The days after....

It's monday we are running around town trying to get passports sorted, we have only 3 weeks to get this done, I go to the South African Embassy and they tell me it will be 6 weeks for a passport but if I get it done in Johannesburg I can have it in 2, they will give me an emergency travel doc to get there, I book a flight for the next day at noon, I can't take the kids, their passports will take atleast a week, I worry about leaving for a day (and night) but I have to go.

Tuesday morning, Ian comes from the gym, he tells me that a police officer left a message for him there, he recognised him from his passport photo and frequents the gym aswell, they think they have our documents, "God is this you answering my prayers?" Ian gets in the car, he takes Docki that has been working for the Smith family for 20 years with him, the police station is in the outskirts of windhoek and we have been hoaxed like this before, Ian calls me from Docki's phone, our safe was broken open and dumped in a nearby field, someone on their way to work picked up our passports and handed them in on saturday morning already, it was saved from the elements of nature, Ian has gone there and is is searching for more of our documents, he finds a few....my prayers answered and I cancel my flight.

Wednesday....I can't stop crying the reality of the whole situation is really only sinking in now....chin up Danica, chin up, please you have to pull yourself together.

Thursday....some guy on his way from work shouts something at me in traffic, sounds more like a wolf whistle, I try to ignore him as I normally would, turn the music in the car up and just keep smiling but I can't, I want to get out and ask him who he thinks gave him the right to shout and whistle at a stranger, I know I am overreacting, I leave it.

Friday, feeling a bit better today, I spot a pick up in the street opposite our neighbors house, something doesn't sit right, I scribble the number plate down and take a picture...Sherlock Holmes may have competition.

In the afternoon I manage to keep my composure during an interview for African Monarch with a world class journalist, I see Ian is struggling with the anger phase today.

Saturday.... We have a great day at friends, kids are having a blast in the pool, it gets late, I don't want to go home, I'm terrified to relive last weekend and the need not to go home is strong, we decide to stay, 3:30 am we get a phone call, the phone's battery dies, we drive home at around 8am on Sunday, there's security in front of the neighbors house. The burglar bars are cut off, so is the electric fence. I thank God that they weren't home. Here we go again......

And then they broke in.......

So it's last Saturday morning, we wake up at 6am to the cries of our daughter, we're dazed and confused and it kinda feels like a really bad hangover, I'm trying to remember going to bed and I distinctly remember locking the front door, switching on the alarm, taking my jewellery off, removing my make-up, closing our bedroom window and switching on the aircon, my routine, the one I follow every night.

I change Kate's diaper and decide to go to the living room TV with her so that she doesn't wake Alex up and then I scream at Ian.... The TV is gone, the burglar bars are cut off.... Baby someone was in the house!!! My heart is racing, tears are starting to stream down my cheeks... I realise I have Kate in my arms but where is Alex! I run back down the hallway and he's not in his bed, it feels like a wrench is taken to my heart and it won't stop twisting and tugging,  I turn to our room and find him in our bed, utter relief, a sound releases from my lungs, not quite a scream not quite a cry, I was so disorientated when we woke up I wasn't even aware he was next to me, I turn around to find Ian and see the safe is missing, the safe is a mere meter from our bed mounted on the wall.

I hear tires screeching and the gate opening, Ian comes running in the house, in the shock and with my screams he's already been to the CITY Police and back, we have no phones. I fall to my knees and thank God we're alive and that our kids were not taken.

Deon and Dusty is here in what feels like seconds, trying to help, but what to do. We have to sit and take in what just happened the realisation of how violated we feel but also how lucky we are, the fact that we were put to sleep somehow, the bedroom window is wide open. The safe is gone, so is the firearm, our wallets, passports, Id's, drivers licences, clothes, TV, they even took their time and ate the pizza on the kitchen table. Passports.....Oh no our passports! We're flying to AUS in 3 weeks, we have no passports, I pray God please let the police at least find our passports.

Then the realisation hits me that my laptop is gone, I brought it from the office on friday, it was on the dining room table, my work! 5 years of work! My whole project is on that laptop. The day is filled with police officers, crime scene techs and insurance ppl, Jacques and Stefanie arrives, I try to stay strong but difficult in great friend arms, it's late, we go to bed exhausted, we have a guard around the house, every time he passes our bedroom window I wake up in a cold sweat, Ian doesn't sleep.....

