South African Adventure – Part 3

This is the third post about my trip to South Africa to volunteer with Volunteer Eco Students Abroad (VESA) in May/June 2019.

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The third portion of the volunteer activities on my VESA adventure was Conservation. The first was Construction and the second was Education (covered in my previous two posts). We spent time touring and working at The Emdoneni Cheetah Project and at The Saint Lucia Crocodile Centre.

The first day of this rotation we went to the wildcat project. It was a fair drive to get out there. At the Emdoneni Cheetah Project they rehabilitate cats to be able to return them to the wild, or, if they cannot be returned due to human imprinting or injury, they are taken care of and used for education. Many of the permanent residents had been raised as pets and ended up there when they became too big, too aggressive, etc.

It was stressed to us that the purpose of the tours is to educate and that it is important to note that all the animals included in the tours are conditioned to humans and not drugged or otherwise incited to behave. We were warned to stay alert and not to get too close. Particularly with the Cheetahs who have to “accept” a person into their group before they let them get too close.

People and groups can “adopt” the cats and assist in supporting them at the project.

It was immaculately clean and tidy with large compounds for all the animals. We started off with a tour with one of the staff veterinarians and were introduced to four species of native wild cats. We were able to go into their enclosures as all were used to humans but were warned not to turn our backs to them.

To start the tour they sprayed us with an unlabelled spray bottle… we were told it contained cat urine so that we would be more acceptable to the cats. I really hope that was just to make us squirm! One person said it was hand sanitizer… but it did NOT smell like hand sanitizer!

The first cat we were introduced to was the African Wildcat…

Look at that poor little kitty behind that great big fence! Just the size of a regular tabby cat. We were warned to keep an eye on him when we went in. Apparently people confuse these guys with domestic cats all the time and start feeding them, etc.

He wouldn’t cooperate and pose where the light worked – the sunlight was intense. But… honestly, would you not assume that was a regular old domestic tabby? They are considered the direct ancestors of modern domestic cats.

Then we met the Caracal. Gorgeous beasts! He was a poser, kept moving and flopping down in front of the group. There were apparently others in the enclosure but they stayed out of sight.

They have ears like a Lynx and the colouring of a Cougar, and are not that big.

The next cat we met was a Serval. This guy paced around and was checking us out the whole time.

Servals are marked a lot like a Cheetah but are quite small. Because of that people try to make pets of them.

Then we got to meet the Cheetahs! Their compound is huge. There are two males – brothers – in the enclosure. They were raised by humans so will never be released to the wild. However, they are still wild and everyone was very careful. Although Moya appeared completely unconcerned with us being there. He also is very photogenic!

Those photos were zoomed in, the next was up pretty close!

I love that photo!

After we listened to the talk about them we were allowed to pose, in very small groups, at a specific distance, to have photos taken with him. The lighting sucks due to the position, but Moya had no intention of moving. We were given strict instructions that if we shared the photos of ourselves with the cats we had to stress that the animals are conditioned to humans and are there because they cannot be returned to the wild, AND that in no way are they drugged or otherwise made docile.

I’m crouching awkwardly as I am not able to kneel – I’m old and the knees don’t work.

After we finished the tour we went to work clearing out scrub brush in an area they were going to expand into. There were shrubs that were poisonous if eaten and thorn bushes, and things with monster roots to get out. Not to mention wasp nests and termite mounds! We went at them with rakes, pick-axes and shovels.

While I was raking out stuff my foot got tangled up in something. I stopped and looked down and there was a circle of wire wrapped around my leg. So I bent down to grab it and stepped out of it. It looked like fence wire to me – being raised rural I’ve seen a lot of wire left lying around fence lines. So I picked it up and put it over near the pile of brush we were making.

When our team leader came back he picked it up and asked where it came from. He was furious. It was a snare. I told him I’d been caught in it. He was really upset as it was actually set in the game reserve. He explained how they worked – animal steps into it, and as they struggle it tightens.

We took it back to the tool shed and left it there.

Our next stop was the Saint Lucia Crocodile Centre.

First we got a tour of the facility and were introduced to the various species and residents.

They have several man-eaters there – BIG ones. I’m just glad the other groups got to clean their enclosures!

They rehabilitate to return to the wild (but not the man-eaters!) and also run a hatchery so they have crocs of various ages.

They have residents from other parts of the world there too.

Then we got to work. The project we worked on was a water purification system set-up in one of the crocodile enclosures. It was a series of “ponds” set-up to drain into each other. So it involved digging huge holes in the ground, lining them with cement, etc. As described in my first post about the Construction project, the cement was mixed and moved by hand.

