Food and Beverage

24/08/2011Today was my first day they showed as all the procedures and what must be done before the day really even starts.We were all given a partner and a task my task was sweeping and making a fire.After I done that we were shown the preperation before hand like:

• Filling empty sauces
   
• Getting knifes forks and serviettes ready
  
  All these things must happen before guests arrive...

Then went to pack the Hoender hok that is our packing space were all the chairs tables etc goes we got it all neat and tidy threw away old stuff and fixed broken things.

We were all set to different places I was set outside by the waiter station I helped were I could and had four of my own tables at the end of the day and even made a responsible income on my first day!!!

25/08/11
Today we were given the task to deep clean I had to deep clean the coffee station we washed the walls moped floors cleaned all equipment.This was a big job and took a lot of time but it is really important for health and safety to keep your working area hygienic.
After this they thought me to make various things like:

• Coffee
• Tea
• Milkshakes
• Milo
• Hot chocolate
  This was a lot of fun love learning new things daily and like working with the guests....

Reception

This was my second course of the hospitality side and this was the one that I really did not look forward to...

This is how it went my first day I started I was thrown in to the deep end the farm was full as it was a long weekend and I did not no anything I asked them to quickly show me everything and got it immediately.

I learned so much and really enjoyed it did very well a learned to do the following:

• Check guests in
• Check guests out
• Radio procedures
• Booking of activities
• Phone procedures
• Cashing up
• How to work a float
• A lot of communication skills were gathered
  
  The people a worked with were great and helped me so much there is a lot more into it than I thought but as Reception is were your holiday starts it is really important to look good and always be pollute and willing to help.The one major thing is if a guest walks out there unhappy the rest of his stay will probably be a bad one as he then will be negative towards staff and the company a first impression is the one that lasts....You only have 3seconds to make it so do it right !!!
  
  I really got the hang of that very quickly and it made my job really easy ...I  went really well loved guest inter action and working with people the people I worked with was amazing as well.
  This course was at the end even better than cheffing believe it or not!!!

Hospitality

We changed over our first six months was all about the bush everything I personally love and now I had to get out my comfort zone and go into the hospitality sector I was not really looking forward to this at all!!

My first course was cheffing and I was not all to excited..
As I got there it was a totally different setup there were so many people and you were working direct with people and peoples expectations.

This was in actual fact a amazing course I did not want to leave!! I learned to make so many things and my favorite thing of all was the decorating of the food.
Here is my favorite:
Beef strip flat bread:
You will need the following:

• Flat bread
• Mozzarella cheese
• Beef fillet strips
• Avo whip
• Fetta cheese
• Soya sauce
  
  Equipment needed:
• Baking tray
• White chopping board
• Pan
  
  Method
  First you take the flat bread cut 2 sides of take the sides place them in the deep frier until golden brown.Put mozzarella cheese on your flat bread.
  Put your flat bread in the oven for 5-10min
  Take your strips put them in hot pan with oil cook them until brown then add soya.Cook bacon in a pan .When all is finished put bacon on flat bread as well as strips then add your avo feta and place your deep fried sides on flat bread.
  
  This was my favorite dish there were so many and I loved it a also loved making sauces a made achilli sauce for chicken with the following
  Jelepino
  John Brand
  Tomato Paste
  Spices
  They actually then used my sauce at the Meat lovers feast we have every Friday...
  
  We had I practical day were we were divided into groups one chef student and one proficiency student I was with Alon he had to tell me exactly what to do and how but what made it interesting was the fact that he was not allowed to do anything only give instructions to me!!!
  
  The dish that we had to make was an egg florin-tine I learned how to poach an egg how to make creamed spinach as well as a bechamel sauce  this was a lot of fun although we did not win the scores were very close and I learned a lot
  This course was great at the end I did not even want to go away............Ironically enough
   
  

Species Care week 3-4

24/6 -7/7/11
These last 2 weeks we learned a lot of other interesting things like a had to go and find out how much water a cheetah drinks in the wild in actual fact it drinks a cup of water a week!!!The rest of the water comes from his preys blood as well as his coat picks a lot of water then he licks that up we cleaning himself.

We learned a lot and got a chance to experience amazing things and the inter action with the animals were great.We learned so many things and had the chance to do those things as well like the feedings the cleaning the playing.I fell in love with all these animals and it was a great honor to be part of there lifes helping them were I can to make there life easier.

