Volunteering with wildlife is not for the weak, in South Africa at least. It was a 15,000 acre sanctuary still being converted from farmland. This meant cleaning garbage, pulling out fences, all of the not so glamourous work to ensure the land was safe for animals.
It was positioned in the mountains literally above the clouds and was a gorgeous place to spend time. Air was thin and the nights were freezing cold.
There was a group of us from different parts of the world and we would laugh and joke as we did the shitty work. At night we sat around a large firepit to keep warm and listened to the night noises of the animals. There was no fence between us and them.
On the Way Out
The owner (US) of the sanctuary was terrifying, and didn’t seem to care about the safety of volunteers, and at the end of my five weeks, the husband (who was decent) dropped me at the town centre. At the bus stop where I would catch transport back to Joburg for my flight home in three days. And drove off.
I felt so alone sitting there. I waited. And waited. No mobile phone with me. And waited. And waited for two hours. Something was wrong. There was a group of folks, locals sitting on the other side of the open area.
The group looked like a family, some adults and kids I assumed they were waiting for a bus like me. They kept glancing my way and eventually wandered over and one of the women asked if I was waiting for the bus.
A Two Week Strike
I replied yes, but it’s hours late. She nodded her head and told me that the busses were on strike and not coming. I asked for how long, she replied for two weeks.
My mind blew, I was in rural South Africa five hours north of Joburg and I needed to travel so that I didn’t miss my flight to Australia. I had no idea what to do, I kept telling myself not to panic. The people I had been volunteering left straight after they dropped me there and were miles away.
The group were stranded too and looked as lost as me. They were locals and they had no suggestions on what I should do. I remembered the charter van who had driven me to the area when I arrived. The driver D was friendly, it was a long shot but I had his number and I decided to call him.
The woman lent me a mobile phone and I called D, he was doing a pick up from the bus station where I stood in two days, it was expensive but I had the cash on me so I booked a seat. The others there couldn’t afford his rates, so I hung up and returned the phone. I thanked them for their help and they left. They had been kinder than they realised that day, to a stranger in a shitty situation. I was so thankful.
Now, where was I going to stay in the meantime?
Logistical Hijinx
The first issue was money. I went to the bank to access cash for accommodation and found my account was frozen, when I arrived home I discovered that someone had tried to clean it out and stolen thousands, but at the time all I had with me was what I could use to get home. I had some money on me, my accommodation and transport in Joburg was paid for, so I had to be careful to stretch out what I had until I could sort it out when I arrived home.
Now remember, I didn’t have a mobile phone with me. I found a public phone box, vandalised, then another, same thing. What to do, I wracked my brain. I could see the Honda dealership we had visited just days before. I went there and I begged them to let me use the phone to call my previous hosts.
They were super kind too. I contacted the hosts at the sanctuary explaining the situation, hoping they would help me. But no, they didn’t want to help, not much.
Those hosts wouldn’t pick me up and take me back to the sanctuary for two days, they flat out refused. However they did call the Airbnb that I stayed at the first night there to come and pick me up, that was it, no care that I was stranded. The Airbnb couple did pick me up did pick me up, but they had no room for me but didn’t want to leave me stuck. There was an event in town and everything, everywhere was booked out.
They felt sorry for me they were an older couple and offered to clean out a storeroom for me to sleep in for the two nights, that was all they could do. I said yes. Anything to keep me off the streets. A client cancelled at the last minute, so I was eventually moved to his room, but at that point I would have slept anywhere as long as it was safe.
Meals were included in the room rate so I could make my meagre money stretch for the time I had left in the country.
Meeting My Ride
I was abandoned by the people at the sanctuary but luckily the airbnb owners looked after me. When I met the van two days later and told him my story, he said I could have stayed with him as well. You meet kindness when you most need it
We made it to Joburg and I had a night at my booked hotel before flying out and it was a beautiful place, the most relaxed I had been for over a month. It was a tough five weeks, and interesting, funny, terrifying, and ultimately rewarding.
My Grandma died a week after I arrived home.
pEace oUt