Category: South Africa

What would the world be without animals?

Hey guys!

If you have read my last posts, you know what my life at Daktari looked like and what we did on the weekends. The life at Daktari wouldn’t be the same without all the animals there. Because quite a big part of the philosophy of Daktari is about taking care of the animals together with the kids, I am really looking forward on sharing the different animals with you.

This post is not going to have all the animals in them and there is different reasons for that. The first one is that for some of them I simply don’t have any (good) photos. Secondly some of them you have already meet in previous posts. The last thing I want you to keep in mind that some of the animals are only there for a short time so if you decide to go there yourself you might see different ones.

The first animals I am going to introduce are the dogs! First up you see Mirabelle also known as Mimi. Next up is Nikita on the morning walk. Then we have two rare sights. Number one: Kenzo. He usually is the one who tries to get everyone to play with him and never stops running around. He also loves to jump into the water to get everyone wet afterwards. It must have been a super hot day for him to just lay down. Number two: Gucci. The oldest one of the four. He gets annoyed if Kenzo and Nikita play around all day and usually is too lazy to join us on the walks. So this must have been a happy day!!

The next one is a little weird because you don’t usually find them in that part of Africa but they have been held as pets and then given to Daktari. I’m talking about the Meerkats. In the photo they are currently playing with the enrichment the kids prepared for them. They put little bits of meat in some of them balls so they’d have to find a way to get them out. Next up our cute squirrels!! They love climbing on you and don’t seem to get that your legs don’t have the same grip as your cloths. I promised myself to restrict myself to only one photo per animal but these ones are my favourite so I couldn’t choose. Those little babies are Dassies. They are so young that they still have to be feed. And they also love climbing on you (not just the small one but even when they are grown up). It was crazy to see how much they grew up in the short time of two weeks I was there!!

Banchee the thick-tailed bush baby is another cute resident at Daktari. I loved watching him open the Marulas (a local fruit) and enjoying the sweet treats. At Daktari there are quite a few permanent residents. Lots of different birds were injured in some way that they can’t be released to the wild. Ostriches, Owls, Eagles, Buzzards and many more. In the last picture you can see Eeyore, the blind donkey that nevertheless always tries to steal some food of the table. At night this porcupine sometimes came for a visit. He is a friendly one that you can pet and that is always down for a carrot or piece of potato. He has been raised by Daktari a few years ago. If you want to see his wild friends you must be very quiet and patient.

Now we’re moving towards the bigger and maybe more dangerous animals at Daktari. Martin, the Cheetah, is a permanent resident at Daktari. He has lost his front teeth so he can’t be realised in the wild making him an ambassador for the kids. Next up is Dongo, the Wild Dog. He is also a permanent resident at Daktari because he got hit by car when he was young. The third photo is one of my favourite. Its Shangaan, Daktari’s caracal. I hope for him that he will be released to the wild at some point. At the moment he is kept at the reserve for teaching purposes. JP and Minnie are the two jackals and they must really like it at Daktari. Staff members have tried to wilder them out previously but they returned to the reserve.

I know the last photos are not about more animals that live at Daktari, but about a very special girl I got to meet in the first week of my stay! Blessing. That’s her name and it was her third birthday when I was there. So her mum managed to organise for her to come to the reserve but because she still had to work she couldn’t take care of her all the time. I happened to have most of the afternoon off so I spend my time with this little cutie. We drew together, played games and looked at the different animals at Daktari. We didn’t speak each other’s language but still found a way to communicate with each other. So thank you Rahaba for letting me meet your precious angle and Happy belated Birthday again, Blessing!!

This is my last post about my time at Daktari, so if you have any questions ask away!

Lena xx

Does more always mean happier?

Hey Everyone!

As I have described in one of my previous post about Daktari we taught small groups of kids from the local village each week. The kids coming to Daktari are usually in grade 8. Another part of Daktari gives the kids that really want to learn about their environment the chance to come to the so-called ‘Eco Clubs’, a class that the Outreach Manager Sara organises twice a week in two different schools. She is usually joined by two short-term volunteers and in my second week I got the honor to get to go to both schools and help to teach them.

