I visited Harare, Zimbabwe for a student recruitment event for the university I work for. When I travel for work I feel that it is important to experience something of the country and city I am in, and it shows respect for the students who I am recruiting to study in Canada.
During my 3 days in Harare, I took advantage of my free afternoon and visited Wild is Life Grand Zimbabwe Wildlife Sanctuary near the airport, which releases the animals back into the wild after they are deemed ready.
I joined a small guided tour, hosted by Angela, of people from all over the world—from entertaining 3 year old boys from the USA to businessmen from Sweden. Angela introduced us to a crazy gang of giraffes that photobombed me while the 3-year old boys were trying to feed them, I played peek-a-boo with a baby giraffe and a grown lion, and had an amazing experience with Moyo, the baby orphaned elephant, as he wrapped his little trunk around my arm and pulled me around. We were up close and personal with roaring lions that shook the ground with their roar, and face-to-face with cheetahs (fortunately they had already been fed so we didn’t look like dinner to them), and were introduced to a pangolin, (an endangered species that reminds me of an aardvark and eats mainly ants).
During our afternoon tea and socializing, a fawn that barely reached my knees begged at our table for crumbs alongside one of the Sanctuary’s pet dogs. I could have stayed there forever, watching the sunset
while sipping wine and listening to the African animals in their own environment within reach of my chair, but my driver arrived just after the beautiful glowing orange sunset. Perfect ending to an amazing experience at Wild is Life Grand Zimbabwe Wildlife Sanctuary! I highly recommend visiting here. Check out my review on TripAdvisor.
