Thursday, July 28

Today was a very special day. In the early morning, I got up to do boma. Boma is where the elephants are kept at night, and boma means you shovel elephant poo. I know what you’re thinking… Why is that special? Well, it’s what came after that. I was the only volunteer who decided to do boma, which meant it was just me (and the elephant handlers) working in the morning. We finished pretty quickly and then walked with the elephants until breakfast. Because I was the only volunteer, I was able to talk more with the guides and learn more about elephants. We talked a lot about poaching, and I learned that people from Zambia and South Africa poach animals the most. I also learned a lot about elephant behavior—how they use their tusks to take apart trees and eat the fibers from the middle of the tree branch, how they can lose their tusks in territorial fights, and more. It was really interesting and special being able to have that experience first thing in the morning. Here’s a picture of me walking with one of the four rescue elephants.

The day continued to get even more special. In the afternoon, I went on a lion walk with the three cubs.

Again, I was the only volunteer on this activity because everyone else had done it in the morning and elephant herding in the afternoon. There were a few guests, which wasn’t ideal for pictures of the lions (the guests were taking pictures with them almost the entire time). I have hardly any pictures of me, but today I was able to get a few!

But, afterwards…. Was very special. After the guests had gone, I got a VIP experience with the lions. I actually went into the enclosure with the lion handlers to take headshots of the cubs. In the volunteer lounge, we have a “meet the lions” board. The pictures of the cubs are from months ago when they were first born, and of course they have changed a lot. So, one of the lead lion volunteers asked for some updated pictures. So I did just that!

On the way back to the volunteer village, I stopped to shoot the sunset. African sunsets are unlike any other. The sun is huge and orange and the skies are usually shades of orange, yellow, and pink.

More later…