The Floods of 2012

There's always some new adventure happening at Daktari. This past week, we've been dealing with the aftermath of huge flooding all around our area. The nearest town, Hoedspruit, was declared a state of emergency as people were airlifted off their flooded houses and all roads in and out of town were blocked. Some parts of the area had over 600mm of rain in less than two days. Here at Daktari we were lucky enough not to experience too much damage. However our dam burst, turning our main road in and out of camp into a rushing river. We were stuck in camp for about three days before we towed our bakkie (pick-up truck) across and parked it on the other side. Now whenever we want to come in and out of camp we have to take off our shoes, walk across the muddy river, and then get in the car. It's bush life, for real.

Here are the kids' dorms with all the rain puddling around:

This is a picture of what used to be our dam. Before, we would take our dogs on a walk each morning over the top of the dam, connecting to the sheer rock face shown ahead. It was possible to walk in a straight line - not so much anymore.


Of course when big things happen it changes around my program a bit, and I have to think on my toes. The day the dam burst was Wednesday, which is the day we take the kids next door to Makalali so they can meet the staff and learn more about job opportunities. Obviously we were stuck in camp (and so was Makalali, for that matter) so taking the kids there wasn't an option. We had a whole morning to fill and nothing in the program to fill it with. So I decided that the kids shouldn't miss out on their scheduled job opportunities lesson, OR their scheduled game drive.

The volunteers were champs, they each picked a job, dressed up appropriately, and answered the kids' questions about what it's like to do their job. Then Destry, who played the part of "ranger" took the kids on a pretend indoor game drive. The other volunteers held up pictures of animals, and the kids stopped to take pictures and learn more about them. The kids really enjoyed themselves, and I think the volunteers did too!

If anyone ever asks me again at a job interview if I am capable of thinking under pressure and/or being flexible... I think I will have a lot of these experiences to call upon.