This week was about Renewable Resources. We learned about solar, wind and hydro energy and then did a little activity to find out more about the long-term consequences of renewable resources. It was awesome to see how willing the kids were to learn new things about the environment!!

All the local staff members that work in the office, the kitchen, housekeeping or with the animals work in a certain schedule. They  work for three weeks and then get one week off to spend with their family in the village. We got to know Pretty, our volunteer coordinator, really well in the first week but then sadly had to say goodbye because she happened to be off the second week I was there. She is such a lovely person with a bubbly personality and a heart of gold. She was so nice to let me stay at her place for a night so I got to finally meet her daughter Momo and the rest of her family.

Donald, Prettys brother, usually helps with the Eco Club and Pretty and Momo came to pick us up from school to join us for the last few minutes. So once all the little beans from the activity were packed up and the kids had all gone home, we started walking to their house in the little village called ‘Turkey’. Momo is such a sweetheart but definitely also has a strong character. We started to play a little ‘game’ my parents used to play with me. Pretty and I both held one hand of hers and then on the count of three pulled her up in the air so she could fly for a little bit. Well after a while it got exhausting and we stopped, Momo didn’t like that and decided to just lay down in the middle of the road. After some convincing we got her to come home with us though.

On our way home, Donald asked me whether I liked Mangos and since I said yes he climbed into the neighbors tree and picked three fresh mangos. Once we got home we ate them and there were on of the best things I have eaten in my life!! The rest of the day we just hang out, I got to meet Pretty’s other siblings and some kids from next door, we had dinner and some nice chats.

The next day I helped Pretty with some grocery shopping. On our way we picked up lots of plastic from little snack bags and then dropped them off at Pretty’s Grandma’s place. She uses them to make doormats out of wooden sticks wrapped in plastic and then sells them. What a great way of earning some money and doing something for the environment at the same time. We didn’t do much that morning but it was just nice to get to know everyone better, play with Momo and learn how different and then similar our lives are. Even though they might not have hot running water and the toilet is outside instead of the bathroom they are still the most loving and open-hearted people I have ever met. They made me feel so welcome and I can’t thank them enough for letting me experience their life even if we just sat in front of the tv and talked for a while.

Around lunch time we got picked up by Sara and then drove to the next village were we taught the same lesson just to a different group of kids. It was crazy to see that those kids seemed to be soaking up the new information even more than the other group. I also noticed that they all loved to take photos with us and somehow seemed to be really fascinated by my blonde hair.

After the Eco Club Isabel and I were going to do a homestay organised by DAKTARI with one lady living in the Oaks Village. It was time to eventually say goodbye to Pretty and Momo, which was pretty sad. But then another great experience in the village started.

Maakoše took us down to the river, that was dried out a lot due to the drought in South Africa. We met some lovely ladies down there who earn their money selling stones from the river bed. They spend most of their time sorting the stone by colour and size before they can pack them up and sell them. We then spend some time at the market place before heading home to cook dinner. She showed us how to cook ‘Pap’, a traditional maize meal porridge. We both helped stirring and then got to eat it with a nice potato/sausage stew.

The next day we got up at 4 in the morning because we went to the market place where Maakoše sells fish. When we woke up Maakoše gave us two buckets with water she had heated up so we could ‘have a shower’ or wash ourselves just outside her house. We then walked to the market place, sat there and watched the sun rise. While Maakoše was selling her fish we tried to make use of the little Sepedi we knew and talked to a lot of people who came by. The only thing we could same was ‘Hey.’ ‘Hey, How are you?’ ‘I’m fine and you?’ ‘Me too’ but it was so amazing to see how happy the people were that we were at least trying to communicate with them.

We then walked back home, had breakfast and then dressed up in the traditional cloths. What we didn’t know at that point was that we’d be wearing it for the next couple of hours. And for one it was super warm having to walk around in a long ‘skirt’ and secondly everyone was looking at us walking through the village because they usually only wear those cloths on special occasions. But it was still lots of fun and a great experience.

We then walked to one of the local ‘Creches’ (Preschool or Kindergarten) and got to meet the kids. They sang lots of songs, danced and played some short theatre plays. It was adorable! Sadly we didn’t really have much time to play with the kids but I still used the few minutes to tickle them and play a little. It was wonderful to see how curious they were and how much fun they had.

