RIP Charlie

I've been crying a river for our little boy Charlie. He sadly died on Saturday 9th January 2010 from injuries sustained after being flung from a tree during a hail storm.

God chose Pierre and I to take care of Charlie when he was found abandoned under a tree at a few days old, still sporting his umbilical cord. How blessed are we to have had this wonderful little creature in our lives. He brought us so much love and joy and our time in Lumwana would not have been the same without him.

We are extremely sad to know that we'll never see him again, that the cuddles are gone forever and that Pierre's hair will have to go without grooming now. But we know that God freed Charlie from this world so that Pierre and I can finally free ourselves from Lumwana.

R.I.P. Charlie. You'll be in our hearts forever.

I feel that this sad event marks a fitting closure to our time in Lumwana and this blog.

God bless to you all and thank you for reading my stories over the past few years.

Elna

A Charlie Update

For those who are interested in Charlie's progress, herewith an update. He is now almost 10 months old and has grown into a very independent little fellow. For the past three weeks he's been sleeping out somewhere in the bush but we suspect it is fairly close to the house. He still comes to visit us every evening as I'm still putting out nibbles for him and he also visits most mornings between 04h00 and 05h00 when we are up and Pierre leaves for work. He doesn't like to be told what to do anymore and can inflict a mean bite (drawing blood I tell you) if he feels like it so I often have a scar somewhere. He is still a little sweetie most of the time though and sometimes just wants a cuddle and a scratch and in return grooms us very lovingly. He especially likes to groom Pierre's hair or my fluffly dressing gown. It is mating season at the moment and we've noticed that their cries have died down at night. Pierre say's he hopes Charlie is taking precautions but I say NO - I hope he has absolutely no moral standards and is off making babies all over the place. Unfortunately Charlie seems to be getting into fights fairly often as there is a resident male around and Charlie is obviously interfering in his territory. He then chases Charlie all the way back to the house and we can hear Charlie screaming and huffing and puffing all the way. He usually runs to the verandah and waits here for the other male to disappear. I call the other male the "Dikgat Boelie" which is Afrikaans for "fat bully". Dikgat is quite a bit bigger than Charlie and Charlie usually ends up with an injury which results in him hopping along on three legs for a few days. But then, it is like Henk says, if you mess with another man's girls you will get into trouble. Anyway, Charlie is doing well for himself generally and we are very pleased with his progress.

Has Charlie Stopped Growing Yet?

At the end of September we thought that Charlie must have been close to fully grown. Well we were mistaken as he now weighs 336g and is 51cm long (including tail) - (Michelin man in the making). He has discovered nartjies and absolutely loves sucking on them and his favourite insects are flying ants and big juicy grasshoppers. A few weeks ago he moved into his enclosure we had built in our back garden and we now only take him out early evenings for play time and Pierre takes him hunting for insects. After that it is back in the enclosure with enough food for the night until the next evening. We often spot him hunting at night as his enclosure is built close to a light which attracts moths and other insects. He's also taking more and more risks with leaps and jumps he did not attempt before. He is still the cutest baby in Lumwana and an absolute joy.

Charlie is still Growing!

Charlie is still growing! When he arrived on 23 August he weighed 49g and measured 22cm (including his tail). He is currently tipping the scale at 168g and is now 36cm in length. Apparently their average size is in the region of 35-40cm and 150g when fully grown so I recon he's just about there. Here is a photo of him having his bottle. Is he not the cutest little thing - smelly but cute!

Charlie Goes to School

Charlie went to school yesterday for a “show and tell” session. The kids all prepared questions about Charlie and bush babies in general and I had to know my story to answer them all. Luckily Charlie was very well behaved and enjoyed all the attention. The kids had an opportunity to touch his fur and hands/feet. We also did Charlie’s weekly weigh-in as part of the activity. He has grown 2cm in length in the past week and is up from 49g last week to 66g this week. Thanks to Joanne, Jane and all the kids for having us. We enjoyed the visit very much.

Who is Charlie?

Charlie is an abandoned infant busy baby. Andy Groenewald found him on the ground under a tree. Andy and Sue took Charlie in for the first few days but they both work so it became difficult for them to care for him properly. Charlie is therefore now staying with me. The photo on the right is Sue holding Charlie. He currently weighs 49g and is 9cm long (22cm including his tail). We’re estimating his age at somewhere between one and two weeks old. Piérre suggested I give Charlie a small teddy bear to cling to and he just loves his teddy. Below is a photo of Charlie sleeping on his teddy’s head, clutching the one ear. I feed Charlie a blend of full cream cow’s milk, egg yolk, honey and yoghurt with a syringe. He sometimes drinks up to 6ml during a feed. Hopefully I’ll soon be able to get hold of a small baby or doll’s bottle and a baby hair brush. That would make it much easier to take care of him. Charlie is doing as well as can be expected and at present is really a very good baby. He sleeps all day and night (thank goodness) and only wakes up for feeds. I’m sure that will soon change and he’ll become quite a hand full!!! We’re hoping to eventually release Charlie into the bush.