A teacher from our school, Mrs.Andrea McDonald told us about her experience of “Living in the bush” in Botswana. She had a passion for wild life and when she went on her first trip to Africa in 1999, she loved it. She wanted a break as a teacher and looked for travelling options with her friends. One of the programs which she came across was the Elephant Outreach Program in Botswana, an NGO which educated locals kids about wild life. She chose to go and was stationed in Maun, a town in Northern Botswana. There were farming communities near the Delta, some of which didn’t like the Elephants because they would come and eat their crops (eg a pumpkin), causing conflicts. Her team and the local kids rode on bush planes to get to the delta, which was a new experience for the kids as they had never rode on a plane.
Three African Elephants “Jabu”, “Thembi” and “Morula” were the ones who were tasked to help the children get used to them and to be understood by them. The three elephants were rescued from elephant shootings which is a government controlled event to manage elephant overpopulation. For the elephant calves, it’s the most traumatising thing to go through, watching their family die by getting shot. The Elephant Outreach Program had the three elephants live in a condition as close as possible to the wild.
Mrs.Andrea spoke about where she stayed, which was a big tent where wild life such as hyenas and owls could come in. There was no wifi so she couldn’t check her phone or watch youtube so she spent her time reading books. Other than her time she spent resting, she also helped with the children (7-12 year olds) from the village, with 7 to 13 children in a group. When asked about her highlights, she replied with how Jabu carried her using his trunk, and the moment where she was riding on the back of an elephant and she saw the beautiful African plane.
She felt rejuvenated and more passionate after the break which taught me that it’s okay to take breaks because you can learn something from going somewhere far away, and experiencing different things and seeing different views.
When asked about how she felt about the Delta, she mentioned how there is currently a devastating drought and a Zimbabwe famine. Climate change is impacting the Delta, and that there is not a lot of attention going that way.