Volunteer – Seite 2 – WANDER OUR WORLD

8. Mai 201917. Januar 2020

Between bees, leopards and a horse box

Hello, Bonjour and Salibonani from Cawston Wildlife Reserve, Northern Matabeleland where I stay for about 2,5 months and help with the horses. Before I took my very first day off, I had to accomplish and survive one last task during the evening hours, where it is pitch dark in Zimbabwe: helping to move one of the beehives away from the workshop.

The bees had decided to sattle down in a huge box and now they need to be moved. I have to say that bees are most likely the animals I am the most afraid of, this seemed therefore to be the hardest task to accomplish here. Luckily, I was left in the car, being told to be the driver. I think I can handle that! So all I did was waiting for the bees to be carried out in a box, being put on the back of the truck and drive off. I have no idea how the bees were all put into that box but I guess I am just happy they are. Off I drove, unfortunately I forgot what I was told: should I drive slow or fast? Well, I have this box full of bees in the back of the car with Chris holding tight to them. Poor him, I decided I better drive fast through the darkness on the sand pad so we would reach our goal quickly. This was however not the right decision as all the bouncing apparently made it hard to hold on to the bee box and I was shouted at from the back of the car to slow down. I believe it took me a while and a couple of gear changes until I realized I have to slow down now. We finally arrived at the place where the bees were released into their new home. I just hoped they would please stay outside and not come inside the car. Not quite sure if this was the case during the drive back. Happy I survived this mission, I just had to learn that we will do this for a second time as so many bees are in the workshop. Oh my dear, a second time moving the bees and driving through the pitch dark to find a spot to release the second swarm. Everything went fine, without any troubles or stings. I really think I deserve my next day off to just relax!

And yes, the next day was my day off and I wanted to finally sleep in. That didn’t work quite as good as I wanted, at 5.45am I was wide awake and finally got up a few minutes later. I spent the day enjoying the view on the waterhole from my happy place. Really great!

Next morning, I had to drive into town, Bulawayo for the first time since about 3 weeks to renew my visa. Unbelievable that I am in Zim for 30 days already. It was very easy to get my visa renewed and didn’t take more than 5 min.

A visitor along our way when leaving Cawston

Afterwards, I found myself at the vet in town to drop some blood samplings from wildlife such as wildebeests, Kudu and Impala that needs to be tested. The testing would take about 3 weeks and one of the staff person told me „you know how things are here now“. I was just looking at him, thinking to myself well I just renewed my tourist visa, no I absolutely don’t, but kept quiet and walked on to get the next task done.

Now, I had to get a horse box for a horse to be loaded on and brought to the vet. Getting the box was easy but then 4 days were needed to load the horse that had definitely decided it would never ever get back in this box. Slow progress was accomplished during the next days. Plenty of horse food, cubes as well as grass later we had the horse in the box. However, we didn’t succeed to load her the day we had the vet appointment. So more work needs to be done until end of May. We will see if the horse will be loaded by then…

Stretching the neck but not willing to go in

During the evening, I enjoyed sitting by the fire at my happy place, there were even bushbabies joining me and I heard my first leopard calling. Apparently, there is one walking close by my room during the nights, looking for the ostrich chickens. However, I never hear it. The same with the hyenas that were calling one night close by my room. I somehow always miss these exciting things.

My new lessons learned while helping at Cawston Wildlife Reserve:

You can move beehives even if you are afraid of them – all you need is someone competent who does it for you!
Sleeping in isn’t as easy as it sounds – your inner alarm will tell you early enough when it’s time to get up.
Loading a horse into a horse box that is determined to not go in is interesting – all you need is about 4 days of patience and lots of working time with the horse.

Cheers to wandering the world and the wonders of our lives, hope to see you soon again after my next safari time that will be in Matobo – bye bye, salut and lisale kuhle ∞

17. März 201917. Januar 2020

Preparing for an adventurous time in Zimbabwe

Hello, Bonjour and Salibonani to my first blog post about my African adventures. Here, I am sitting in my cosy apartment in Germany counting the days until I will step into the airplane of South African Airlines to fly to Johannesburg for my stop-over and move on to the Airport of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. I will stay at the private game reserve, Cawston Wildlife Estate that is about 70km North of Bulawayo for a period of 3 months. I just can’t wait for the month of April to come, when my airplane will take-off for a magical adventure.

Flight from JNB, South Africa to BUQ, Zimbabwe with a short final drive to the Estate

Sooo I always wanted to live in Southern Africa, where I feel my heart belongs to and I particularly looked for possibilities that would involve horses, as I just love these beautiful animals. Lucky enough, I found a place (following # on Instagram can be quite a good choice) that sounds awesome to me and I am looking forward to start this new adventure in my life. As little as I know today, I will be staying on Cawston surrounded by horses and other African wildlife. The reserve itself is home to game, such as herd of sable, giraffe, wildebeests etc. Right now, I am unsure if and which wild big cats I will encounter on Cawston, but I am keen to find out soon.

