
Arkadii Popov: Yes. And here is my passport!

Entrance hall of Finland Station, Leningrad
Svetlana Denisova: Excuse me, are you Arkadii Popov?
Arkadii Popov: Yes I am Popov
Svetlana Denisova: Excuse me.......Yes? Is it you?
Arkadii Popov: Yes, It is me.
Svetlana Denisova: How do you do? I am Svetlana Denisova
Arkadii Popov: Denisova, Denisova........ The journalist Denisova? From the magazine “Soviet Tourist”?
Svetlana Denisova: Yes, it is me
Arkadii Popov: How do you do?
Svetlana Denisova: But where are your bags?
Arkadii Popov: Yes, where are my bags?
Svetlana Denisova: Are these your bags?
Arkadii Popov: Yes, these are my bags. Thank you
Svetlana Denisova: You’re welcome

I can't wait for the next lesson !

Busy busy busy

It's been a bit of a hectic week, even though it was shortened by the bank holiday weekend. I've been exhausted, so much to do!

So, I had a massive lie-in today, and didn't get up till nearly midday.

I went back to the tax office to get my paperwork, which went really well, minimal queues and the paperwork was all correct and ready for me. Nearly done all the immigration type documents now!

What else....

I have planned my enclosure modifications for the lovely elephant, so hopefully I'll get going on that soon. Lots of big meetings to discuss zoo policy and plans for the summer season. All very positive.

We had our first meeting of the "Enrichment Group", which I think went well. Steve ran it as a workshop, with brain-storming sessions. Everyone got really involved, with suggestions and taking on responsibilities for the enrichment programme. We are starting with the Carnivores as they are a very organised department and very keen to get this going. It is so tiring having meetings in foreign languages, where you only understand one in 20 words!

I am slowly working through a Russian course, made by the BBC in about 1950, its difficult, but I think I have the letters all figured out now, just need to work on my vocabulary and pronunciations.

More Queues

This is what actually happened today - I think I am up-to-date!

Today we went back to the tax office to collect some paperwork that we applied for last week, with the usual 100's of pieces of ID and various documents. We got there just after the lunch-break and stood in a kind of queue. Eventually the doors were opened and the queue disintegrated and reformed in a tiny tiny office, with four counters. Only two of the counters were open and serving different purposes. We queued at the first with our ID to collect the forms, whilst being elbowed and pushed by other people desperate to have their forms looked at. Eventually Larissa made it to the counter and discovered that one of the forms had been left behind at the zoo. She explained this to the lady, who told her off and agreed to give us the paperwork anyway. We were extremely relieved. Unfortunately the lady only had the paperwork for Steve, mine had not been processed yet. To get the document Steve then had to queue at the other counter and sign a small piece of paper. I have to do the whole thing again another day!

We also had a big productive meeting with the Zoo Director to discuss our recommendations and to consider how our work is going so far. She is very pleased with us! When we first arrived at the zoo we made a gift to the Director of a first edition copy of Gerald Durrell in Russia. It's very nice to see the book displayed on her desk!

Had a lovely lunch at a small pizza restaurant near the zoo. We would like to go there again, but you need to book a table, and my Russian isn't up to doing that yet.

In the afternoon we had a photo session with a local journalist who will be writing an article about the zoo and what Steve and I are doing in Kyiv. I'll try to get a copy.

Boy

One old friend I’m glad to have seen again is Boy the Elephant. He is quite definitely the biggest Asian elephant bull I have ever seen. I spend a lot of time watching him from the apartment window and also from the office. I’m planning on doing a lot of work with him soon. I’ve been given permission to do some studies on him with a view to changing his management system and modifying his enclosure. I’ve got some great ideas and plans for him.

