Morgan Taylor & Rob van der Horst ~ Oct – Dec 2016
The past three months with Wildlife ACT in Zululand have been freaking insane. The 3am wake-ups and wrapping up our days by 7.30pm has been tough. Freezing mornings, scorching heat – 7 days a week. But it has been so so worth it. We’ve monitored and tracked some of South Africa’s most threatened species. We’ve been involved in collaring four cheetah for monitoring, a rhino darting for relocation, two lion darts for relocation, one dog dart for collaring and monitoring, and five wild dog darts for translocation. We’ve spent time with 146 individual African Wild Dogs – over 1/4 of the population in South Africa. It has been an incredible opportunity to be involved in conservation in a greater sense. We have learned so much about wildlife, the threats against them and what we can do to help. We’ve experienced and witnessed first-hand the devastation of poaching and snaring. It has been an incredibly humbling journey for both of us. We’re eternally grateful to our wonderful monitors for everything. South Africa – it’s been real.