I ended up plastering the end wall of the top pond – my experience with cake decorating came in really handy! It was a wall made out of bags of cement – onion bags filled with cement, with some bricks on the end. So it wasn’t flat, or straight. It started off with three of us being shown what to do but the other two (guys – they wanted something more… physical to do) left and it was just me. I was slapping fresh cement on the wall and smoothing it out all by myself. I really enjoyed it!

Did that whole wall myself! Well, did the finishing on that whole wall.

Other work involved digging other ponds and lining them ready for cement. The group posed in one – a couple of us did not get in the hole as we didn’t think we would get out again!

The enclosure this was in was really big and there were crocodiles in it. They were up at the top near the gate and we were told that as they were narrow snouted that they really wouldn’t hurt us, as biting us could break their jaws. Um… but did THEY know that? Luckily we didn’t find out.

The next project we worked on was painting the fence around one of the big enclosures of Nile Crocodiles. The fences are doubled up and we were painting the outer one, so no danger, other than bugs.

This was the guy and his gals inside the fence we were painting.

There were lots of butterflies around – swarms of them as a matter of fact.

That wraps up the volunteering portion of my trip.

My next posts will cover the other activities like the visit to the iSangoma – a traditional Zulu healer, the Hippo Cruise in the Saint Lucia Estuary, the safaris at a couple different game reserves, my visits to Swaziland/eSwatini and Mozambique!

To find out more about VESA check out their website at www.vesabroad.org

 

 

South African Experience – Part 2

This is the second post about my trip to South Africa to volunteer with Volunteer Eco Students Abroad (VESA) in May/June 2019.

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The second portion of the volunteer activities on my VESA adventure was Education. The first was Construction (covered in my previous post) and the third was Conservation. We spent two days at both a school and an orphanage/daycare.

It is pretty mind-boggling that they manage with such a lack of resources. The teachers are amazing and well respected, and getting an education is highly valued. The elementary school (that’s what I would classify it as) resembled old army barracks in construction. A series of long buildings divided into classrooms. Each room had rows of desks with up to THREE children squeezed into the seat! A table or old desk with no storage in it for the teacher. And some also had one set of shelves or a storage locker at the front of the room – all were broken in some manner and most contained nothing.

Many of us had brought school supplies and other items (VESA had sent lists in advance if we wanted to bring things) which were collected to be distributed later. The kids were all asking us for pens. And they really did need them.

The buildings were all painted green and yellow, and the school uniforms were also green and yellow. There wasn’t any playground – just bare soil and some walkways. But the kids are very resourceful.

When we got there we were divided into groups of four or five and assigned to a classroom. Our first was a Grade 6 class. The kids all wanted us to sit with them – which was a tight squeeze in those desks! The teacher got us to mark the kids exercise books as she reviewed the answers. Then… she had some of us actually get up and teach part of the lesson! ACK! I got given a grammar lesson – I was petrified! The teacher gave me the answer key to teach from thank goodness! Honestly, grammar was always my least successful part of English classes! But I managed, I think. I hope!

If you got out your camera or asked to take a photo you were mobbed with kids wanting in the photo – then they all wanted to see it.

During the break/recess, which was pretty long, we all hung out and played with the kids out in the yard. I got a frisbee and showed a group of younger ones how to play – which is quite the achievement as I’ve never played. I have to say we were all doing quite well – this is the official Frisbee Team photo.

We spent two days helping out. The second day we were in a Grade 4 class helping with Math. At least they were teaching math there the way I actually know math. Not like they have been doing here in Canada lately.

The other part of the Education work was spending time at a “creche” – an orphanage/daycare run by a lady called Mama Doris. She started out taking in orphans and over time expanded into daycare for teen mothers so they could continue with school. Our activities there consisted of playing with the little ones mostly.

I had taken along face paints and supplies for them, so did face painting on the kids. They all wanted to paint and were getting into it so I just went with it (which if you know me and my sanitation procedures was hard!) One particular girl kept coming back for more painting and wanted to paint me, so I gave her a brush. Yep… here she is and here’s her work. Decent eye for colour and design for a two-year old.

I had no mirror so until this photo was taken had no idea what I looked like! I kept trying to put her down but she would climb up my leg again. When it was time to leave it took two of the adults who were there to convince her to let go.

