The kindergarten goes on an adventure
Dear everyone
WOW! Four months have passed since I started my adventure in Namibia and so much has happened. Working here at the Perivoli country school in Okonjima is truly a fantastic life experience.
In my last blog I mentioned that we’ve been working on the topic “African wildlife”, a very interesting topic in deed. In fact we ended up working on this topic longer than expected.
This week we finally got the chance to go on our first game drive with the kindergarten and it was amazing!!
Here is how it went:
We got picked up with the biggest trail van that Okonjima has, which is called “Hakuna Matata” (translated: there are no worries).
After we got on the van we drove all the way down and passed Africats. After a while we stopped to watch some cheetahs (who are orphaned, being cared for and/or being prepared for rehabilitation by the foundation) eating meat behind the fences. The guides explained to us that what they’re eating is donkey meat. They also explained to us that the cheetahs always eat the meat off a mat. The reason why is because if they would drag the meat through the sand before eating it, little rocks would stick to the meat and damage the cheetahs internal bodies and teeth.
After watching them for a while we drove on for a little while until we stopped to look at a big snake track in the sand. Then we entered the cheetah’s enclosure through a big gate. After a while we came to a second gate which had a note:
“Danger! Do not enter! Leopard area!”.
Inside this enclosure we found a little house which we entered. Inside there were chairs lined up behind a big window with a view on the bush. We sat down and out came a leopard named Liuah. This was super exciting as some of the children had only seen the sleeping leopard in Africats headquarter.
After watching Liuah for a long while we left again to have some bread, fruit and juice on Hakuna Matata. Then we carried on driving through Okonjima for a while and found other animals like Oryx, Springbok, Kudu and warthogs in their natural habitat.
When dropped off back at school the guides were very impressed by how the kindergarten children were quiet and interested for the entire trip and they would love to take the children out again. The children also had a lot of fun and can’t stop talking about this experience. We cannot wait for our next outing!
It is so important to show and teach the children about the wildlife which surrounds us here. They are indeed fascinated by this world and show a constant will to learn more about their natural environment and the animals we live with here.
It was a truly beautiful experience and we are looking forward to our next game drive.
Also in my last blog, I mentioned that we’ve found a way to use the donation money but the project is not finished yet. Hopefully there will be an update to share in my next blog!