Porcupine Enclosure

One of Steve’s job duties at the zoo is to bring in new enclosure design methods. He is also to start teaching the zoo staff how to construct electric fences. An opportunity has already arisen for him to start this work. The porcupines needed a new outdoor enclosure. Due to the winter weather here, many animals just would not survive if they were kept outside all year round. They have heated indoor areas for winter and are brought to outdoor enclosures as soon as the weather is good enough. An area of the zoo, previously used for tortoises had already been selected for the porcupines, so Steve got to work building the first electric (or “Hot-wire”) fence ever at Kyiv Zoo!
Apparently electric fences are not used much for livestock in Ukraine, so sourcing the correct equipment was a bit of a mission. Fortunately all the essential components could be bought. It didn’t take him long to get the enclosure and fence completed. As the zoo has never had such a fence before, some of the keepers were understandably nervous about the fence and worried that it would hurt the animals. Steve explained many times that it was just a minor shock and would absolutely not hurt; the animals would get a minor shock and then learn to avoid the fence. One of the Department Heads offered to test the fence so he could check if it was ok. After a few minutes of plucking up enough courage, he put his hand on the fence, got shocked and pronounced that he was happy with the fence!
Once all that was completed, we could start with Steve’s plans for furnishing the enclosure. Porcupines like to dig, they are mostly nocturnal and they like to hide – not an easy species to develop a good enclosure for. Steve started with a large metal tunnel as a hiding place for the animals, carefully placed so they could hide in it and still be visible to the visitors. He then ordered 15 tonnes of soil, much to the bemusement of zoo staff – they couldn’t figure out what he was going to do with all of it. It was a huge pile, even I couldn’t see where it would all go, but Steve had a plan. Mostly it involved us and a few keepers shovelling the soil into wheelbarrows, dragging it into the enclosure and putting it where Steve wanted! So, we started by completely burying the tunnel and Steve arranged logs around it so the soil would stay in place. Steve then created a series of hills and mounds with the soil and I jumped up and down on the hills to pack the soil down! Great fun! We finished about 8 hours later by covering the floor of the enclosure with a deep layer of soil, more logs and some HUGE rocks brought as a special gift to the porcupines by the education officer. Totally exhausting day but a fantastic enclosure! I ached for almost two days. Thank goodness for long bank holiday weekends.

Meeting

Following on from our report last year, we had a big meeting with Heads of all the Zoological Departments to discuss the recommendations we made. A lot of the recommendations have been followed and other changes are still planned. The meeting was quite daunting, as decisions made could influence the future of the zoo. One of the Department Heads was keen to discuss the work in microscopic detail, so an epic four hour meeting ensued, with word by word analysis of the report, all being conducted through a translator! It all went well, but was extremely tiring.

Spring Cleaning

Now that winter is over, trees are budding and grass is growing again. The zoo and in fact the whole of Kyiv is a buzz of activity, gearing up for the summer. Armies of zoo staff rake piles of leaves up from under the trees, construction of animal enclosures has begun again and little food and snack kiosks pop up around the zoo, freshly painted and decorated in traditional patterns. Inside and outside the zoo flower beds are being dug over and filed with beautiful tulips, hyacinths and other lovely plants. I think that people here are very fond of flowers. Nearby there is an underpass that is full of flower shops – smells heavenly! Outside the zoo preparations for spring are going well. Pavements and paths are being swept and cleaned, trees pruned, we even saw a special vehicle to clean all the winter grime from the central reservation barriers along the roads.

Raking leaves in the zoo

Metro and Concert

On our third weekend in Kyiv, Larissa invited us to a concert at the “Palace of Culture” in the centre of Kyiv. The zoo is located on the outskirts of Kyiv so to get to the concert we needed to go on the Metro. Kyiv Metro has three lines, which seem to be extremely efficient. The stations are beautiful – very Art Deco period. Travelling on the tube is extremely cheap. It costs about 17 pence for however far you want to go, regardless of how many of the different lines you use. To get to the trains are the longest escalators I have ever seen, and they are also extremely fast – you have to be very careful not to trip over when you get “flung” off at the bottom or top.
We managed to get on the Metro in the right direction, which was not easy as we are still trying to get used to the Cyrillic letters – it’s hard to read the station names.
We got off the train at “Kheshchatyk” which is Kyiv’s main street and walked to Maydan, a popular fountain filled square. At the weekend Khreshchatyk is closed to all vehicles, and is full of people, stalls, musicians and other diversions.
Larissa met us at Maydan and we walked to the Concert Hall which was on the far side of the square.
The concert was given by a local amateur traditional orchestra, playing Ukrainian and world music, accompanied by various singers, choral groups and solo performers using a wide variety of traditional instruments. We thoroughly enjoyed the whole evening.

Beautiful building on Khreshchatyk Street

Maydan Square

The Palace of Culture

Carnivores

It’s been wonderful to catch up with keepers that we met last year. We’ve spent a lot of time walking round the zoo to see all the changes. But it’s even better to hear from the staff that initiated and planned these things. Hearing that our work last year inspired some of these enclosure modifications is amazing.

We have bonded well with the Carnivore Department, when the Zoologist Masha heard that we were back in the zoo, she ran so fast to meet us that she couldn’t stop and crashed into us! She took us to meet the new tiger cubs who are gorgeous, they love to splash around in the water and purr like kittens when you blow on their noses!
Staff at the zoo have been very generous, and have brought us welcome gifts. Masha brought us two little espresso cups from Nikolaev Zoo (another Ukrainian Zoo) and we have been given three jars of homemade honey! It will be all we’ll have for our toast when the Marmite runs out!
The Carnivore Department is a great team. They cook and eat lunch together every day. We have been invited a few times and the food is marvellous – proper home cooked Ukrainian food.

Food

We are trying to get out of the zoo for a little while most days. After work we tend to wander down to the shops and try out our Russian on the unsuspecting locals. People are very kind and helpful and try to understand our requests for bread and cheese. We usually manage to buy roughly what we intended to. There are a few supermarkets here, but most shopping is done daily at little street kiosks. Along the row of shops you can buy most things that you need. Fruit, veg, milk, bread etc. Food is very cheap in comparison to the UK. We often eat at a little cafe near the zoo. It serves Ukrainian food which is really tasty. For about £3 each we can have a full meal with salads and a beer.

Keeping in Touch

Our apartment at the zoo is very comfortable. It has a large living room, bathroom and two bedrooms. We share the apartment with a Ukrainian girl who works for an Environmental NGO. She is very nice, speaks great English and doesn’t mind us covering the walls with posters to help us learn animal names in Russian. The zoo has bought us a fridge, electric hob, desk, chest of drawers and a large wardrobe – Steve spent a happy weekend building flat-pack furniture and translating the instructions from Russian! We have wireless internet access which mostly works. It’s lovely to be able to keep in touch with people. I’m finding that Skype is excellent. I think its Mum’s party piece now – when she has people to visit, she calls us on Skype so everyone can say hi. We’ve even spoken to our cats using it. Not sure the cats were too impressed, but it made me happy. Steve’s Mum has been taking computer lessons and now emails us; hopefully Bryn (Steve’s nephew) will teach her how to use Skype as well. Steve has become a bit of a Facebook addict, and I think it’s fair to say that I am too. I’m not really homesick yet, but I’m sure it will happen. It’s very reassuring to know just how easy it is to keep in touch with everyone.

April Fool

April fool’s day is very big in Ukraine. Many people at the zoo played pranks on each other. Some were basic – you’ve got paint/dust on your back. Others were much more complex.
The bat keeper filled out a management request. He needed some extra supplies for the bats. To maintain optimum health, he needed 150ml of alcohol per bat per day. This was sent to the Deputy Head of Zoology for his approval. It prompted raucous laughter and got his stamp of approval. The request was then sent to the Zoo Director for her stamp. She stamped it and sent it onto the Supplies Department who stamped it and returned it to the original joker. It is now framed and on the office wall, but no one got any vodka!