Before heading home we visited some of Maakoše’s friends who owned a local bakery. And look at that baby… isn’t it the cutest?! I love how they have found such a simple way to carry their babies/kids around. They just use a towel and a certain way of folding that to keep their kids on their back. Nothing fancy needed just a simple towel.

After an exciting day in the village we grabbed our back and then walked to the school. We helped Sara to clean up the last bit of the classroom and then dropped off some of the toys at the Creche that Momo goes to. So more curious and happy faces and I got to see that little cutie one more time! Going back to the kids at Daktari having learned so much in the past 48 hours. I nearly felt like coming back as a different person. Seeing that even though the people living there don’t have as many materialistic things as we might have they have so much more than that. Their endless love and happiness reminded me to step back more often and take the time to appreciate all the little things we have more!!

 

I hope everyone is doing well!! I’m currently staying with my second family in New Zealand and enjoying some relaxed time and catching up with friends. Would love to hear back on what you guys are doing, maybe comment or send me a message?

Lena xx

 

Hey Everyone!

So the last post was about our Friday afternoons, this one is about the other two days of the weekend. On Saturdays Ian drives to town (Hoedspruit) to do the weekly grocery shopping. The volunteers get the chance to choose if they want to join, spend a few hours strolling around and having lunch there. So that’s what we did. We checked out a few little shops, bought some snacks, had lunch and said goodbye to Sam, one of the other volunteers.

Daktari relies on the volunteers and everyone spends a different amount of time there. Some a week or two, others two to three months or something in the middle. Because of that there is always a coming and going. Lots of Goodbyes but also lots of Hellos.

So just two hours after Sam left us we welcomed a new volunteers at the bus stop while Ian went to the airport to pick two new faces up. The rest of the day we spend relaxing at the pool and getting to know each other better.

 

After a short night we got picked up early in the morning and drove towards the Kruger National Park. If you looked up where Daktari is located you might know that the game reserve is actually not far away from the famous national park. After a 1,5 hour nap in the car we passed the gates of the park and before even getting to the point where we had to pay the entrance fee we saw two wild leopards just next to the road. The pictures didn’t turn out that great but it was truly amazing to see those creatures so close to you.

The rest of the day we spent with driving around the sandy roads of the national park stopping every time we saw another wild animal. The animal we probably saw most of was the Impala, an antelope species. But also other antelopes like the Kudu or the Steenbock crossed our path.

We also saw the cape buffalo and some wildebeest, also known as Gnus. Did you know that it is really common to find a herd of zebra that is accompanied by one Gnu? The Zebras eat the top part of the gras while Gnu prefer the parts further down. We also saw some really cool and colourful birds and watched the monkey jump through the trees.

My favourite that day was probably the Burchells Zebra. I definitely would not have thought that before, because I had seen Zebras in Zoos before and them being related to the horse I thought it would not be that spectacular. The thing that fascinated me the most were the so-called shadow stripes between the actual black stripes.

We also got really lucky. Two giraffes decided to come really really close to the car. It felt like if you could have leaned out you would have been able to touch them. And look at that cute little baby zebra hiding behind them.

Maybe an hour before we were supposed to leave the national park we still hadn’t seen any elephants and we started to get slightly disappointed but then we hit the jackpot. We found a herd of hundreds of elephants. At first we only saw a few but the further we drove the more we saw walking through the woods. It was truly fascinating!!

Some of the volunteers might have been disappointed because we didn’t see all of the ‘Big 5’. We missed the Rhino but saw Elephants, Lions, Leopards and Buffalos. But I didn’t go into the day with any expectations so I did not really care.

All in all I can say that this day was definitely one of my favourites so far!!

What is your favourite one of these beautiful creatures?

Lena xx

Fridays are for relaxing

Hey guys!

I know I promised to post about my exciting adventures in South Africa way sooner than now. And I am really sorry. I knew that it would get to the point where it is hard to keep up and find the time to still share my photos and stories with you. But I want you to know that I havent forgotten about you and I’m also not gonna stop. But you might have to be a bit patient with me.

