I originally had planned to finish the outstanding posts as soon as possible, but school and other obstacles haven’t allowed me to do so until now. I’m fairly glad I finally was able to write the last two posts as well as this summary.
Namibia was a completely new experience for me, and probably the best I’ve had so far. I finally had the possibility to be close to cheetahs, my favourite animals, talk to people with similar interests and become actively involved. The volunteer experience you get is so much more than just work – you get to know the stories of the people, cheetahs and the CCF, past and present. It’s not comparable to anything. You’d never be able to read or hear enough about it, you just have to experience it. I’m glad I got the chance to do just that, experience cheetahs and help saving them.
If you can, visit them! Whether as volunteers or day visitors, make sure you, too, get involved. Maybe you even want to help the CCF with its difficult task, I’m sure they’ll appreciate your help and I can assure you the money’s used for what they state to use it for.
I’m not sure about my future, but one thing’s certain – I’d like to return sooner or later (hopefully sooner) and help more. The cheetah experience has strengthened my decision to get more involved with conservation and biology, and I certainly will do everything I can in order to assist the wonderful and unique beings cheetahs are.
Thank you, CCF – Laurie, Bruce, Laura, Heike, Anne-Marie, Kate, Matt, Rob, Matti, Fabiano, Liz, you volunteer guys and all the others that helped and are helping the cheetahs survive. Keep it up.