Living in the bush..

You can never really prepare yourself for a trip, but no matter what, in time you get used to all circumstances. I was excited about living in the bush, the base existed of 3 houses, two small, who were housing some of the staff members, and the main house, where our big dorm was, the kitchen, lecture room, toilets and bathrooms, more staff rooms, and data room.

I loved base so much, it became like a home to me. We always talked about base as home. The staff members there were amazing, dedicated people, who are very friendly and fun!! Most of the volunteers, including me, were between 19 and 26 years old, but no matter what age you had, we could all party together, when we had partynight, which was 1 time every week. Some nights we went to the local bush pub in the neighbour reserve, to have a good steak and cheap drinks!

The bush was incredible. You have good days and bad days, and some people just have more luck than others. I was amazingly lucky to see a honeybadger, serval, caracal and pangolin, but if you expect to see rare animals, you won't enjoy your trip. Some drives you 'just' see impala and zebras, but you are still driving around in the beautiful bush, doing a great work to conserve the bush and its animals. 90 % of the drives you see the focus animals, which are our lions and male cheetah coalition, because you track them down using telemetry.

I recommend this trip to everyone, and I can't stop talking about it. Almost every 2nd thing I say includes the word 'South Africa'. I must go back! I now have friends on every continent, and they will always be very close to my heart.