Chester Students Prepare for their African Adventure!

On 16th February 2011, myself and one of my tutors, Andy Lyon, met with this year’s prospective EDGE of AFRICA volunteers to answer any questions they may have and put their minds at ease about what to expect from their African adventure.

Andy started by introducing us both and speaking about the academic side of their trip and the sessions that the university are delivering in March to prepare them for their trip. During these sessions, the students will learn about how to behave within a new country and culture, and how to stay safe while they’re away, as well as getting information on the assessments they will be required to complete. Andy also spoke about what Knysna, and particularly areas such as The Heads and the marina, are like.

After this I was asked to tell the students about my experience with EDGE of AFRICA. I spoke about the structure of my placement (two days per week in the Knysna Tourism office, a day and a half per week on the Khayalethu eco-trail with the Rastafarians, and a two half-days per week in Judah Square edu-centre), our Cape Town orientation in the first week of our visit, and our return to Cape Town once our placements were over. I then gave the students the opportunity to ask me anything they felt they needed to know:

• How safe is Knysna? Can we take pictures openly and feel safe having our cameras out? Knysna is a relatively safe place. Remain as vigilant as you would if you were in this situation at home, and never forget that you are in a third-world country. Take pictures as you would normally but do not walk around with your camera in your hand or around your wrist. One of the most important things to remember is, don’t become complacent with the relative safety of Knysna town centre and assume that everywhere is the same, particularly if you are taking a trip to Cape Town.
  

  Cape Town
• How much money did you spend? It’s all relative to the kind of person you are. Our group went out at night quite a lot and at the time that we were there, there was no internet connection in the volunteer house, so we were also paying to use the internet cafe. I took around £700 and was sent an extra £150-200 by my parents while I was there.
• Was your presence well received in the township? Yes, the people who live in the township are so happy to have you there, and we didn’t experience any animosity at all from them.
• Was there a language barrier? The only language barrier we experienced was with some of the younger children. All the practitioners and teachers/workers etc in the township speak very good English. Every Friday afternoon, we had a Xhosa lesson with Joash, which was helpful in finding out certain words and phrases we could use around the children to keep them under control.
  

  Highest Bridge Bungee Jump in the World
• What was the weather like? Although the time of year is technically going into the African winter, their winter is nothing at all like our winter. The days are mainly warm enough to wear a t-shirt, but you should take ‘hoodies’ etc for in the evening.
• What footwear did you wear on placement? It all depends on your placement. In the preschools and on most other placements, flip flops are okay. However, if your placement involved outdoor work, such as Build Our School or the Khayalethu Eco-trail, trainers or boots would be more appropriate.
• Are there bank charges for drawing money out? There wasn’t with my bank, but I think some banks do have a small fee. An important thing to remember is to ring your bank and notify them that you intend on leaving the country and how long you’re going for, as some banks will block your account if there’s unexpected activity on your card.
  

  Plettenberg Bay Beach
• What was the general vibe you got of Knysna and of being in Africa? I personally thought that it started to feel like I lived there. The volunteer house is very homely, and Knysna itself is very welcoming. At first, working in the township is a culture shock, and nothing can really prepare you for that, but you soon fit in and start to feel like part of a team.
• What is there to do at night? The EDGE of AFRICA staff has a weekly programme of activities for in the evenings. You’ll have a braai once a week, which is like a BBQ and is more of a social event than a meal, and there’s also a quiz night, a games night, a DVD night, and a lecture night, all once a week. Knysna also has a decent variety of bars and clubs for at the weekend.
• Is there a difference between what you can wear in the town centre and what you can wear in the township? Yes, you must make sure you’re covered up when you go into the township, but you can pretty much dress how you would here in summer when you’re in the town centre.
• Other points to consider: Take an unlocked mobile phone with you to save you the time and money of buying one once you get there, as EDGE of AFRICA will provide you with a SIM card when you get there. Go on as many excursions as you can and make the most of your time there. Do as much of your assignment work as you possibly can before you go, so you have as much free time as possible when you’re there. Dress conservatively when going into the township and be respectful of the culture differences.

