5 weeks is not a very long time. Especially when you are having fun!
Phone, email, Facebook did not come to mind very often, and every day was fully booked with all kinds of activities on the farm as well as building new friendships with the people working at Harnas, and the other volunteers. We were split up in 4 groups, that each had their own animals to feed and care for. When our chores were done we could spend time with all the animals on the farm, and that was simply amazing.
Every Thursday morning we said goodbye to old volunteers leaving, and every friday new volunteers arrived. The in and out of people all the time gives this place a vibrant atmosphere, where friendships are built, some strong and for life, and others are easily forgotten.
Being at Harnas is fun, interesting, hard work and a very social experience. So many people from around the world, so many different ages and backgrounds, and still we make it work, week after week, because one thing we do have in common is love for animals. My heart went mostly to a 5 month old cheetah called Athina. I am pretty sure that she owns the heart of nearly everyone that crosses her path. Hopefully one day she will be set free hunting for herself and live a real cheetah life, where she belongs. I did try to steal her when I left but she wouldn’t sit still in my bag… I am sure my dog would have loved the extra company back home!
Athina
Feeling the claws of a baby leopard digging through your skin, digging in to a bucket full of intestines to feed the wild dogs, sleeping under the stars with a purring cheetah on top of you, or even finding a poisonous snake in the toilet, are all adventures that are guaranteed in the Harnas experience. It gives you a feeling of being alive.
I have been shred to pieces by thorns walking in the bush searching for or ‘Pride’, a cheetah who was brought up by humans, got her second chance in life, where she is now living free and hunts for herself.
Leopard hug
I have been peed on pooped on, bit, scratched and hissed at, and I loved every second of it!
Cutting meat and veggies, occasionally our fingers, cleaning enclosures, feeding baby leopards with bottles, sleeping under the stars with baby leopards and cheetahs, walking with baboons, sitting with group of sleepy purring cheetahs, snakes in the toilets, waking up to lion roars every morning, being up close in an enclosure with to 19 cheetahs, getting a ride in a gyrocopter (look it up), bonfires and storytelling at night, giant bugs flying around and jackals howling in the dark, one thing is for sure, Harnas was never boring and I had a very hard time leaving that place!
Very interesting to see and we went to a school where all the kids sang songs to me and my heart just melted! These kids don’t have much going for them, and still they are happy, joyful, and extremely loving. I wonder if any school or kindergarten that we have in our part of the world could get their kids to sing like this..
All I know is that I feel fortunate to be able to do what I do, and I am living my dream!
