WILDLIFE VOLUNTEERING: THE RED FLAGS MOST PEOPLE MISS
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Student at the International School of Amsterdam
I've been a student at the International School of Amsterdam for two years, and when the opportunity to go to South Africa arose, I was really excited. I jumped at it immediately because I've always felt an affinity for nature and wildlife. I've been to East Africa a couple of times, but having lived in cities my whole life, I don't get the opportunity to be around nature that often. And so, to go for two weeks was just an incredible opportunity!
Not only has this experience been educational and extremely valuable for my learning, but I've thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.
The experience we've had here relates to my educational studies in a few different ways. One way is that I take biology in school, and so applying the kind of classroom material we've learned to real-life situations, the actual animals and plants and biodiversity here, it really just pulls you into the material way more, and you become really invested in biology by just interacting with it.
Another way that this experience is related to my education is that I go to an international school, and we have a large focus on the international mindset and global awareness. The problem Southern Africa is facing with rhino poaching is an international issue, and you have people coming from all over the world to help deal with it, so looking at both the local problems and then the international scale is really in line with what we focus on in the International Baccalaureate (IB) at my school.
This experience relates to the CAS principles and what we really strive for in CAS because we are not only doing service activities but it's action focused.
We're not just raising money for an organisation, but we're interacting with the issues, with the people here, and that's not something we ordinarily get day to day. And so seeing the problem firsthand, it just makes you way more engaged. I think that's important for everyone to get.
Coming to a place that you're not so familiar with to do and see new things allows you to burst the bubble that we live in. Personally, I find that really enjoyable. We do something new every day, and seeing the animals up close is so exciting. And then being amongst peers and friends while you do that has been a super fun experience. So I would recommend everyone to try something like this.
When you go on a bush walk, it’s completely different from a game drive. You’re right there, on the same land as the animals, and you have to stay aware the whole time because you could come across something incredible at any moment.
You’re seeing them in their natural habitat, not like in a zoo. You get to watch how they actually behave in the wild, and being that close to it all makes it a completely different experience.
We've learned how to track animals on the walks based on their footprints, figure out how old their droppings are, and read the bush itself, noticing how it’s been shaped or damaged by elephants and other large animals. You start to build a whole narrative from what you can see, even when the animals aren’t there.
At times, we might be just 30 minutes behind a rhinoceros, tracking where it’s been. We might never actually see it, but simply being in the same place so soon after, and understanding what it was doing, makes it an incredible experience.
One day, we saw a pride of lions feeding on a giraffe carcass quite close to our camp, and we went back the next morning to see if they were still there. When they weren’t, we started following their tracks and spent some time tracking them through the bush.
We didn’t come across them again until later in the day, when we were having a snack break and heard what sounded like a screeching baboon. At first, we thought it might be a warthog, so we followed the sound. It led us to an area with a dip in the ground and thick bushes, and from the other side, we could hear some growling.
We moved a bit closer, but our guide asked us to stay back while he went to take a look. The lions were right there, less than 100 metres away, but completely hidden from view. We could only hear them. On the other side of them were elephants, and the two groups seemed to be in a kind of standoff.
We kept our distance, of course, but being that close to something like that was incredible. It’s the kind of experience you just can’t fabricate, you have to be out there to witness it. That was definitely my most memorable walking experience.
The experience I've had here has been eye-opening and fully immersive to a level I haven't had before in Africa.
My experiences with safaris before have been just based on driving in a car and so actually working with the wildlife, walking through the bush here has been really incredible. And then working with the organisation to actually help these animals has been really amazing.
Travelling with African Conservation Experience has been incredible, and they've taken care of all the travel arrangements. We arrived in Johannesburg, and they met us there. They took us through Johannesburg, where we had a full cultural immersion in the city, learned about apartheid and the economic disparity in the city. When we came out to Kruger, we were taken care of there too, doing all sorts of different activities, really working with the animals in nature, getting hands-on experience, and I've never really had something of this level before.
I would definitely recommend this to anyone who can go!
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