The second day I help paint a mural on one of the buildings. Raj, one of the other volunteers, had bought paint and supplies in town and recruited some artists in the group to help. See if you can figure out my contribution to this…

We got Mama Doris to pose with it too.

On the evening one of these days I went on a Night Safari – well, a Sunset Safari – in iSimangaliso Wetland Park which is a UNESCO World Heritage Conservation Area. It was pretty cool – literally and figuratively! Saw quite a few animals, but some were too far or too fast to capture with my camera, but here is what I did get photos of:

Three Rhinos! All of these had their horns removed for protection. The third photo gives an idea how close they were. They were all strolling down the road towards us, and ignored us completely.

Then Water Buffalo! That is two of the Big Five, right there! They were pretty skittish and the bull was a bit threatening, even at the distance they were from us.

Also saw a few zebra – they were usually a bit far away and the light was fading.

Then we went up to a lookout where you could seen the Indian Ocean from one side and the St Lucia Estuary on the other.

On the way back we passed this Kudu walking along the rode, completely unconcerned about us.

We also saw Wildebeest, Warthogs and other antelope species. It was a pretty satisfying drive.

Stay tuned for Part 3 with Cheetahs and Crocodiles!

To find out more about VESA check out their website at www.vesabroad.org

 

I am fund raising to go Volunteer in Africa

Last month there were information sessions held at my college for Volunteer Eco Students Abroad. I only found out about it the day they were happening as there were flyers on the reception desk as I went from classes to work in the admissions office.

I saw the words VOLUNTEER THIS SUMMER! on the flyer so I grabbed one to read at my desk. I have always been an active volunteer and have been looking for more involvement here.

I was very happy to have discovered that flyer as the last session was at 4 p.m. that afternoon which was when I got off work!

The organization was founded in Australia and operates pretty much worldwide. They have projects in South Africa, Laos, Fiji and Ecuador (Amazon). They are geared for students 17-24 years old but anyone can sign-up.

It is a self-paid trip – you pay your own way and spend a week volunteering, and then there is an adventure travel excursion included before you leave. VESA strongly encourages all participants to fund raise to cover their expenses.

I was most interested in the South African project and the Southeast Asia/Laos project as both involved endangered species. The Laos project was at an elephant sanctuary, and in South Africa a portion of the volunteer time is at two conservation parks (one for crocodiles and the other for cheetahs and wild cats.)

The total costs of the program and travel expenses will probably be around $4000 – I don’t have the exact costs for the travel yet as they provide a group rate by the end of the year that you can opt in for, or make your own arrangements. It is close to my tuition costs for one year – but how often will this sort of opportunity come up for me? I decided after my mom died that I was going to do things and have adventures while I still could – and this definitely is an adventure.

I applied for the African project and received an offer within two days. I accepted it!

This is what I will be doing next May: We will be building/renovating buildings or facilities, assisting in the school and daycare/orphanage and then working at the conservation parks. All the participants will get to work in ALL the areas.

This is a link to the Season Reports for Africa – it tells about the work that the volunteers have done.  African Project Season Reports

I started fundraising as of yesterday.

I set-up a personal fundraising page on Facebook. This is my fundraising page Volunteering in Africa – Shannon’s Trip Expenses if you would like to contribute there.

I can also accept direct e-transfers (to save on the processing fees!) if that is convenient for you. All of the funds through both methods will end up in the same account that I set-up specifically for the money raised for the trip.

I am in production mode creating Christmas Cards to sell – hand-drawn and coloured. I will soon have them up online. I am going to be selling them $5 for one; $24 for five, plus postage. Each will be a unique piece of art. If you would like to buy some drop me a message through Facebook or comment on this blog and I’ll respond! These are my first prototypes which will be one-off as I have actually come up with other very unique designs that I am still colouring.  They are on card stock with envelopes. I plan to have my complete supply read to ship within two weeks, in time for use this Christmas.

I got a couple coloured from the second set of designs – here they are. Drawn in Micro pens and coloured with Copic markers.

I am also thinking about selling my world-famous candy (brittles and barks) closer to Christmas – I sold off my excess last Christmas and it was very popular so, depending on my workload I may get that going. If you happen to be interested – I will take and make to order!

I am very excited about this trip – exploring different cultures, seeing a different part of the world, and just the whole experience of working in a group doing something to help others in their own environment will be so satisfying on a personal level.

If you are able to help me out I will be forever grateful! And any funds in excess of the travel and program costs will be used to buy supplies to take to the village I will be working in. VESA will be sending us lists of items that are needed/appropriate gifts that we can take.

Thanks for reading through!