Travel plans are coming along well. My first three weeks will be spent just outside of Cape Town in Gansbaai, a seaside village that relies heavily on the fishing industry and tourism. It is located about two hours southeast of Cape Town. I will be volunteering for White Shark Projects cage diving almost daily with Great White sharks. The premise is to observe their behaviors, assist with research projects and conservation and learn basic seamanship. Anyone who knows me knows that this has been a dream of mine since I was a small child. I have always loved sharks (especially Great Whites) and South Africa is the best place in the world to see them. What better way to "see" them than to assist with research?? I do suffer from some pretty severe sickness so I got a prescription for Scopolamine patches - hopefully the work or I will be one miserable shark lover :)
My next project will take place in Maun, Botswana. I will be here for 6 weeks. Maun is the 5th largest town in Botswana. It is located in the Northwest portion of the country. As of 2011, it had a population of 55,784. I will be visiting in December and January which are the rainiest months!
I will be working with MAWS - Maun Animal Welfare Society - in their veterinary clinic. The clinic grounds have a modest surgery suite, 8 large kennels suitable for inpatients and long-term residents and 22 individual cages for temporary kenneling and surgery patients. This clinic provides free veterinary care to the animals of low-income individuals. This is Botswana's only CNVR (collect, neuter, vaccinate, return) operation. The goal is sterilizing and vaccinating the region's large dog and feral cat populations. The clinic also provides an "emergency first-response" service to injured livestock.
My third and final trip will be back to South Africa but this time to Port Elizabeth on the Eastern coast. This is a four week veterinary internship at one of South Africa's premier game reserves assisting with the conservation and preservation of South Africa's big 5: lion, African elephant, cape buffalo, rhino and leopard. The game reserve is located 85km out of Port Elizabeth towards Grahamstown (northeast). I will be working alongside a veterinarian who spends time working on these species (and others) so that they can return to the wild. Also, I will be helping to take care of animals that have been rescued and reside in the reserve's sanctuaries. The reserve spans 6000 hectares and also contains a predator educational and rehabilitation center which houses endangered and orphaned predators such as the rare Bengal Tigers, wild dogs, white lions and many others.
This is super exciting as of course I have not had the opportunity to work on the species so far in my career.
I will be blogging and posting photos/videos of my adventures so please come along with me! These are volunteer trips however I still have to pay my airfare and some of the program costs. If you could support me in any way I would sure appreciate it. Please visit my "GoFundMe" page at:
