The Great Primate Handshake – Volunteer in Africa, working to conserve monkeys and apes through film and educational content production

Having completed our first week creating content for Chimp Eden in Nelspruit and working on the Handshake site, we took a well-deserved weekend off. Leaving our campsite in the hills at 6 AM on Thursday, we headed for Kruger National Park. We entered the park via Crocodile Bridge gate at roughly 8 in the morning for some serious Safari.

No more than five minutes drive in to the park and the wildlife began to appear. A small group of Giraffe were spotted first, followed by Impala, Zebra, Rhinoceros and Elephant. The height of Nox (our overland truck) happened to be a massive advantage for Safari – giving us a clear panoramic view of the African bush.

At one stage of the morning drive we pulled up for a closer look at the Hippopotamus lakes. Escorted by a park ranger, we made our way to the water. After a number of distant photo opportunities, a disturbed Hippo greeted the group across the lake. The animal paused briefly then darted at the water in our direction. Stricken by panic at the site of the huge beast hurtling towards us, everyone froze until the ranger yelled in broken English, “Get very far away very quickly.” Hastily making our way to the truck, the ranger proceeded to stand his ground and deter the animal by clapping and throwing stones.

After the drama and excitement of the drive, we made our way to the Kruger campsite and set up our tents in preparation for a relaxed evening on site. Most of the volunteers took up the opportunity of a restaurant meal and a cold drink, but some remained vigilant and departed on a three hour guided night drive.

The next day a pre-breakfast drive left at 6 AM that yielded a Leopard sighting. It might have been half a kilometer away, and might have been pretty difficult to see with the naked eye, but it was most definitely a Leopard sighting all the same.

Driving out of the park on our final drive we set off for Tzaneen. Here we will visit and work with both the Vervet Monkey Foundation and C.A.R.E. for the coming week.