My friend the fruitbat....

We've been back in Windhoek for a week now, I've spend most of this week trying to get through my emails...not quite gotten there yet, trying to fill up courses and endless committee meetings....normally by friday afternoon as we settle at home with the kids I start longing for the bush, laptop is closed, meetings only after the weekend again and this is when I start to feel trapped. Being in nature to me is like oxygen, I need it to survive. 

I remember how I silently cried on the tube sometimes in London going to work in the dark in winter and returning home in the dark again, sitting in office lighting all day longing to see a ray of sunshine or the smell of the bush at the break of dawn...and the red African sunset..I would not realise this until a tear drops and lands on my latest James Patterson novel. 

I remember the frustration when a message blared over the speaker system that there is delays on the tube because of a person infront of a train and wondering why they can't jump in mid-day when people don't need to get to work and back and then rebuking myself for such a thought, you just so quickly settle into the rush of city life forgetting what life is really about, and then wondering what drove them to that decision....I now know it is because of the capture in the cubicles at work and the confinements of your home due to the somber weather outside and then I long for the caged animals in the zoo's all over the world...being trapped. Yes, trapped is the feeling until you return to Africa with it's wide open spaces and endless horizens!

I think God knows the thoughts running through my mind and this afternoon send me a little friend.....

I found him outside in the garden and decided to name him Blade (original I know) ...

After carefully moving him to the shade and giving him some water as per Edgar ,our training directors advice, this took some coaxing however he accepted my offer and hopefully he will soon rehidrate and find his way home....

My day is complete....

Back to the city...

We stayed over at N'Kwazi lodge last night in Rundu...what can I say, at least it was clean but that's about it. The staff's response, one in particular, whenever you have a question is "WHAT??", if I spoke to anyone like that growing up my teeth would've surely landed on a pelmet somewhere.

 I've never understood how anyone can work in hospitality if you don't like people! Just before dinner my son noticed there's different animals on the back of the chairs and moved then all slightly so he could see the picture and name the animal, she threw such a tantrum about a couple of dining chairs, an whole hour before dinner and I was going to put them back, he's 3 years old for crying out loud, thank you for making us feel so unwelcome, the warm wine and then your fight amongst each other about your tips for the night that we all had to hear! At least my son knew all the animals, mommy is proud and N'kwazi you will most propably not see us again.

This week has been so exiting "lekker man lekker" but now it is time to go back to reality which is mainly in solitary confinement behind my PC. There's work to be done, if you've been following my blog you'll know that there's some serious fundraising lying ahead aswell.

I'll end with Joyce Meyer's words: "I'm not where I want to be but Thank God I'm not where I used to be, I'm okay and I'm on my way!"

Till next time!

Next stop Australia!

A quick last goodbye

8am

It is so difficult leaving here....Ian asked me last night why I've gone so quiet like I'm concerned about something...I'm not, I just hate having to go back to the city, my heart is here and wants to stay here.

He makes me a deal that we won't rush home tomorrow, we can go to horseshoe bend in Babwata National Park first, this thought gives me enough energy to pack early and get ready for the drive home.

Seeing as we were stuck most of the day before yesterday and could not switch the car off due to the exhaust being submerged it ran for 13 hours on idle. We get in the car and we've got a range of 1km left, we need to go atleast 70km to the closest filling station.

By some miracle we make it to the neighbor 15km away and get some fuel. Babwata here we come!

12pm

It's 38 degrees and I know we won't find much at horseshoe, it's hot and the animals will look for shelter. We find 100's of breeding elephant herds on our way though, all resting in the midday heat....small herds like these are on the left and right of the road scattered for what feels like kilometers...

We arrive at horseshoe, as suspected we do not find anything but just seeing this magnificent spot again is enough, on a good day you can encounter up to 2000 elephants here in the afternoon...

We arrive at a Caprivi roadblock on our way out of the park...

We decided to wait it our until a mom with a very small calf starts making her presence clear and tell us to get out of here. We respond at the 1st display sign and slowly move past...mutual respect is the key to ethical guiding.