Species Care week 2

21-23/6/11

21/6/11
Today we got a bit of a treat and were asked to help with a chemical game capture this was a lot of fun.We first went out to dart some Nyala bulls we do this yearly to get some old blood out and new blood in as we trade them for other bulls.We looked for the bulls and finally got two both were darted then we put the transmitter on that helps with the tracking of the animal we got them and then put them on the back of the bakkie.Then we went and loaded them off at the Wild life center were they were kept for a day and was then picked up and transported to there new home.

22/6/11
I washed all the animals bowls learned the difference and usages of sanitizer that we use for bottles and detergent that we use for the bowls.
The sanitizer gets thrown into a big bucket with cold water then the bottles gets drowned in it this then kills all germs on the bottles.
The detergent gets thrown in hot water and then with the hot water scrubbing and washing takes of unwanted germs and bacteria

We do this to prevent animals from getting sick because old food sometimes get stuck in the animals bowls and then they can get things like food poisoning etc.

23/6/11
I cut all the meat from carcasses this makes it easier to prepare food when we need meat to cut up for the carnivores we also can then sort the meat out as we can not feed trigger with fatty meat or cattle.
We also learned that dead animals that die of natural cause we keep and use in the wild life center but in the case that the meat is not fresh any more we take it to the vulture restaurant so they can feed on it so it does not go to waist.The meat that has some kind of illness that can be passed on or we do not know the cause of death that carcass will then be taken to the ashoop were it will be burn so it does not have a effect on other animals  

Species Care week 1

We started our new course namely Species Care this course takes place in the Wildlife Center this is a rehabilitation and nursing center for animals.
10/06/11
We started of by just observing mostly.They showed as mostly the procedures at the center and what to do and what not.We then went for a tour around the center and they showed as daily cleaning procedures at the center called Spot checks that are basic cleaning of cages as well as removing empty bowls and filling water bowls with fresh water.I was really excited to start and wanted to enter all the cages but we had to do animal behavior first before being able to enter a cage.The reason for this was just because we must know the warning signs to look for when entering a cage for your own safety as well as the animals safety.
We had our lecture on the behavior and were ready to go in.I learned warnings signs of various animals like:

Owls:They make a tongue and jaw clapping noise to warn that you are getting to close.They also puff themselves up so they look bigger and scarier!

Lions:They pull there ears back starting to stalk you they eyes change the will make less noise.

Servel:Make a hissing noise and will spit and claw

These are just a few animals there after we went to the kitchen were they showed as the fridge and the different tables so that cross contamination does not occur for exp.Fruit and veg table and a meat table.

We were shown things like cutting boards how the scale works and the animals diet.

Cutting boards are used in a specific way to avoid cross contamination:
Blue board:Is used for fish
Red board:Is used for red meat
Yellow board:Is used for Chicken
Brown board:Is used for red meat
Green board:Fruit and vegetables
White board:  Fruit and vegetables.

We then started preparing all the animals food and then fed them!!!!!This was an amazing experience....But only the start....



11/06/11
Today was my second day I was really excited all though I was tired of the night shift a had to do the previous night.We went more in to detail today and I did the meat I learned how to cut it for the animals for example Trigger the cheetah eats small pieces of meat with Iams this is highly concentrated cat food that we mix with his meat.He can not get meat with fat or chicken because chicken bones splinter and will get stuck in his throat and it will kill him.We got to feed some of the other animals as well.

We also went and changed all the animals bedding to insure hygiene as they mark it and sleep and even eat there it smells really bad and can cause bacteria outbreaks.

12/06/11
Today I helped to set up new cages for various new animals as well as animals who needs bigger cages.
First cage we set up were for the Vervet monkeys this was fun as we needed to make the cages suitable for them but at the same time we still had the chance to be creative.We put sticks in and bedding.We then put a swing in and scattered fruit this is a way to keep the animals busy you call it animal enrichment.

The second cage we fixed was dobby's cage the bush baby he is my favorite of all the animals we also filled it with sticks and made it neat .I got a old swimming pool pipe that I tied to the roof as a bed and he loved it.

This was I lot of fun but I also learned a lot like:
That you must look at what you put in the cage that it is not poisonous or harmful.
Make sure there are not any loose wire
Make sure there are not any escape routes
Make sure the door is closed and will stay close
Make sure there are not rope or anything they can chew on that will suffocate them.

