Hi there,
My name is Dawn and I come from Durban in
Kwazulu Natal. I’m the current “rookie” in the Conservation Village situated in
the beautiful Thaba Tholo Wilderness Reserve.
This program sparked my interest as it offered the chance to immerse myself
in the bush whilst contributing to wildlife conservation in a positive way.
On my very first day here I was blown away
when I had my first sighting of the male leopard cub! He only
showed a mild interest in us, sitting about 10 metres from us before slowly
moving off into the long grass and teasing us with glimpses of a flick of an
ear here and there. Since then we’ve managed to catch sight of him almost daily
as he jealously guards his Impala carcass in the tree.
The big event yesterday was our very first
sighting of the week old baby giraffe – I have the honour of being the first to
spot it and we now wait to find out whether it’s a girl, in which case it will
be named after me! How cool is that?
Life
in the Conservation Village is challenging but fun – not only are we learning
new skills such as tracking through spoor and scat identification but we’re
also learning to live in a more eco- friendly manner using only solar and fire
power. The lack of cell phone and
internet connection comes as quite a shock to us city dwellers, but it’s all
part of the experience and I’m enjoying every minute of it.