By Emma Hitchen - 2010 EDGE of AFRICA Volunteer and EDGE of AFRICA Rep based in the UK

EDGE of AFRICA Volunteer Awards 2010 - Continued

EDGE of AFRICA Volunteer Awards 2010

EDGE of AFRICA Best of 2010

Working with the Big 5 of Africa!

It’s already been 6 weeks, 6 amazing weeks that is and unfortunately that means I will be heading back to the Netherlands soon. I can honestly not believe that I am writing my last project summary before embarking on the long journey back home...

After returning ‘home’ at the GRGL, back from a great weekend over in Knysna, I found out the elephants had decided to be naughty and break all the fences around the milkwood tree! ‘While the cat’s away, the mice will play’, I guess. Selati even managed to lift a gate up off its rail so we had to place it back, which took a lot of manpower, but luckily Hein, Patrick and Ettienne managed to do it. Not only had the ellies wrecked all the fences, they had also managed to mess up the voltage on the wires, so Hein and I placed a new energizer just outside the boma, so that everything was back in order.

This week it was time to work on the cheetah skeleton again. I had already assembled it and put it all in the right place (well except for the tiniest of tiny bones maybe) but we still needed to actually construct it. That is why local Ludwig Oosthuizen, a real pro when it comes to building skeletons, came to help me! Behind the rugged appearance of this man lies a crazy amount of knowledge on skeletons and an ambition to start a little museum of his own. Hence, he wanted us to come visit him and his skeletons, to see his ‘life works’. That is why Hein and I took Tammy, volunteer on the Predator Sanctuary project, to see Ludwig and his collection when she came to visit the Big 5 Wildlife Project on Wednesday! It was at a rather deserted farm in an area with no cell phone reception whatsoever and we know this because Tammy kept checking, ha-ha! But I must really say that his collection of skeletons was very impressive, he had literally everything ranging from tiny little birds and bats to entire elands and whales! When Hein thought it time to return to our duties at the lodge we left Ludwig and his bones. On the way back we almost drove into a herd of cows that were blocking the road in front of us, which wouldn’t have mattered because we weren’t supposed to be on that road in the first place, because... Hein got lost! We seriously had to turn around like three times before he found the right road and got us back to the GRGL!

When we finally did get back to the project we had to have a quick lunch before accompanying the wildlife vet on his mission. There was another buffalo with a red eye so we had called the wildlife vet in for a consult. Before darting we tried to lure the buffaloes with pellets to get them to move to a better spot for darting, so that they wouldn’t run into the thicket or water. Then the vet darted the male buffalo with the red eye and they all ran off. When we got to them we saw the male was down but not quite under so we had to restrain him as the vet topped his drugs off to get him to settle down. This buffalo was diagnosed with the same condition as the previous one - conjunctivitis and as such got the same bolus injection of antibiotics just under the sclera of the eye, together with multiple injections of antibiotics that I got to inject! It was very awesome to inject medicine into such a large & powerful animal!

Tammy also got to help us with fixing the wires around the milkwood tree in the elephant camp, this time trying out a new system! We needed a new system because Selati has a very clever way of breaking the wires, he uses his tusks to lift them until they snap, because he knows he won’t shock through them! So this time we collected rocks to use as weights on the end of the electric wires, so that when Selati tries to wreck them, he will simply lift the rocks and the wire will give way in stead of breaking and then when he lets go they will fall back into place... At least that’s the idea so here’s hoping that it’s going to work!

Then after feeding the cheetahs Hein invited me and Tammy to the lodge to have a beer with him and Patrick and obviously we didn’t say no to that! We had a nice chat about our busy day and then it was time for me to drive Tammy to the top gate and say goodbye!

On Thursday Hein and I tried helping the cheetahs Bobby and Victor out in the reserve with stalking and hunting prey! They were out in the open field where the springbok can usually be found and they were looking for food. So Hein positioned the car in the line of view between the cheetahs and the springbok so that they could cover some ground without the springbok noticing. As we did that, Bobby approached the car and was really using us as cover, which was pretty cool, it’s amazing how smart these animals are. Unfortunately, when Victor wanted to join up with his brother the springbok were onto them and the hunt was off... Which is when the cheetahs started focusing on Hein and me, circling the car! Quite scary ha-ha, but we managed to get rid of them!

