Abbreviated Video

Here's a link to the shorter video with photos from my Africa trip. When I say this one's short, I mean really short, like 2-3 minutes short. But the other video was a bit too long and the music got kinda annoying halfway through. So for those of you with a limited attention span like me, here's the short & sweet version.

Also, even though this blog was originally set up for my Africa trip, I've decided to continue to post blogs. I got used to writing about how my day went and kinda missed it after I returned from my trip. While there won't be the exciting "I rode an elephant today" or "I was charged at by a huge lion today" posts, hopefully every now & then there will be something semi interesting.

I just got off the phone with a woman named Ellen who works with a volunteer group in Africa. I'm trying to figure out what I want to do for next year's trip since I've already decided that this Africa thing has to be an annual trip for me. Anyway, besides lions, I also have a love of elephants after spending so much time with Amai on this last trip. So, I sought out volunteer opportunities working with elephants in Africa. Who knows, maybe I'll travel to different of Africa and focus on a different species each year. But, I really do have a soft spot for the lions.

Ellen's group has two different opportunities available. The first is in Phinda, South Africa working with elephants and doing field date on the elephant population. It's at a fenced, managed reserve; somewhat like this last trip. The second opportunity is in Tuli, South Africa & Botswana and is not on a fenced or managed reserve. It would be conducting ecological studies of the elephant population, as well as tracking and ID'ing various members of the group. And not just elephants, but lions, leopards and baboons. This opportunity is in a very basic camp with no electricity and at a very remote location.

The Phinda opportunity only takes 3 volunteers at a time and they're currently booked up. So, it looks like the Tuli opportunity may be my best bet. But I'm going to do a bit more research to see if I can find any volunteer opportunities in Kenya, since that's where I really want to go next year. Many of the wildlife conservation groups don't take outside volunteers because then they're taking jobs away from the local population. Which I can absolutely understand. I'll just have to dig deeper and see what I can find. It took a bit of research to find the group that I volunteered with this last trip, so I'll just have to do the same to find something that feels right.