After everything I have experienced on this trip, I definitely don’t want to leave! It's been amazing. It's been quite an experience for me to be in Africa as this is the first time I have left Europe. Visiting South Africa has been nothing short of amazing. I even told my friend that I don't think I'll be visiting any other countries now because I have loved South Africa so much. The wildlife you can see here is nothing like you could ever experience in the UK.
If I ever have kids, instead of taking them to a zoo to teach them about animals, I want to bring them here to see them in their natural habitat because it feels so much more real.
I wanted to come on this trip because I saw some pictures that my friend had taken whilst volunteering with African Conservation Experience (ACE). When I saw the pictures I immediately messaged her to ask if she wanted to go back with me on another trip and she said ‘Of course!’, so we got the ball rolling and booked the trip. It was all quite last minute but I was still so excited.
There have been a lot of highlights during my trip. One of the most memorable would be getting to observe elephants drinking water out of a pool near our camp.
I will also never forget the lions who walked right up next to our truck, about two meters away! The sunrises and sunsets have also been unforgettable. I always moan about getting up in the morning, but here, I was up and out within 10 minutes because you feel like you're going to miss out, there's so much to see all the time.
To anyone who is thinking about coming to do this experience, I would say definitely come.
I have been here for two weeks and I feel like coming for longer is so much better because you learn so much. Other than seeing the animals, you get to hear about all the issues like poaching and understand the impacts of snares on local wildlife.
The talks about birds have been fascinating. I was never interested in birds before, but I am now very interested in vultures since this trip. I had only seen them in zoos before and would usually just walk past the bird section, but seeing them fly in person made me realise how massive they are. When I get home I'm going to do more research into them because I find them really interesting.
I've learned a valuable lesson from this experience; I don't need to be connected to wifi or have a signal all the time.
When I'm at home in the UK, I'm constantly on my phone because it's part of my job as a dog walker to communicate with my clients. However, even when I'm not working, I'm always on my phone. But, being here has made me realize that I don't need to be like that. For instance, when we were watching the elephants at the park a few days ago, I didn't have my phone with me, and I don't regret it one bit. Instead of looking through my phone screen to take pictures of the elephants, I was fully present in the moment and that's better than having a picture. After this experience, I'll change my phone habits when I get back home and even go out for walks by myself without my phone.
If I could move my family out here, I would love to work out here. I have loved it so much that I’ll definitely be back!
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