So, how would you get ready for this kind of African adventure? First of all I decided to book my flight tickets – Check, so that is done! Then, I started reading and reading lots of travel guides, historical books and economical lecture about Zimbabwe, my new „home“ for April until end of June. Afterwards, I decided to draft a list with things that are necessary and handy for such kind of adventure:

Sleeping bag and Mosquito net
Headlamp and flashlight
A small backpack for short hiking and riding excursions
Hiking and riding boots
My riding equipment such as helmet, riding trousers, chaps, etc.
Sweater and jacket
Chinos and shorts
Binoculars
Camera and gadgets
Plug adapter
The rest of the details I will figure out

Of course, I invested in my riding skills and started to take riding lessons on a regular basis 3 months before my flight would take-off and got physically in good shape. I also checked my passport, would be very stupid to have to return home before even touching the African ground.

But what else? Well, it seems to be a good idea to look for medical advices, just in case and to be prepared. So, I got some vaccination shots (rabies together with meningitis vaccination really got me knocked out) at the tropical doctor, not knowing if these are much of a help and a prescription of Malarone, even if the reserve claims to be Malaria-free. Maybe I will have some time for traveling and then I don’t want to miss out anything because of Malaria endangered places. Finally, I checked with my health insurance what is covered and needed. It’s important that the insurance covers expenses for medically necessary transfers back to the home country in any severe cases. That’s it, I believe! Now, I hope to be prepared for the big unknown that awaits me in a country in need for some economic improvements and stabilization but also home to some of the most magnificent landscapes and wildlife that Southern Africa can offer!

My newest lessons I learned while preparing for these wonderful months ahead of:

Africa is always good for any surprises – shortly after I booked my flights the violent demonstrations in Harare and Bulawayo took place due to the bad economic situation in Zim;
Lots of people appreciate my adventurous time-out and admire my courage to step into the unknown – well, you can do it, too if you wish! Go ahead and make your dreams come true before they fade away and you have to put lots of effort into chasing instead of living them!
Whatever you do, do it with passion and your goals are easily achievable – the effort was little to fulfill my dream: fun times in researching and taking unpaid leave from work, off I go!

Cheers to wandering the world and the wonders of our lives, hope to see you in a few weeks in Zimbabwe – bye bye, salut and lisale kuhle ∞

10. März 201919. Juli 2021

African Adventures

I’m Janine:

Half-French, half-German, I love traveling the globe, exploring new cultures and enjoying the wonders given by our nature. Especially the African continent has my heart and I am mesmerized by its magical beauty. No wonder I have a deep passion for Southern Africa, its’ wilderness, wildlife and landscapes. An astonishingly divers region enriched by breathtaking landscapes, prolific wildlife and ancient culture.

Originally from Germany, my heart wanders the world and admires the Southern African continent. I dream about the African savannah, its vastness, its natural richness and its beauty. Southern Africa is Africa at its very best.

There is freedom waiting for you, on the breezes of the sky, and you ask „What if I fall?“ – „Oh but my darling what if you fly?“
Erin Hanson

That is why I make my dreams come true: 1.) Flashback April 2019: I fly to Zimbabwe, Bulawayo, to volunteer at a private game reserve in the western part of the country. It’s actually not so far from the largest, most beautiful and just the greatest waterfall in the world that I was attracted to during a vacation in the past. Of course these majestic falls soaked my clothes until the last layers. However, a wonderful experience to be this close to the mighty Zambezi river falling into the gorge.

This fabulous country raised a passion and curiosity within myself, leading to a fantastic research of opportunities how I could interact and actively participate within these wonders. Finally, I found this great possibility of equine volunteering program and received the chance of participating for a three-months period. I will surely learn more about horses, African culture and living in harmony with the nature.

2.) Flashback December 2020: Life will take you to where you want if you dare to dream your dreams! I am lucky enough to have found a job in Mother City, Cape Town where I will be working for some time. This new journey starts a bit later than planned due to COVID-19 but it won’t make it any less adventurous at all. My Cape Town holiday back in 2018 showed me that this beautiful city is a place I want to call my home. The stunning sunsets, the fabulous vineyards and all the magnificent hiking trails are just waiting for me to be explored.

South Africa got my heart and didn’t let me down when I was looking for opportunities. Finally, I signed my contract, patiently waited for COVID to make the plans for me and booked my flight to move to the African continent in the midst of a pandemic to enjoy my first Christmas under the African hot sun. Welcome to my adventures!