I chose the African Wildlife Orphanage project because I was interested in doing something to help animals and the idea of volunteering in Zimbabwe was exciting. I did not expect to have so much opportunity to personally interact with the animals and it was fantastic!
The staff at the orphanage made an effort to give all the volunteers a chance to do a variety of the activities that were necessary to help care for the animals. Sometimes those needs include giving medical care to animals who are sick or injured. We were there long enough to actually establish some relationship with a couple of the animals who actually recognized us when we would come to their cage.
The part I didn’t expect was the awesome friendships we made with other volunteers from all over the world. Every night we would sit around the campfire and play games from our home countries or tell stories. It was truly outstanding and I would do this trip again in a heartbeat!