Then it was time for another excited weekend filled with fun activities! So on the Saturday Hein and Kim dropped me off at Jukani where Roger was waiting for me to bring me back to Knysna for my second visit to the volunteer house. On our way there we had to pick up Sherry (USA/SA) from George airport, who was about to start her project! Then at the volunteer house we met up with Chun (UK), Jonas (Belgium), Katy (UK), Philip (USA) and it was very nice to see all of them again. We had an awesome time in Plettenberg bay where Roger had arranged for us to have a surfing lesson, very tiring, but very cool and I think in the end we all managed to stand up! That night we all went to bed pretty early because the sea had completely tired us out... Even so it was a short night because we had to wake up at 6:30 (!!) for our excursion to Mosselbaai! That is where we met up with Alex (Germany) and went shark cage diving, I will not elaborate on that, just ask Roger how I liked it ha-ha... Let’s just say the others had a great time! We also paid a visit to the Predator Sanctuary Project at Jukani, which was cool because we got to see Tammy again and were just in time for the feeding tour which is really nice to see. Then Roger took us to a backpackers in Mosselbaai which was quite cool because it was an old train turned into a hostel, so we spent the night there after a good dinner at Dros!

Then on the Monday we were all quite lazy so we missed breakfast and ordered our own before packing our bags and leaving for the Garden Route Game Lodge aka the Big 5 Wildlife project! When we arrived at the reserve we found out Hein and the guys were very busy working on a broken water pump, which was quite a laborious task and they couldn’t use us for it. So unfortunately we had no other choice but to go and relax by the pool! After a couple laidback hours, Hein collected us and took us back to the house where he started the fire and we had an awesome braai!

The next day Alex, Katy and Chun joined me on the project and we showed them the reserve. We had coffee with the rhino’s which was really nice and just as we were about to leave them to see the rest of the Big 5 we noticed a flat tire, so we got to spend some more time with them! When the wheel was fixed we showed them what a day at the project is like and as such we did fence checks, cheetah tracking, feeding of the crocs, cheetahs and buffaloes and Hein also taught us a lot about different plant species and which ones are edible and which aren’t. He told us all the medicinal purposes of the aloe ferox plant and said the juice taste very bitter, so he dared us to taste a tiny little drop. Obviously we all wanted to try, but I didn’t listen to Hein’s warning and as such my ‘tiny little drop’ was actually quite large so it was really disgustingly bitter! Luckily, we had some leftover rusks that could take the awful taste away. The guys were actually supposed to leave and head back to their own projects but because they liked the reserve and the project so much they decided to stay another night. So we went into Albertinia and Hein showed us some good student wines we had to taste. That night Hein made us potjiekos by the fire and it was really very good, I think we actually finished all of it. We had a very cool night as we enjoyed our student wines underneath the stars!

The next morning we did a special game drive for Alex, Chun and Katy, which I think they really enjoyed - as did I, even after 6 weeks it never gets boring! Then the four of us went for lunch at the lodge and had the most awesome springbok shanks ever. When we were done, the guys went to chill by the swimming pool and I helped Hein fix the roads and build an enclosure for a rock monitor that friends of his had donated to the reserve the day before. After that it was time to say goodbye to Alex, Chun and Katy as they left and headed back to Knysna...

Then it was really there...my last day on the project! Still can’t believe it and really don’t want to leave this amazing place and these awesome people. I’m honestly leaving my heart behind! There were a lot of odd jobs this day and I got to help on all of them. For instance, Hein had to make a pizza shovel for the restaurant, we had to weld steps onto a game drive car that had broken off and of course there were the usual tasks such as fence checks, rhino patrols etc. I also got to cut the meat for the cheetahs all on my own, which was pretty cool because I had to take the skin off and divide the horses leg into pieces by myself and then dust it with the predator nutrient stuff. After which we obviously fed the cheetahs...for the last time. Then we found out there was a fault in the electric fence in the lion enclosure and Patrick was going to fix it. So I got to embark on this adventure as it was quite tricky because the lions were pretty close to where the fault in the fence was. Then we almost got stuck with the car when we tried to get to the fence as close as possible which was quite funny, but not as funny as when I tried to fix the wires. In all the 6 weeks I had spent on the reserve I had never ever been shocked (well except for the time where I touched the wire on purpose after a couple brandy & cokes) but of course I had to do it on my very last day! As I tried to wiggle the metal into place to stabilize the electric wire to the fence my thumb got stuck and as I struggled to get it out I got the shock of my life. I think Patrick almost died of laughter! It was hilarious, 8000 volts on my arm!

