South African Adventures

I grew up in a small city called South Milwaukee. It was small enough that everyone knew everyone else and everyone knew everyone else's business. I loved my family with all of my heart, but I couldn't stay there after I graduated because I was suffering from migraines from the family drama. So off to Pennsylvania I went.

Once I was in Pennsylvania, I learned how to love and lose people in the same time frame. I learned that life is short and to appreciate the time you have. I learned that money isn't everything and not to let something as frivolous as money get in your way of following your dreams. So naturally, I find an internship in South Africa, and rather than ask anyone about it, I apply and get the opportunity to travel across the world. I figured out how to pay for the trip thanks to savings, friends, and family, because money is never an issue when a new adventure or experience is to be had. The opportunity to travel and create a documentary about wild African animals was more of an adventure than I could ever ask for.

I wrote a documentary called "World of Warthogs", a bit like the well-known "Meerkat Manor." Head honcho, Boris, protected his clan, the 'Tuskers', from his outcast brother Scar and his War-Thugs, and even bigger threats like lions. Unfortunately, warthogs are incredibly skiddish so I had to learn that patience is key to gaining good footage.

I was in a new place, though, and even though I was there for an internship, naturally I was going to gain as many experiences as possible including caving, ostrich riding, cage diving with sharks, and walking with lions. I laid out on the beach in my bikini, even though it was a South African 'winter,' and wrote screenplays and chapters to my novel series.

Unplanned experiences were just as likely to happen like being charged by a rhino, which gave me an entire new respect for the animal. A week after I left the reserve I was staying at, the rhinos I had been charged by were poached for their horns. It was heart wrenching. You never really know the issues others are going to until you experience it yourself. Poaching isn't a dreadful issue in the United States, but it is in Africa. Until this experience, I had no idea the emotional toll that poaching could make on a person. Such a simple thing, and yet so sad. My trip to South Africa was one in a million, and I'd go back in a heartbeat to spend it with the amazing creatures I left. It's these memorable experiences that I strive for.