The Dreaded Poly-Clinic and Attack of the Mosquitos

Our work at the zoo covers a whole range of activities. Steve is the Lead Zoologist (Curator) and I am the Lead Biologist (Animal Manager). We are able to implement new working systems, build enclosures, modify animal diets, make enrichment for the animals, organise record keeping and all sorts of other exciting animal related things! The zoo is enormous, we have an elephant, giraffes, lions, tigers and tiger cubs, bears, wolves, chimpanzees, a gorilla, loads of monkeys, a hippo, a rhino, flamingos, pelicans, owls, loads of reptiles and bugs, porcupines, buffalo, zebra. In fact, pretty much any animal that you would expect in a big zoo!
According to the Government Health and Safety legislation, working in a zoo is a dangerous profession! I agree wholeheartedly, but the closest we had come so far to any peril were paper cuts from the excessive paperwork and form filling in! Anyway, to satisfy the government that we were safe and healthy for zoo work we had to have a medical examination. This takes place at a Poly-clinic, a large medical centre full of doctors from every discipline imaginable. The first few were ok, standing in a very long queue, then being prodded and poked and asked if we felt well. After each doctor, we got our forms stamped to prove that we had been examined and passed as healthy. Next, the optician; I passed the examination, but Steve was of great concern to this doctor. She said that Steve had some brown spots in his eyes (which had clearly been missed by the UK opticians and their retinal scans two weeks earlier) and that if Steve lifted heavy objects, his eyes would pop out. Hmmmmmmm! She stamped our forms anyway and we went to the next queue. This doctor was only going to see me, and not Steve. Yes, the gynaecologist! We went in to her room and Steve was told to go away. Steve and I decided that it was best of he stayed. She asked me a few questions and then told me I needed an examination!!! This I refused. What on earth did it have to do with me working at the zoo! They hadn’t made me see a dentist, nor have my ears tested. Why on earth would I need this examination for zoo work? Our translator told this to the doctor who eventually stamped my form and sent us away. All of this took nearly two days! I swore that would be my first and only visit to the Poly-clinic, but I have already been back to the dreaded poly-clinic once since then.
Our apartment (like all buildings in Kyiv) is heated by the City Council. Heating comes on sometime in autumn, is on full over winter, and then is turned off in the late spring. Currently, Kyiv is experiencing beautiful warm weather and the apartment is unbearable unless all the windows are open all the time. I woke up about a week ago in a quite confused state. I couldn’t open one of my eyes. I tried rubbing it to see if it was just all “gunged” up, but to no avail. With my good eye, I groped around and found a small mirror to have a look. My eyelid was so swollen that it couldn’t open. I had no idea what had caused this, until we saw the very fat mosquito sitting on the wall digesting his last meal! There is now a mosquito shaped smear on the wall. The swelling wasn’t causing any pain or irritation, so I decided to go to work anyway (wearing a large pair of sunglasses). First thing that morning I was due at the elephant house to meet with the vets so we could give the elephant some medication. Elephants do not like to take medicine, especially as it has to be in extremely large quantities, so the vets were going to administer it by “flying syringe”. The vets and the head keeper of hoofstock took one look at me, phoned the translator and I was marched away, put in a taxi and sent to the dreaded Poly-clinic. This time it was much better, smaller queues and a minor eye examination by the opticians. They prescribed some anti-histamines and the swelling was gone in two days!
N.B. This whole incident was probably Karma. The day before the stealth mosquito attack we were at the local shops. Steve started flapping his hands around wildly and jumping up and down. A wasp or bee had flown down the back of his T-shirt and was buzzing away. Steve then yelped, threw his backpack on the floor and pulled his T-shirt off. The little beast had stung him! I couldn’t help but laugh, it was so comical – poor Steve.

Paperwork, endless paperwork

And so begins the seemingly endless paperwork and standing in queues! As we are staying here for longer than three months, we need to be registered and have our visas altered to allow us in and out of the country as and when we please. This is a luxury that many Ukrainians do not have, they apply for visas to travel but many are refused for no apparent reason. Please don’t ask me to explain what the forms are for, which ones have to be filled in, what documentation is required etc. I honestly think that no one is sure of this information, not even the officials! Fortunately Larissa seems to have a knack of getting everything together for us, taking us to the right places and talking to the officials.

Leaving and Arriving

We left the UK on the 23rd March at a ridiculous time in the morning and arrived in Kyiv in a mid-afternoon snowstorm. It would have been earlier, but the queues to have your visa stamped at the airport were lengthy and slow. Larissa, our amazing translator met us at the airport with our six (yes six) suitcases full of books and took us back to the zoo.
The zoo has very kindly organised an apartment for us on the top floor of the office building, with a view over the giraffe and elephant enclosures. It’s an amazing sight to wake up and see an elephant first thing in the morning and to hear the big cats shouting is just fantastic!

Me and Steve at Heathrow, on our way!

Ukraine

Steve, my husband, and I have recently rented out our beautiful house in Devon, “lent” the cats Moog and Pod to my parents and moved to Kyiv in Ukraine.
Last year we visited Kyiv for about 3 weeks, to make a report on the zoo for an animal charity. We found the zoo to be pretty impressive, but with a few issues to be sorted out. Towards the end of 2008, we were contacted by the Zoo Director who asked us to come and work for her.
I’ve always wanted to work overseas, but never really had the opportunity before. We talked it over with friends and family and decided it could work.
And so began the mountains of paperwork for visas and endless jokes about snow and vodka!

Begin at the Begining

I have only started this blog about a month after arriving in Ukraine, so my first few posts will be catching up on all that has happened so far. Things will not be in the right order, and I can't imagine they ever will be. I've never been good at writing diaries, so I apologise in advance for all the mistakes. I'll try to get up to date today. After that, who knows?