Hello beautiful readers, I hope you’ve all had an amazing day or are currently having an amazing day. I am currently in a siesta in South Africa, so most people are napping before we head out this evening for a night drive which should be exciting. On regular monitoring during the day, the majority of the animals here are passed out sleeping or are just very inactive, this is because it’s cooler in the evenings therefore they are more active then, so tonight should be interesting! 

Being here in South Africa has been really fascinating, it wasn’t quite what I expected but then I didn’t really have any expectations anyway! To be honest I thought I’d cope better with travelling alone because I am a confident person but as I mentioned in my previous post I did struggle for a couple of days. Overall the entire experience has been incredible and I would recommend it to anyone, it’s so refreshing to be outside every day, the scenery here has been insane and of course the wildlife is incredible. It’s actually rather surreal to see animals such as giraffes, elephants and lions in the wild rather than behind a fence at a zoo in small enclosures. Being able to help the local communities too has been wonderful, and every day I learn something new about a species of animal here. The best part is everything is a surprise, you may go out planning on tracking rhinos and come across an entire herd of elephants in the process. I’ll be sharing even more photos at the end of next week once I’m home again, since I have too many to share! 

One of the places I visited this week is called Born Free, a place where rescued big cats can find solitude and finds forever home, after being either abused or mistreated by previous owners. One of the lions, King, was particularly friendly, although this was adorable it was pretty evident that he would never be able to get released into the wild because he was too confident around humans which could lead to him being poached. They have Born Free centres worldwide, places like this really deserve recognition, and although I got to visit as a volunteer these places are not zoo’s, and there was only a small number of us visiting the sanctuary on this morning. I really appreciate the work of places like this, to be able to visit here was a really lovely experience, and although it was sad hearing these cats back stories it was also reassuring to know they are in good hands now.

Another memorable experience this week was seeing a black rhino in the wild, for those who don’t know this species of rhino is particularly endangered, rhinos in general are regularly poached for their horns. For anyone who can it would really be amazing if you could sponsor a rhino or help contribute to this species survival, part of this means spreading awareness that rhino horns don’t have any medicinal value which is believed in many cultures but is false. If we get rid of the consumers there is no need for the product therefore rhino horns wouldn’t be in demand and they wouldn’t be getting poached. 

I know this post was a bit more informative than my others, and I still have lots to talk about with South Africa, but I just felt the need to help everyone understand that this trip wasn’t just for fun I’m educating myself in conservation and helping protect species that may not be around in the next 20 years! We should all spread awareness for animal conservation, because are we really happy with our children only being able to see an elephant or rhino through a picture book? I think not. Have a beautiful week.

All my love, 
HG 
(The Broken Pearl) 

P.S: I apologise for this post being delayed, I have just been very busy here and timing has been a struggle, I hope you understand