We're out of the park and back on the tar road enruite to Rundu, we'll stay over there....

It's 39degrees now....

Zambezi Region...we'll be back soon.

Until next time....

8am

We have breakfast on the deck...

Our last day at Matota, we decide to get the last of the work out of the way. The student rooms look stunning, the team really has done a great job. The staff accomodation needs alot of work still, the team is exited to hear we will fix it up.

1pm

Siesta time! Camp is quiet, there's not much you can do this time of day, it's 40 degrees, the students will also have off between 12 and 3, especially this time of year. Hard to function in this heat.

3pm

The worst of the heat is broken, we decide to quickly go see the new entry channel by boat to the island. The local guys cut this by hand on Makoro's, a makoro is a hand carved cano made from Zambezi Teak, the locals fish from it mostly, the hippo's frequent this channel, you see the paths everywhere, in fact this channel was cut following a hippo path.

The water is dropping so logistically this time of the year will be challenging but we've had so much fun! The water is slightly to high for the vehicles but getting to low for the boat....

This is Dusty on the left, Dusty is our operations guy, he's been operating on this area for I think almost or more than 20 years, we call him Captain Caprivi. He also does all our conservancy meetings and dealings with the local traditional authority, he has certainly earned his respect amongst the local community, I hope one day I will also be called a friend, respect is earned in these communities, not bought or bribed. Values are high and empty promises is taboo, you will soon find yourself infront of the Khuta on promises not kept or disrespect to the community. The Khuta is the trafitional court, it is supported by government. There is alot of procedures to be followed visiting the Kuta, especially as a woman, I will go into this detail on another day.

The traditional wear as a woman is called a shitengi, I have had the privilage of meeting the Chief a few times, I have quite a few shitengi's by now, always one in my suitcase, one in the car and one in my laptop bag just incase I get called to the Khuta for an unexpected meeting, normally just to say hi and check on the progress of the guiding school. If I am going to operate in this area I will do my best not to dissapoint this community.

4:30pm

We take the kids on a boat cruise...Alex is getting skipper lessons from Dusty

Some amazing elephant and hippo sighting..and then the african sunset!

Goodbye Matota...until next time.

And then we got stuck........

It's 8am and we need to get our manager Crispin to the Hilux which is parked on the other side of the floodplain. The cruiser pick-up has left early for a conservancy meeting and all that's here is the 200 series land cruiser, we have our concerns as when we brought the 1.5 ton genset through the plain it has caused some damage to the make-shift channel...but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do...it's 40 degrees and Crispin has to go buy some ice in town...Ian takes Crispin accross.

It's 9am and Ian is not back yet, we decide to go look for him. Concern confirmed. STUCK

For the rest of the day there's not much to say accept stuck, stuck, stuck, we decide to spend the afternoon on the deck and wait for the pick-up to come back....

It's 4pm and the pick-up is back....everyone's exited for a brief 5 minutes and then we have 2 vehicles stuck....

We send the boat to go fetch the "scorro" at the Village, the "scorro" is an old beaten up Land Rover (and a name for "scrap" by the locals but it's a nice run-around for fetching wood etc) and no it will never make it to where the Land Cruisers are but it can bring a high lift jack and sand bags and with some good old man power we'll carry it accross.

It's 6pm, sun is setting, High-lift jack and sand bags later both vehicles are out! 

8pm we're sitting around the fire, T-Bone steak and Edgar our training Director's braai skills, the hippo's are starting to emerge from the water, we switch the genset off to take in our surroundings, we can hear the buffalo cross right behind our camp.

BLISS

Genset day!

Today we need to get the generator set at Matota, we had a nice breakfast at Camp Kwando where we stayed for the night, sorted out some admin whilst we still had WIFI and now off to Matota! 

First things first....tyre pressure in this thick hot sand, it's climbing to the high 30's now!

Generator is offloaded....took some diving with the vehicle!

On arrival at Matota we we're greeted by the friendly group of staff that has been working so hard to get Matota ready

even our beds are ready!

and then......the cry of the fish eagle....this must be the most amazing sound in the world, he must be exited too. The staff is eager to offload the genset, electricity for the 1st time since their start 4 months ago.

