Written by Cath Jakins
Published on 11 July, 2019

It is my opinion that there are very few genuine “once-in-a-lifetime” experiences left in this world. With technology advancing so rapidly, life is becoming progressively more connected and less authentic. Two weekends ago, however, I had the opportunity to experience something rarely experienced by members of the public: endangered species monitoring in the wild.

At the YouthForLions LIVE WILD Workshop, which took place in March of this year, a group of 8 high school and university students from KwaZulu-Natal won themselves a 2-day trip to Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife’s iconic Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park to track and monitor wild lions with Wildlife ACT, a leading conservation and wildlife monitoring NGO. My YouthForLions colleagues and I were lucky enough to join in on the experience as chaperones for the students.