Experience Report Wildlife Project in South Africa

My name is Kathrin and I worked in the national park in South Africa for 4 weeks. A job that changed me forever. It was still dark outside when my alarm clock rang at 4:40 am, as it does every morning.

A new day in the national park begins! As always, I was excited about what to expect again today, because every day was different.

The everyday life in the national park

Some days were quiet and we focused on birds and their sounds and others were so action packed that you couldn't process everything until something new happened again.

At 12 o'clock we were usually back in the camp and had lunch. One volunteer always stayed in the camp to prepare the food and to help out in the camp (gardening, pool cleaning, office work such as sorting camera photos, etc.).

After the meal, everyone had some time to themselves. We usually lay in the hammocks together or sat by the pool, but you also had the option of retiring to your room or sorting through the photos from the past game drive. At 15:30 p.m. the evening game drive started again.

When the sun went down around 7 a.m., searchlights were used to look out for the animals' eyes and what a great feeling it is to discover some! Around 20 p.m. we were back in the camp and were greeted with a delicious meal. We were usually very tired in the evening and went to bed quickly. 

No day like the other

One morning, it was 5:35 am when we had closed the gate to the national park behind us, we saw hyenas playing in the middle of the road. We quickly took out our cameras to have lots of photos for analyzing and documenting the animals.

But even if a volunteer is responsible for the written documentation of the trip, there is enough time to observe the animals and to talk to the guides about any questions that come to mind while observing.

Another great experience was when we had “Phuza” in the morning. Phuza is Zulu and means drinking break. So while we were drinking our coffee/tea and snacking on cookies, our guide said “Hey look, there are two giraffes over there!”

We were watching the curious giraffes when we heard a rustling from the other side. What could it be? Our guide spotted the elephant first and we all slowly and quietly got back in the car hoping the elephant would pass our XNUMXxXNUMX.

As he got closer and closer we saw that it was a female and we knew that they roam in herds. And that's how it was, little by little more and more elephants appeared, in total there were 17 and we were lucky because the herd was very relaxed and passed our car. 

While our guide explained us all about the genders, ages, different characteristics, behavior, diet etc. of the herd of elephants, we observed them grazing. After 15 minutes we were in the middle of the herd and I had the feeling that if I stretch out my hand I can touch her.

Experience South African wildlife feeling up close

As if it wasn't beautiful enough, we also saw a little elephant, which according to our guide must have been about 6-8 weeks old. Watching him was one of the best. Like a little human child, it followed its mother and imitated the grown-ups. He also tried to pull out grass with his trunk, but it was still very difficult for him to control the many muscles in his trunk, which caused the trunk to wiggle back and forth. A funny and very sweet sight.

I could have watched the herd all day, we all enjoyed it very much. After about 40 min, all the elephants had disappeared back into the dense bushes.

Where butterflies fly, dung beetles roll their balls across the ground, birds sing and you can hear the Big 5 roar in the distance, you feel the peace and security that nature gives you.

We were on the road for more than 12 hours every day and in the four weeks I only had 1 ½ days off, but I still felt so energetic, strong and full of life!

All the little wonders of nature will accompany me for a lifetime and I have taken South Africa, this wonderful country, into my heart.  

Thank you for making this experience possible!

Report from the Wildlife Project in South Africa by Kathrin M., April 2019