My last few days here in Thailand have been great but also really busy so that combined with some wifi struggles at my hostel made it really hard to post again.

But back to South Africa. After the kids left shortly before lunch on Fridays we got to enjoy some relaxed time. For sure the animals still wanted some attention but after that we got to chill at the pool, have a nap or spend some time with the animals. In the late afternoon Fridays usually mean ‚Leopard-Rock-Time’.

Most of the volunteers and some of the staff joined in and jumped into the pick-up. It was a great short drive through the reserve standing in the back of the car, playing temple run (trying to escape the branches). After that we walked a little bit further towards the leopard rock starting to climb up the rock from there on.

The second week Kenzo and Mimi somehow found a way out the camp and followed the car. So we stopped and took them with us. They even climbed up all the way to the Leopard Rock with us and enjoyed the view.

The first week we only went up to the Leopard Rock, enjoyed the views, took lots of pictures and then went back in time for dinner.

The second time we went there we were a bit later and even got to enjoy the sunset up there which was awesome. Also we decided to go up another Rock, The Elephant Rock.

It was great to overlook the whole nature park and to have some time to get to know the other volunteers better and make some memories together.

I hope you guys bare with me even if I take a bit longer.

Miss you.

Lena xx

Education is the key to making a change

Hey everyone!

So as I said before this post is going to be about my first volunteering project in South Africa, DAKTARI. Daktari is a bush school combined with a wildlife orphanage. Basically how it works is that they take up injured or orphaned animals and raise them with the purpose of releasing them again. Unfortunately some of them are too sick or injured that they would not be able to live on themselves so they keep them there and give them a space to enjoy the rest of their lives.

That itself is awesome and I’ll show you more about the different animals in one of the following posts. But what in my opinion makes Daktari such a great project is that they combine the wildlife orphanage with education. They give the kids in the poorer villages the chance to learn more about the environment.

How it works is that on Mondays they pick up a group of 8 kids (4 boys and 4 girls) from the local school and bring them to the camp. The kids they in a dorm room until Friday. During that time we teach them different lessons about the environment but also about respect and job chances for example. We also take care of the animals together with the kids.

Every night we meet with all the volunteers and the wonderful volunteer coordinator Pretty and the animal manager Nodia and do the so-called board meeting. That is when we split up all the tasks for the next day so everyone knows what they are supposed to do.

The day starts at 7am with a cup of tea or coffee. After a few minutes of relaxing and waking up we leave for the daily dog walk with all the kids and the 4 dogs (Mirabelle, Nikita, Kenzo and Gucci). Once we get back its breakfast time. The kids have their own table and then all the volunteers and staff sit at a big one as well.

On the last picture you can see Thor (a little marmoset) stealing some fruit at the breakfast table. Once the table is cleared everyone meets for the morning stabling. In the first week it was always 1 volunteer, 1 staff member and 2 kids. The second week we were 10 instead of 5 so it was 2 volunteers instead.

As you can see we split up into different groups and swapped that around every day. I actually managed to find a good system they are using now so every child had the chance to do every task during the week. After the morning stabling the kids usually have two or three different lessons.

Lunch is always at 12.30. After this everyone has some free time and the kids get the chance to go to the pool with some of the volunteers. Once everyone relaxed a bit we have another two lessons. After that the animals seek some attention again and we do the afternoon stabling, which is usually not as long as the morning one. Then its shower time for the kids. 

Then we usually have a fun activity like Minigolf, studying insects in a waterhole or a fun treasure hunt through the camp. Some days we did a social talk instead. Its one topic every night were its less like a lesson but more a conversation about topics like respect, safe sex or substance abuse.

Dinner at 6.30pm. Before going to bed we have another fun activity. It’s either a game, a night safari, a movie and then the bonfire on the last night. The kids love the bonfire! There is lots of dancing and having fun. Also the kids really enjoyed taking pictures with all the volunteers.

Some days instead of doing the lessons in the morning we do a cool activity outside the camp. One day the kids go to a game reserve to learn about the different job opportunities. Another day we all did a bush walk together and look at the different tracks we find on the way. Even Mirabelle (one of the dogs) managed to escape to join us on the trip.

