Once when working in Zimbabwe some colleagues and myself were driving home from a long day's work and just as the sun was beginning to set we spotted an interesting scenario. A sable calf had gotten stuck well above the neck in a quicksand-like mud pool, while the mother and rest of the herd stood helplessly aside as the calf struggled to free itself.
Myself and another decided to intervene and see if we could help. After more than two hours of struggling; one of us would hold the antelope's horns so we weren't impaled, and the other would dig at the mud; we were able to move the calf out of the mud and onto sturdy ground. As the calf stood on his shaking legs in the night and the others watched from nearby, the calf turned and looked down at us (we were now up to our chests in the mud and stuck ourselves) and bobbed his head at us in a way that resembled nodding.
I will never know what was passing through his mind but I can imagine that this simple "nod" was his way of thanking us. He then shakily ran towards his mother who began licking furiously at the mud as the herd wandered off. We were then left for another two hours in the cold while we eradicated ourselves from the same trap.
This was an important event for me because you cannot save every animal, that is impossible, but you can make a difference in the lives of some and in this instance we made a difference.
Since founding Nkonzo Bush Academy I realized the need in today's society for an ethical company to encourage and guide the next generation of conservationists.
So many people want to help, want to make a difference, want to do something but they have no idea where to begin or who to trust.
I also realized that there is a massive void in the volunteer industry that focuses on the ethical standpoint of what they are doing. I tried to fill that void with Nkonzo as an initiative that focuses on the future of wildlife and conservation and making a difference in the environment while protecting and not hindering the animal's natural lives and behaviors.
