Sebastian and Hardie’s nose training has unpleasant consequences
Day: 32
Sunrise:
07:05
Sunset:
17:16
As the crow flies:
18,6
Daily kilometers:
23
Kokardine Camp – 12.06.2000
Unfortunately, there are lots of broken pieces lying around in the little fairytale forest. Pointed dead tree stumps also stick out of the ground like knives, so that some of our camels, thank God, only cut their feet slightly. I lead our caravan carefully and attentively through the dangerous forest that we found so enchanting yesterday. Back on the path next to the tracks, Sebastian races ahead at bone-crushing speed. I have to use all my strength to slow him down to a reasonable running pace of around 5.5 kilometers per hour. Now that I have been leading the camels for four days, I can feel the one-sided strain on my body. I already feel as bent as a question mark and hope that my sensitive back will cooperate. We realize more than ever that Sebastian and Hardie, who we both bought from the camel man at Coolgardie, have no sensation in their noses, as they have been trained exclusively with the nose leash. Most of the responsible camel men train their animals with the lead line attached to the halter and not with the nose line attached to the nose peg. The nose leash should only be used as an absolute emergency brake and not in daily handling of the camels. The result is now a nose that has become almost insensitive to pain, which is exactly why Sebastian can hardly be controlled. As a result, Sebastian pulls on the nose leash like a madman and the hole in the nose peg catches fire. Jo suggests replacing the nose leash with a chin chain. “Maybe he reacts to it. If you pull on this chain, it will tighten around the camel’s chin. I think that will work,” she says, pondering. We decide that Tom will bring such a chain with him on our next rest day to test it on Sebastian and Hardie.
During the rest of the march, Hardie causes us difficulties, as he has done from the start. I haven’t yet reported that he always wants to run to the left of the caravan and therefore constantly pushes Goola against the saddle. Goola then gets nervous and pushes Sebastian against the saddle and for this very reason Sebastian can hardly be held. So we find out that Hardie is the culprit and is responsible for making the entire caravan run at a fast pace. Although Hardie is attached to Goola’s saddle with the nose lead, this doesn’t seem to stop him from wanting to run to the left of him. His nose stretches out like chewing gum and has become terribly inflamed in the last few days. If the nose were not insensitive to pain, the nose leash would force him to walk behind Goola and not next to him as described. Again, we have to find a solution to a problem and so there is hardly a day when we are not confronted with new tasks.
In the evening we camp on a plowed path that is lined with dense bushes on both sides. I soon no longer need to mention that we are dog-tired, but this tiredness and exhaustion comes over us at strange intervals. Some days I still feel strong and fit even in the evening and just one day later I’m crawling on my gums. Tanja and Jo try to herd the camels in the dense undergrowth while I set up the radio and the tents. No sooner have I cleared the ground of all the tufts of grass and branches than I discover a whole army of ants about to launch an attack on my legs. Horrified, I leave and try another place, only to get the same result. Disappointed, I realize that the entire unploughed path is literally infested with ants. It is already dark and a bitterly cold wind is whistling through the bushes when I finally find a suitable spot for our tents. Tanja and Jo have been crawling into their tents for some time as I read the coordinates from the satellite navigation device in a trance-like state and then transfer them to the map. As I do every evening, I also record our experiences today on a Walkman so that I have them available for the diary update.