Then we went into Albertinia for the last time where I did some last minute souvenir shopping and got some drinks for my going-away-braai. And before I knew it, it was time for dinner and so the fire was lit and Hein, Kim, Malan, Roger and I gathered round for my very last South African braai... I’ll be back!

Last but not least I want to thank everyone again for making this experience the best of my life! From day one you have gone out of your way to ensure a good stay and a great project so thank you all very much! You are all so very kind and caring and I had the best of times, thanks again guys!

Love to all

Elise van der Heijden

My EDGE OF AFRICA Experience

My EDGE OF AFRICA Experience

By Eavanna Maloney

It has taken me at least three months since returning home to be able to write this blog.

It was too difficult for me to put in to words how I felt about my experience of South Africa. Coming home was one of the hardest things I have had to do……….

I joined EDGE of AFRICA in March 2011 expecting to spend five weeks on their HIV/AIDS Awareness project, and left October! I spent five weeks on the most amazing project where I met the most wonderful people, including the inspirational Dr. Laurel Giddy at the HARRT Clinic and Annalene who runs the mobile clinic at That’s it. I met some fabulous people at EDGE of AFRICA…….. Dayne, Roger, Jo, Joash and Kholi. I met inspirational volunteers from all over the world. I was also lucky to be there for the infamous Chester crowd who gave me numerous laughs and giggles. Mel and Sioban I haven’t forgotten you and you know I love you!! It is difficult to describe how an experience like this can make u feel it truly filled me with love and joy. I was as high as a kite on life and love.

I worked as a Medical Volunteer coordinator from April I looked after volunteers from all across the globe and placed them on various medical projects which included HIV and AIDS Awareness, the Medical Community Project and Hospital Based Internships. I had the opportunity to meet fabulous volunteers. I stayed in the volunteer house which was always a hive of activity and laughter.

Through EDGE of AFRICA I had the opportunity to experience the true beauty and spirit of South Africa and indeed its people. I saw how somebody struggling to survive could be filled with such undying love, joy, generosity and positivity, I also had wonderful opportunities to see the beauty of South Africa on the EDGE conservation projects which included the elephant sanctuary, I had the chance to get up close and personal with some very large elephants, thank you Josaphine!! I was also lucky to go to ADDO Elephant Park and the magnificent Cango Caves at Oudtshoorn.

It really was an amazing experience working with EDGE of AFRICA and I would happily recommend them to anybody wishing to open their heart and broaden their mind. Thank you to EDGE of AFRICA for giving me the opportunity to work with you.

Marissa Shevins starts her African Journey!

In my country we go to prison first and then become president. -Nelson Mandela

Almost three weeks ago, I traveled to South Africa, to a place called Knysna, or “The Garden Route. Aptly named, it is one of the more beautiful places I have ever seen. I am living in a volunteer house working in the local community in HIV/AID’s education and prevention. I work with ten other girls from all over the world in various places ranging from hospitals to home based care clinics to schools and youth centers.

Initially I came here with the intention to learn about myself, and what I want from life. In high school I had a very strong sense of direction in terms of what I wanted for a career. Yet when I entered college I found that nothing I wanted before seemed right anymore and decided that in order to get back on track I needed to figure out something new. For me, my most important self realizations have always occurred in the magic that for me is Africa. I have heard many say that if you come to Africa and see the way it is in real life, not on TV, then you will never want to leave. I see what they mean. I come to this strange and beautiful place to find myself,

“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”

Life here is almost dreamlike. The otherworldly beauty that surrounds me becomes almost commonplace. There are lush forests, deserts, mountains, white sandy beaches and endless ocean. The people are friendly and lovely despite their terrible living conditions.

Being here and working with these people really makes me realize how much I take for granted. These people who have so little have much more than most will ever know. They are the happiest people I have ever seen and that in itself is truly inspiring.