Skopje, Macedonia

I passed my Ruminants State exam on Wednesday and then at 7am on Thursday I headed off to Bratislava to catch a flight to Skopje, Macedonia with Tom one of my best mates (depending on which day you ask me; think Marmite)

The flight wasn't too bad (and a bargain at €9.49) but we landed and realised we hadn't researched anything - currency, taxi's/transport - so booked a bus into town which took about 40 minutes and booked into the Nordic N-box hostel, with everyone having our own little pod thing to sleep in.

The whole trip basically consisted of eating and drinking so I will try and make it sound more civilised with some nice photos.
We found a local bistro called La Puerto selling traditional Macedonian food (Mexican) which was so good we went twice!

We spent a few hours sightseeing and learning about Macedonian history on a free walking tour of Skopje. We were the only ones who turned up as it was so cold and out of tourtist season but Vasko was an awesome guide and we stopped off at the Old Brewery halfway round for a beer or six hahaha

His son phoned him to say he'd finished school and needed picking up so he had to leave us.

I saw online that Skopje had a Zoo which was 100 dinah to get into (80p) so of course we had to go. Some of the old photos make it look really bad but they've just spent millions on it and I was really impressed, especially considering the entrance price!
We were pretty much the only people in there, including a lack of keepers, so we had a good nose around. I didn't see any stereotypic behavious and the big cats had lots of space and enrichment.

The best encounter for us was with the Hippo which you can literally lean in and touch

He came up to the bars, we tapped on them and he opened his mouth waiting for food, bearing in mind Hippos kill something like 3000 people a year!

Drinks were so cheap that it would be rude not to so we went to a couple of cocktail bars and worked our way through the menu, returning the next night to complete the ones we didn't manage.

Our hostel had a 10 week old kitten they found freezing outside and called her Luna

Then Mom picked me up from Luton. Normally I can't wait to drive when I'm home but I think I was still wayy over the limit so Cal drove

Mission Rabies Vaccination Drive

Up bright and early on Saturday morning, we left the ITC at 6am headed for Kotagiri for a Rabies vaccination drive.

We split into three teams, each with vets, vaccines, educational leaflets (in English and Tamil) and most importantly a team of expert dog catchers and their nets.

We went through villages on foot vaccinating dogs, most of which are free roaming but some are owned so their owners showed us their dogs and were given vaccination cards.

It was quiet an operation as we had to find and catch the dogs, load vaccines and get them to wherever the dogs were caught, then those vaccinated had to be marked with a paint spot so they weren’t re-vaccinated and all vaccines were recorded in the Mission Rabies app which adds them to a map with the age, sex and neutered status of the dog.

Between us we vaccinated over 400 dogs throughout the day and our team vaccinated the most - not that it was a competition of course

Cologne Christmas Markets

A few months ago WizzAir started flying from Košice to Cologne for €9.99 each way. A few of us from uni booked to go for my birthday weekend and friends from home booked flights to meet us there.

We did the usual touristy stuff and visited all of the Christmas markets. They're all so busy and overpriced that you just find yourself shuffling round the whole thing in a crowd of people and don't actually buy anything, except copious amounts of mulled wine and cheese.

I went to Cologne years ago with school so wasn't aware of it at the time but they have a system where you go into a bar and they bring you a little 200ml beer. As you finish them they bring more and the waiter adds a tally to your bar mat so you know how many to pay for when you leave.
It's a neat concept and means you always have a fresh cold beer!

Eagle Hunting in Brno

Last year at Diakovce we met a group of Dutch falconers who we got on really well with and stayed in touch. They invited me and Leah to stay on after Opočno to join them for three days at a private hunt in Brno with their four Golden Eagles and a female Goshawk.

There was a bit of a hiccup leaving Opocno as the girls locked the key in their room and we had to leave at 5am for them to catch a train back to Kosice so I drove them the three hours to Brno while Leah stayed behind to get their luggage out of the room. We got everything sorted, found our hotel and perched the birds out in the gardens.

We were hunting on land around Brno airport and I've never seen so many hare in my life, the game was fantastic. Leah was flying a male Golden Eagle given to her by Bart, one of the Dutch guys.

They had a lot of slips on game as she got to grips with flying him and that evening they did some lure work by dragging a deer skin behind the truck - amazing to see!

On the second day together she caught a hare with him and once he was blooded (caught something) she was able to give him a name; Maximus.

Wes has been trying to catch Hare with his female Goshawk Elsa for two years but not had the opportunity. As there were so many hare in Brno and having flown hard for the past few weeks Elsa was at the perfect weight and fitness and had an amazing flight.

It's not a typical Gos flight so she obviously learnt how to catch it and it all paid off - Wes was delighted!

I really had the best time getting to know the guys and spending eight days with them I learnt so much about eagle falconry. The falconers so in touch with nature, know so much about the land and respect the quarry we're looking for. We saw loads of Roe Bucks (males) but didn't fly on those as they're out of season.