It's hot......very hot, close to 40 degrees now.

The sun beetles are humming and the staff tells me the hippo frequent the camp every night, I'm looking forward to these encounters.

Felix one of our trainers has put his free time to some artistic use, this was such a nice surprise!

We are all so ready to get this project off the ground!

Hot exhausted and dirty! What a great day!

Genset day!

Today we need to get the generator set at Matota, we had a nice breakfast at Camp Kwando where we stayed for the night, sorted out some admin whilst we still had WIFI and now off to Matota! 

First things first....tyre pressure in this thick hot sand, it's climbing to the high 30's now!

Generator is offloaded....took some diving with the vehicle!

On arrival at Matota we we're greeted by the friendly group of staff that has been working so hard to get Matota ready

even our beds are ready!

and then......the cry of the fish eagle....this must be the most amazing sound in the world, he must be exited too. The staff is eager to offload the genset, electricity for the 1st time since their start 4 months ago.

It's hot......very hot, close to 40 degrees now.

The sun beetles are humming and the staff tells me the hippo frequent the camp every night, I'm looking forward to these encounters.

Felix one of our trainers has put his free time to some artistic use, this was such a nice surprise!

We are all so ready to get this project off the ground!

Hot exhausted and dirty! What a great day!

Our trip to Matota - Day 2

8am

So this is the start to our day.....first we woke up to our poor boys eyes being swolen from some allergic reaction then this....

We all had a hearty breakfast and ready to get on the road when the game viewer decided to throw us a curveball.

10am 

a New diesel filter and we're on our way again...phew

11am

a waterpipe burst ....cut and re-connect and here we go again. There's quite a few names for the car dealer we bought this vehicle from running through my mind at this stage....I was just told we should see this as "Survival Training" well that's one way to look at it!

Driving 80kmph must be some more survival training, especially for Ian, if you know my husband at all you would know that if he could build a supercharger for more speed into his bicycle he would.

11:23 game viewer has pulled over...burst waterpipe again. I tell you satan is trying HARD today, obviously doesn't have anything better to do with his time.

11:36 stopped again...is the plane over yet? We have another 600km to go today. 

Plan B

Closest town, Rundu! 160km towing at 80kmph and then we'll be free and off to Kongola!

We're laughing now, Ian says he's never seen the signs on the side of the road pass so slowly! 

a Mechanic (good samaritan) in Rundu is helping us, we decided to leave the game viewer here with him and head for Kongola, we still have 4 hours of driving ahead.

16:28

The Hilux is starting to miss fire....seems to just be a sparkplug. Please please don't do this now! Some fiddling in the enjin and serious prayer later we're back on the road. 

We will not give in, we will not give up and we will push through!

16:42

We're almost there...elephant breeding herd crossing the road..this is a delay I do not mind in the least!

18:00

The pure simplicity of the Zambezi Region, this is why we come here, this is why we're starting this project here. They say even as a foreigner when you visit Africa something in your roots gives you a deep unexplained feeling of being home, I know that feeling, the whole day's hassles has been worth every second, we're home. 

In one of my best friends words whom lives for community upliftment and development "Caprivi - The gift that keeps on giving"

Tomorrow we need to get the 1.5 ton Generator Set through the floodplains, looking forward to sharing this with you. The guys and especially Ian can't wait to try and get all the vehicles through the floodplain "hier kom groot sports".

Our trip to Matota...

4:36 am

Our one year old daughter, Kate, is awake as per her internal clock which she definitely gets from her father, our three year old boy, Alex, mommy's boy, is still snug under the duvet reluctant to wake up to this gorgeous African day and take on the journey to the Zambezi Region, this will be a two day drive, oh wait did I forget to mention we're blessed with 2 stunning kids? I tell you packing for kids this age for a trip like this is a complete challenge on it's own, u can pack every sunscreen and mosquito net in the world but it won't stop them from trying to catch a venomous snake or shout at an elephant, we travel with their nanny, Martha, to help with the extra set of eyes especially on trips like this when we go up working. Martha also only speaks to the children in Nama-Damara and I think Alex is now more fluent in this language than our own, the incredible minds of children. 