It was great to see how the kids changed over the week and everyone became so attached. It was actually really sad seeing them leave on friday not knowing whether we were going to see each other ever again. But what made it okay was knowing that we managed to make an impact in their lives!

I must say I love the concept of teaching the kids and its awesome to see how willing they are not only to learn but also to educate others.

If anyone of you is thinking of doing a volunteering, I would definitely recommend this place. It’s a great course and the people there are the nicest I have ever met in my life.

Lena xx

Hey guys!

So my first proper day in the Limpopo region started off relatively early (woke up at 5.30am). But I soon found out that it would not be that bad because the night there starts early as well. By 9pm its already so dark that it feels like in the middle of the night. We sat in the Lapa for a while and then went to bed quite early.

The next day we were picked up by Brendon to take us to the Blyde River Canyon which was approximately one hour away from Daktari.

Turns out that on the drive there I found out that I had left my sd card in my laptop the night before. So no taking pictures with my camera that day… That really sucked at first but also made me enjoy the day even more.

Once we got to the Canyon we left the car behind and started hiking through the bush. I must say it felt and looked a lot like the hikes we did in New Zealand. But ones we got out of the bush we got to enjoy stunning views over the nature reserve. We also found a cool little spot to go for a swim before we headed back up the mountains. I must say it still felt pretty unreal to be in such warm weather and swimming in the nature after having been in the cold winter for quite a while.

We really found some breathtaking views, but I feel like those phone pictures don’t really do the place justice. So if you ever find yourself in South Africa definitely go and check it out. Its so beautiful!!

After a wonderful morning we headed back to Daktari where we were welcomed with the weekly pancake lunch. The rest of the day was pretty relaxing. We only had to do the afternoon stabling, but more about our daily routine in my next post in just a couple of days!

Lena xx

My first days in Africa

Hey guys!

After I arrived at the airport I took the Gautrain (the public transport in Johannesburg) and then walked to the hostel, which was really exhausting since I was still wearing long pants and it was really hot. I found out that I had actually booked the hostel for march and not february but luckily it wasn’t a problem to change it.

The hostel was really nice! When I got into my room I was asking myself if I had booked the right room. It looked like a private one and I usually stay in the dorm rooms. It turned out to be right. Around the corner was another bunk bed.

That day I only went on a walk with some of the people from the hostel showing us the area around the hostel. They also told us that there is certain areas where it was not safe to walk to and that you should try not to take a bag with you.

In the evening I got to see a beautiful sunset just from my room in the hostel.

The next day started with lots of rain so I decided to use the day for organising, doing some grocery shopping and getting my South African SIM card. In the evening we went out with a few people from the hostel to have pizza.. For the next day we decided to get out of the city and go to the Walter Sissulu botanical garden.

We got to see some cool birds and really weird and creepy insects. There was also a turtoise walking through the park. We then started the hike on the geological trail. It was a beautiful walk up the mountain range rewarding us with stunning views.

On my last day in Joburg we went to the WITS Art Museum, which turned out to be really awesome. One of the exhibition was about floods in different countries of the world. It was a really cool way of capturing those tragic moments.

In the evening the hostel organised a tour to the Ponte Tower. We did not even have to pay one Euro for the transport and got amazing views and free Sangria all evening. The bar we stayed at was at the 51st floor. From there you weren’t even able to see the ground in the middle of the tower.

The sunset up there was stunning overlooking the city of Joburg. I took lots of pictures, talked to quite a few cool people and enjoyed the evining. I didn’t end up staying too long because the next day I had to get up at 4.30am to get to the airport and from there on take the shuttle to Hoedspruit.

That was everything I did during my time in Joburg. I must say I did not like the city that much. After being in Reykjavik and Copenhagen where I could just walk everywhere, Jorburg was really different. Because it wasn’t as safe to walk everywhere you would always have to take a uber to get to places. That limited you a lot to the place where you were staying unless you did proper research on what you want to do (which I didn’t) beforehand.

I was looking forward to my first volunteering project in the Limpopo region (DAKTARI).

Lena xx