Media Centre for Wildlife Research Expedition in South Africa

Tess Hill - January 2008

What an amazing experience this has been! Each day here at GVI base is a gift, although the base is rustic and has no electricity or hot water. I found that didn’t matter. The game drives are the primary focus of each day, some days are more fruitful than others but in time the rewards are huge with animal sightings. So far I have over 1600 photos to sort through when I get home. A few of my favourite encounters include a visual of Zero, the male lion, with his zebra kill. Him and the kill were lying side by side facing opposite directions, the zebra head was still in tact so it looked as though they were napping together! I went weeks seeing only hippo eyes and noses sticking out of the water and then one evening we spotted a hippo making her way into the water and grunting at another hippo to keep it away from the baby. Also saw a herd of elephants playing together in a huge mud bath. So many memories, so little paper! Community days are incredible! It’s very gratifying to spend time with the local school children. One day we taught them computer skills and although they don’t speak English they learned their tasks and loved doing it. On our second community outing we had a number of activities for the children to participate in. Mine was a spoon and marble race. The kids were so excited and had a blast. One group, team name hippos, completely surrounded me giving me hugs from all sides, one girl even tickled me. I will cherish that memory for a lifetime. I am so thankful I had the opportunity to participate in this wonderful adventure. GVI is a phenomenal organisation.