Reflections

I went to Africa looking for animals and adventure. What I found was something else. i was very disappointed with out project in the beginning. Masebe has a very sad story. It was set up as a tourist attraction, but being very secluded and lacking all of the big five, it failed. The village stopped making money, and so to compensate, poachers started hunting in the reserve. By the time we were there, there were very few animals left. It was very difficult for me to do the work we were doing, performing habitat assessments, hoping to get the park re-established, when I knew it would probably never work. But a learnt a lot of things in those two week I probably wouldn't have if I was surrounded by animals.

We spent some time with the people in the village. It is a very sobering thing walking into a poor African village. the outskirts are always the worst because, as with any city, it is always the slums. Tins shacks smaller than my bedroom and dirt yards covered in trash were all around. Kids played with toys that were broken or made from rubbish. The dogs looked half starved, and the children were only a little better. As we walked closer, there were better houses, and then proper brick and mortar, not out of place in suburbia, complete with two car garage. A small donkey cart vied for space with the very few cars on the dirt road, and cows wandered between fields. To see real poverty in front of you is a hard thing. I do not come from a wealthy family, and in my early years, we would have been described as poor. But we always had clean clothes, fresh water and a tidy house. This was a new level. And this village would not be the worst.

Part of the purpose of this volunteer experience was education, mainly environmental. But it is impossible to deal with those issues in a place like that without touching on the very real issues of poverty and society. Consumerism is a big thing in 'western' countries, with endless cycles of the latest gadgets and toys and clothes. The environmental costs of those things alone are staggering, but when put in contrast to these people with what we would consider almost nothing, was confronting.

I came to Africa to see the animals, and while they would come later, what I gained from those two weeks was irreplaceable and unexpected. I new determination fired by the inspirational people I had met, a new, healthier respect for nature as a whole was founded, and most importantly, I left with a new understanding of these people, their culture and my own life. I gained new perspectives. And I think that is the most valuable thing you can get from travelling.