I just spent one of the neatest weeks of my life on a wild animal conservancy in Zimbabwe, about 2 hours outside of the capital city of Harare. It is home to three elephants, black and white rhinos, giraffe, zebra, baboons, wart hogs, a crocodile named Crispin and a lion, 2 cheetahs, antelope, monkeys, and on and on.

I volunteered through an organization called African Impact and stayed with 10 other volunteers in a lovely house on the sanctuary. During the week, we had a mix of activities that started at 6:30am and went until 5pm which included feeding and working with the animals, various projects on the conservancy like fixing fences, removing downed telephone polls, moving hay bales throughout the park, collecting stones for road improvements and chopping and removing small trees on a dam wall.

In the evenings, we enjoyed BBQs, watching the sunset from a rock formation in the middle of the park, wild life trivia games and movies. We were provided 3 delicious home made meals every day, made by staff that live on the conservancy. All of the animal handlers and park employees were incredibly friendly and knowledgable in regard to the animals who live there.

It’s winter in Southern Africa, so it was cold by comparison to the United States. It got as cold as 33 degrees in the morning and up to 70 in the afternoons. The house we stayed in did not have heat, so we sat around the fireplace often after meals and I used a hot water bottle at night to aid with sleeping.

Here are some the animals that we saw and worked with. Several days we met the elephants in the morning and fed them. They are allowed to roam and graze during the day but are kept in a safe space at night to help protect them from poachers.

Each day was a nice mix of work, interacting with the sanctuary animals, and getting to know the other volunteers.

I was lucky enough to spend a milestone birthday here and the volunteers and staff helped me celebrate with singing and a surprise cake at the end of the day!! Thanks to everyone who reached out while I was there, I didn’t have internet access, so I apologize for missing messages.

It was such a special week, I feel so grateful to have gotten here safely, to have had such a friendly and fun volunteer group for the week, and to have met so many incredible animals! If you’re thinking about volunteering at an animal conservancy, I would highly recommend Imire!!

Next stop, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe!