Everyday holds a new adventure!

From feeding a cheetah to jumping off a cliff, South Africa provided me with a month of pushing my limits and experiencing a very different way of life. Every day held a new adventure and taught me something new about many spectacular cultures which I learned to admire. The part of my trip which has stuck with me the most is living on a working game reserve. You never realise what a rushed place you live in until your everyday is completely transformed and stripped back, which is when you start to appreciate the smaller things in life.

It is not possible for me to explain what everyday life is like living on a game reserve, as every day is so unique and different. One day you could be building a road and the next you could be doing food rounds being chased by a rhino, however, it is safe to say that there was never a dull moment! There were four things which seemed to feature quite heavily in the experience though; watching the sunset drinking a cider, huddling together round a nice braii, waking up in the night to the sound of hyenas outside and fighting with ostrich’s that kept trying to steal your food!

There are certain things on a travel adventure that I find always stick with me... scenery, cultures and the people! On this adventure I definitely learnt the most from the people I met along the way, especially those that lived and worked on the game reserve permanently. They were such inspirational people, many of which had given up lives and jobs in the city to pursue something they had always wanted to do and put themselves in danger on a daily basis. They had very little concern for themselves and put all of their attention into conserving the environment and spectacular animals. The extent of their passion and care was seen in their everyday work, and every so often it really did shine through. One day whilst on the reserve we could hear an alarm bell going off for a long period and then spotted smoke coming from nearby. A wild fire had started on the next reserve. All of the workers from the surrounding reserves dropped what they were doing before they were even asked and ran to the aid of their neighbours. The staff of three game reserves came together to control this fire, and after many hours of sweating and hard work they managed to get it under control without anyone getting seriously harmed.

If there is something I have taken away from this experience, I would like to believe that some of their good will and love for the world has.