We are 4 drivers today, taking two vehicles up to stay there and two vehicles needs to bring us all back. The gameviewer we got at a great price but it also came with a great deal of little things that needs sorting. For one it has no power steering and I pulled a muscle trying to drive it home which was only a couple of km's, you have to pump the brakes and it leaks a considerable amount of oil. It's booked in at a mechanic up north the challenge is just to get it there but my parents didn't raise scared children, they tought us that you face a challenge head on, if you fail you learn from it and move forward, this will be our motto the next two days. 

10:30 am

Genset loaded - thank you to Electro Tech Windhoek for the excellent service, they pulled some serious strings to get it here in time for today and even worked in a discount! 

11 am

Here we go!

4:30 pm arrival Bush Baby Lodge Grootfontein 

What a beautiful place! We asked for tented accomodation but due to the difficulties communicating (it's a foreign owned lodge) it seems we were bumped up a notch in accomodation and staying in bungalows on the hill-top...good thing we got that discount on the generator! Phew!

Day one completed, no hick-ups! Kids are relaxing...All went well, tomorrow Zambezi Region! Hope I can capture some wildlife for you on our journey there!

Journey of Faith: This is my story..........

Journey of Faith: This is my story..........: I have always known I should start a blog to document the journey we've been on getting African Monarch Field Guide Training of the grou...

This is my story..........

I have always known I should start a blog to document the journey we've been on getting African Monarch Field Guide Training of the ground, so much has happened in the years building up to the start of this journey and I sincerely hope I will remember it all or at least most of it........

This is my story............in a nutshell

As a child I was always involved in Nature Activities, there was not a single camping trip at school that I did not go on, my love for Nature, Animals and survival skills was prominent from the start, from trying to hatch bird eggs kicked out of nests to saving striped field mice from a building site and releasing them in a nearby field, to chameleons, meerkats and even a black-backed jackal that was rescued from a burrow that farmers was smoking out to get rid of them. Don't get me wrong, these animals were all free, never caged and free to go when they were strong enough as most of them did, except the eggs of course, I was never quite successful in hatching these, however the imaginative hopeful mind of a child didn't stop me from trying...

I completed school in 2000, at this time my dream was to become a nurse, I think this was the answer I gave the day I entered school and was asked "what do you want to be when you grow up" however even though I cannot complain about my childhood the opportunities was limited and I had to get on my feet and get a job. After numerous years in Cape Town working in and later managing a restaurant and night club I decided to follow the masses to London, arrival in London was tough coming from Africa, my first job was via a recruitment agent as an office hand, this was only temporary and the pay was low, I could not afford buying warm clothes and my Mr.Price jacket and gloves had to do, I remember walking home crying that day, I have never been so cold! My next job via this same agency was for the Amazon warehouse, I was a picker and we had a limit of 120 items to be picked for shipping at a time, you don't make this limit you lose your contract, needless to say I was skin and bone and don't think I will ever be as fit again, considering my staple food was 2 minute noodles I had from a teapot as the Motel had no crockery besides the teapot and mug in the room. Then my third and final job in London also via this recruitment agency was for a multi million dollar company in Westminster in the heart of London, I started as a receptionist and worked my way up to finance administration, I stayed with this company for two years and was offered the opportunity to go study accounting but decided to return to South Africa instead, Africa was calling and I was going to answer...

Upon my return to South Africa I started exploring opportunities in Nature Conservation, funds was limited and after all I had to work so staying at a campus and paying for a degree was not an option, I did however find a Nature College with short courses in guiding and decided to try it out. My first day in class I knew, this was it, this was my calling, I soaked up every word, put my heart into it and was so exited I have found a career that was going to be me, working with people and animals - two things I've always wanted to do.

I completed my course and decided to start short walking tours on a guest farm my parents were managing, offer a game potjie (traditional African Stew) and was set on making a life for myself as a guide and nature lover, I even had my 1972 VW Beetle branded with my new company logo, I was so sure of my business getting going until I had guests book in one night whilst I was taking care of the guest farm for my parents whilst they were away. The guests were Harley Davidson riders on their way back from a rally, one of the riders got of his bike, took his helmet off, gave me one look and life changed in a flash.....