It was AMAZING to see how they enjoyed and just loved there new enclosures and it felt o good to know that you are responsible for there happiness.

13/06/11
We got a new baby in today it was really small and really cute it was a little Nyala bull.We got him in as guests found him near Marula pool area.We took him in a learned the procedures that have to take place when one takes a new animal in.First he gets weighed and all info about him gets written down there after we look at his diet about 10-15% of the animals body weight divided in feeding per day. This was an experience as we have not handled such small antelope yet and now we have the chance.They taught as how to feed him as well as stimulate him as he is to young to do all those things he was about 7 day old!!

This would not of happened if humans did not interfere with natures guests thought that his mother abundant him and then tried to help his mother came later on and he smelt different as he was touched by them and she then kicked him out or abundant him.So please do not touch young of an animal as you will be the actual cause of the animals abundance.   

15/06/11
Today I cleaned all the cages learned the importance of hygiene a specially in the cages as this can cause an bacteria outbreak and will ill your animals as a lot of illnesses will occur like worms etc.This will have a bad effect on your animals and as you are running a rehabilitation and care center and not a death center it is the worst possible thing that can happen to your animals.The worst is you are responsible because if the correct cleaning was done it would not of happened.

16/06/11
Today I had something different to do I went with one of the second years on a feeding tour helped with the feeding of the animals and to look if all guest are okay and doing everything correctly.This is something totally different as you are working not only with your own life but with the life of others and you have to be sure that everything goes smooth and correct and in the same breath you need to make it fun enjoyable and educating for the guests.


17/06/11
Today I did the milk preparation for the following animals:
Giraffes
 Nyala
Blesbuck
We give them a certain amount of milk according to there weight as well as age.
There are also extras we put into the milk for exp. Denkivite that is milk powder.
We also put probiotics in milk when needed namely Bio-rem for Ruminants Protexin for non Ruminants and Ruminants

These are all ways to give our animals the correct diet keep them healthy and strong.

This was an amazing week and  a great learning experience I loved every second of it......

Site Guiding Week 3

24-26May 2011

24May 2011
We learned about Arachnida today these are scorpions and spiders.This is a topic a lot of people do not want to know of as they are feared.This was in actual fact very interesting.There round about 172 species of scorpions in S.A and about 64 families of Spiders in S.A

A quick brief on how to identify a scorpion:
IF it has a thick tail and thin small pincers it is toxic witch means rather stay away.......
In the case that the pincers are big and the tail small it is non toxic
The best advise I can give is rather just keep your distance if you do not know what type it is!!
Common signs of an scorpion sting are:

• Immediate pain
• Strange sensations in the hand and feet
• Twitching and trembling of isolated muscles
•   Restlessness
• Increased pulse rate
  
  Four different types of scorpions are:
• Burrowing Scorpions
• Bark Scorpions
• Thick-tail scorpion
• Sand-dwelling Scorpions
  

Then with our Spiders the four most dangerous in South Africa are:

• The Crab Spider
• Black button Spider also known as Black widow
• Violin Spider
• Sack spider
  
  These are your most toxic spiders in S.A and you will need to seek medical help immediately in the case you get bitten!!
  
  25May 2011
  We started with insects today were we learned how  classification works and we got some other interesting information such as:
  Insects belong to a group of animals with a joined external skeleton,known as Arthopods.The external anatomy of insects displays a remarkable number of adaptions for insect's life.
  We learned about the life cycle of insects and differences between some insects for example:
  
  Millipede:
  Has less legs about 100.
  Can be poisonous when biting occurs
  Is more flat in shape
  Carnivores
  
  Centipede:
  They have more legs about 1000
  Can be poisonous on legs
  Said to bring rain
  Herbivores
  Is more of a round body
  
  This is an example of differences we done.
  
  26 May 2011
  We learned about night skies and how to identify certain things in the night skies for example the Southern cross and we learned how to use it to find direction.
  
  There were a lot of interesting things to see like Scorpio....He only comes in the winter tame.
  
  We learned about Orion's belt how u make it out using the three sisters was told the story of him as well.It goes that he borrowed a dagger from his girlfriend and never gave it back so she got Scorpio a warrior who worked for her to kill Orion he did so but never retrieved the dagger that is why you will still see the dagger on Orion's belt.