I was happy as they know I collect animal skulls so we found a complete Roe Deer female so I took her skull and cervical vertebrae. We also found a dead Buzzard underneath some electricity pylons which I've put in the freezer to process at a later date.

Four years ago I'd never seen an Eagle up close outside a zoo and now I've just spent eight days hunting with some of the finest eagle falconers in the world, helping make and fit equipment and handling the birds on a daily basis. I know it's cliché but I wouldn't change my life for the world.

50th Opočno Falconry Meet

This week I travelled to Opočno in the Czech Republic with four friends for the 50th International Falconry Meet. We drove the seven hours from Košice on Wednesday afternoon, ready for registration and the first day of hunting on the Thursday.

The opening ceremony was held in the castle and amazing to see how many falconers and birds there were in attendance with 67 Golden Eagles and a whole lot more Falcons and Hawks on top of that.

It was great to catch up with friends we've made at previous falconry meets and to make new contacts.

We spent two days with the Golden Eagles and one day out with the hawks; Goshawks and Harris' Hawks.

Bart, a Dutch falconers and friend of ours, brought his new male eagle for the meet and on their first day out hunting together they caught a Roe Deer.

It was an awesome flight as the eagle locked onto the backend of the doe and she ran around a tree trying to get him off. He had several flights leading up to it but to hold on gives them confidence which is great for training young birds.

At the end of each day we had a ceremony to pay tribute to the game, a tradition which is still carried out with horns playing, a small fire and pine branches put into the mouths of the game.

Arrived in India

It seems a lifetime ago since I booked the trip but as usual I left everything until the last minute, doing most of my shopping on my last day in the UK. We left the house only an hour late which is a personal best for me and the rest of the journey was plane sailing...

I flew from Heathrow to Bengaluru with British Airways and the service was fantastic. Terminal 5 was amazing right through from check in and security to boarding and the cabin crew were so nice!

I was sat in an emergency exit seat so had a member of crew sat facing me for take off, we somehow got on to chatting about dogs as her rescue Jack Russell had been to Fitzpatrick Referrals for full spinal surgery and that, unbeknownst to her, her parents had been feeding her chocolate buttons during recovery! Two years on she's doing amazingly well and I saw videos of her jumping and swimming like any little terrier.

Next thing I mentioned why I was going to India and they'd already heard about it as a friend of mine is BA cabin crew. Within minutes I'd been upgraded, had two double gin and tonics and I was living the dream!!

We arrived in Bengaluru at 5am. Customs took their time as usual, we had to queue twice but eventually got our stamps and we were in!

Hopped in a taxi to my hotel to be told I had to wait until 1pm to check in unless I paid ~£7 early check in fee.

TAKE MY MONEY

Now time to sleep...

UVM Kosice descend on Budapest

This weekend around 30 vet students travelled from Kosice to Budapest as the girls were playing rugby on Saturday and the boys on Sunday.
We went along to support them and Kosice won all of our matches!

We all stayed in a hostel and it was great to get out of the city, especially for Halloween as there were loads of parties and events going on.

Budapest is a much bigger city so seemed really busy. We took full advantage of the food and drink we can't get in Kosice, highlights being Mexican restaurant as well as Starbucks and a drunken KFC.

We spent most of Sunday walking through the city, along the river and taking in the sights before getting the train back on the evening.

Kraków and Auschwitz Trip

We usually go away at the end of Freshers week so this year we decided to go to Kraków in Poland. There were 14 of us so we hired a minibus and driver and off we went.

The AirBnB we booked was really nice and the lady told us the best sights to see so off we went and found the main square. It's a much bigger city that Košice and definitely geared more towards tourists so was easy to get around.

After walking around the city, along the river and castle we found the Jewish Quarter and went for food. There were quite a few vegans and veggies in the group and it was really easy to find somewhere they could eat.

For Saturday we had booked a tour of the Auschwitz concentration camps. I stopped History at school after year 8 so the most modern history I studied was the Tudors and never really learnt about the Second World War so was interested to visit. 

We had a tour guide who was great at explaining the various buildings and exhibits. It's hard to believe over 1.1millions prisoners died at Auschwitz, around 90% of them Jewish. We know that Jews were put on the train in Košice bound for Auschwitz, 170miles away.

I didn't take many photos for obvious reasons;

Auschwitz Camp I

Auschwitz Birkenau II

Back in Kraków we went for food and met up with a few friends before heading out

On Saturday, our final day, we had planned to do the Salt Mines but half the group went earlier in the morning and queued for 2 hours to get in so we decided against it.

We booked an open top bus tour of the city and the heavens opened. We got soaked and didn't get off at any of the stops but it was good all the same!

Home time!

I definitely want to go back at some point to do the Salt Mines and a few other bits we missed out.