This was 27 September 2008, 6 weeks later we got engaged, January 2009 I moved to Namibia to my fiancee, Ian Smith, on the 25th of April 2009 we got married on the very farm we met, walking into the reception to the roar of Harley's and my life was complete and rewritten. 

However being the driven person that I am I was certainly not going to sit at home and do nothing, there was a whole new country to explore, I immediately found a lodge that employed me as a guide however this was in a dangerous game area and I had to complete my rifle training. By Tuesday I started complaining about my neck feeling like it's gone into spasm, by Thursday I was home with Ian, by Monday I had an emergency operation that cost my guiding career, the .458 rifle broke and shifted a vertebrae in my neck and I would never carry again. Later on we discovered this might have been a previous injury, no need for the detail, the fact was my dream as a guide passed and I just started, gutted and disappointed and heartbroken cannot explain what it felt like to see you dream disapear in a matter of days. But hey I've eaten 2 minute noodles from a tea pot ... I was certainly not giving up! 

The new dream.....

If I cannot guide I was going to educate in guiding, lectures I can do, I'll leave the practicals to the big boys that can play with big guns without landing in the ER. The next four years up until today has been four grueling years of market research, endless workshops, networking, meetings, getting a qualification in place for field guides in Namibia (Namibia only had a Tour Guide Qualification - quite different from what your lodge guides does) and lots and lots of prayer. Next up was finding a site for our training, with a business partner with strong connections in the Zambezi Region (previously known as the Caprivi), an abandant lodge, the local Chief and Conservancy's permission we found the perfect spot for our training, Matota Island Lodge, the infrastructure already there it just needs some final touches. Now remember there is limited funds, we are doing all this via my husbands company on loan accounts and trust me setting up a school like this is not cheap....needless to say, we need funds...and lots of it... 

So this is where we are right now. We have an amazing site, by the Grace of God we have had enough funds to complete it, buy 2 vehicles and a boat and every time we think we have run out of funds we get a breakthrough, from sponsorship from the British High Commission for our trainer training to good financial months in our existing company that enabled African Monarch to push forward and survive another month. We are now at the stage where we started advertising courses, however training is not cheap and even though the requests are flooding in it seems our next challenge is to find bursaries for our students. In and across most of Africa members of the local rural communities have incredible knowledge of the fauna & flora in their areas all they need is training in how to deal with the public, carry forward their knowledge and the working environment of a guide and this will enable them to find employment in an area they know so well, living and working in nature, I also strongly believe that we can reduce human animal conflict via our training, education is the key.

Tomorrow is another day, we are taking the vehicles up to our site, this is an exiting event, renovations has been going on for 3 months and I cannot wait to see Matota, I will blog as we go and take lots of pictures.... so if you want to follow the African Monarch Journey, well, watch this space!

This is my story..........

I have always known I should start a blog to document the journey we've been on getting African Monarch Field Guide Training of the ground, so much has happened in the years building up to the start of this journey and I sincerely hope I will remember it all or at least most of it........

This is my story............in a nutshell

As a child I was always involved in Nature Activities, there was not a single camping trip at school that I did not go on, my love for Nature, Animals and survival skills was prominent from the start, from trying to hatch bird eggs kicked out of nests to saving striped field mice from a building site and releasing them in a nearby field, to chameleons, meerkats and even a black-backed jackal that was rescued from a burrow that farmers was smoking out to get rid of them. Don't get me wrong, these animals were all free, never caged and free to go when they were strong enough as most of them did, except the eggs of course, I was never quite successful in hatching these, however the imaginative hopeful mind of a child didn't stop me from trying...

I completed school in 2000, at this time my dream was to become a nurse, I think this was the answer I gave the day I entered school and was asked "what do you want to be when you grow up" however even though I cannot complain about my childhood the opportunities was limited and I had to get on my feet and get a job. After numerous years in Cape Town working in and later managing a restaurant and night club I decided to follow the masses to London, arrival in London was tough coming from Africa, my first job was via a recruitment agent as an office hand, this was only temporary and the pay was low, I could not afford buying warm clothes and my Mr.Price jacket and gloves had to do, I remember walking home crying that day, I have never been so cold! My next job via this same agency was for the Amazon warehouse, I was a picker and we had a limit of 120 items to be picked for shipping at a time, you don't make this limit you lose your contract, needless to say I was skin and bone and don't think I will ever be as fit again, considering my staple food was 2 minute noodles I had from a teapot as the Motel had no crockery besides the teapot and mug in the room. Then my third and final job in London also via this recruitment agency was for a multi million dollar company in Westminster in the heart of London, I started as a receptionist and worked my way up to finance administration, I stayed with this company for two years and was offered the opportunity to go study accounting but decided to return to South Africa instead, Africa was calling and I was going to answer...

Upon my return to South Africa I started exploring opportunities in Nature Conservation, funds was limited and after all I had to work so staying at a campus and paying for a degree was not an option, I did however find a Nature College with short courses in guiding and decided to try it out. My first day in class I knew, this was it, this was my calling, I soaked up every word, put my heart into it and was so exited I have found a career that was going to be me, working with people and animals - two things I've always wanted to do.

I completed my course and decided to start short walking tours on a guest farm my parents were managing, offer a game potjie (traditional African Stew) and was set on making a life for myself as a guide and nature lover, I even had my 1972 VW Beetle branded with my new company logo, I was so sure of my business getting going until I had guests book in one night whilst I was taking care of the guest farm for my parents whilst they were away. The guests were Harley Davidson riders on their way back from a rally, one of the riders got of his bike, took his helmet off, gave me one look and life changed in a flash.....

This was 27 September 2008, 6 weeks later we got engaged, January 2009 I moved to Namibia to my fiancee, Ian Smith, on the 25th of April 2009 we got married on the very farm we met, walking into the reception to the roar of Harley's and my life was complete and rewritten. 

However being the driven person that I am I was certainly not going to sit at home and do nothing, there was a whole new country to explore, I immediately found a lodge that employed me as a guide however this was in a dangerous game area and I had to complete my rifle training. By Tuesday I started complaining about my neck feeling like it's gone into spasm, by Thursday I was home with Ian, by Monday I had an emergency operation that cost my guiding career, the .458 rifle broke and shifted a vertebrae in my neck and I would never carry again. Later on we discovered this might have been a previous injury, no need for the detail, the fact was my dream as a guide passed and I just started, gutted and disappointed and heartbroken cannot explain what it felt like to see you dream disapear in a matter of days. But hey I've eaten 2 minute noodles from a tea pot ... I was certainly not giving up! 

The new dream.....

If I cannot guide I was going to educate in guiding, lectures I can do, I'll leave the practicals to the big boys that can play with big guns without landing in the ER. The next four years up until today has been four grueling years of market research, endless workshops, networking, meetings, getting a qualification in place for field guides in Namibia (Namibia only had a Tour Guide Qualification - quite different from what your lodge guides does) and lots and lots of prayer. Next up was finding a site for our training, with a business partner with strong connections in the Zambezi Region (previously known as the Caprivi), an abandant lodge, the local Chief and Conservancy's permission we found the perfect spot for our training, Matota Island Lodge, the infrastructure already there it just needs some final touches. Now remember there is limited funds, we are doing all this via my husbands company on loan accounts and trust me setting up a school like this is not cheap....needless to say, we need funds...and lots of it... 

So this is where we are right now. We have an amazing site, by the Grace of God we have had enough funds to complete it, buy 2 vehicles and a boat and every time we think we have run out of funds we get a breakthrough, from sponsorship from the British High Commission for our trainer training to good financial months in our existing company that enabled African Monarch to push forward and survive another month. We are now at the stage where we started advertising courses, however training is not cheap and even though the requests are flooding in it seems our next challenge is to find bursaries for our students. In and across most of Africa members of the local rural communities have incredible knowledge of the fauna & flora in their areas all they need is training in how to deal with the public, carry forward their knowledge and the working environment of a guide and this will enable them to find employment in an area they know so well, living and working in nature, I also strongly believe that we can reduce human animal conflict via our training, education is the key.

Tomorrow is another day, we are taking the vehicles up to our site, this is an exiting event, renovations has been going on for 3 months and I cannot wait to see Matota, I will blog as we go and take lots of pictures.... so if you want to follow the African Monarch Journey, well, watch this space!