Our first week here at HESC has been both wonderful and exciting. The first few days were spent getting to know all the different animals that are resident at the Centre, as well as learning the general lay of the land. Feeding is one of our many daily tasks, and while it is extremely strenuous, it’s also very rewarding and one of the highlights of our day.

We went on a game drive through Kapama Game Reserve, where we saw hippos, giraffes and various other animals. On Tuesday night some lions arrived in the area around our camp, so the rangers treated us to a spontaneous game drive. Unfortunately we weren’t lucky enough to see any other animals.

The HESC staff organised a welcome braai (barbecue) for us at Nungu Camp on Friday night, which gave everyone an opportunity to get to know one another.

We’re given one day off a week, where we get to choose from a wide variety of exciting activities. This week we went white water rafting and quad biking, and both were exhilarating and fun. It was definitely an experience that we would gladly repeat.

On Thursday we went to Khamai Reptile Park. We held a Burmese python, Flat rock scorpion and the endangered Golden brown baboon spider. They also showed us a Black mamba feeding, and taught us what to do in the unlikely event that we’re bitten by a snake. Lunch was spent  with Blue macaws and Squirrel monkeys.

We were enjoying a relaxing evening around the camp fire on Wednesday when we heard a noise coming from outside the camp. Further investigation revealed some elephants browsing nearby. Wow…what an amazing experience, although it was also a little scary as it was really late at night.

Visit our Facebook and Flikr albums to see more photos of our exciting adventures.

Greetings from Africa

Marina, Laura, Lizzy, Jo and Niels