Écrire un dialogue sur le volontariat à l'étranger (anglais)

WILDLIFE CONSERVATION CENTER

At the wildlife conservation center we experienced amazing encounters with Africa’s famous animals. It was very interesting…

Before takig this year off, we were very apprehensive because we didn’t want to be seperated from our families for 6 months.

However, after a long time thinking about it, we decided to take a gap year before going to university :

Firstly, we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to discover a new country.

Secondly, we wanted to experience a new culture and most importantly, we would like to get more ideas on our futur plans.

So we researched a volounteer programm and we found one that really stood out for us : volounteering at a wildlife conservation center in South Africa.

After a 10 hour flight, we arrived in Zululand and all the members of the center welcomed us off the plane ; they were so welcoming !!!

When we landed, so many thoughts came into our heads : it was such a lovely, lively place, the number of people was outstanding, but it was nothing compared to the number of mosquitos !!!

Then we were picked up together with the other volounteers and we were divided into groups. Our group had people from all over the world like Japan, Mexico, Australia…

The driver took us to our communal lodge and we got ready to start working…

So let us talk about what we did during our 6 months of volounteering :

• Firstly we went through weeks of training. We had to learn all about the different endangered speces in the conservation center and how to llok after them all.
• Then we were taken on a safari to encounter all the animals. We saw Black Rhinos, Painted dogs, vultures… But for me, the prettiest were the Lions !!

- I disagree the best animal was defenitley the cheetas.

 After that incredible visit, we began to do some proper work.

• We made sure that all the animals were fed and hydrated
• We helped install state of the art anti-poaching measures in the fiels
• Plus,, we saved a lot of indangered species who were injured, ill or giving birth.

I must admit, it was very hard to adapt to the south african lifestyle : the intense heat, the houses made of straw, the outside toilets…

However, we adjusted after a while, it felt like our second home and our group made everything so much better.

-By the way, you haven’t mentioned all the other exciting things we did :

• Under the guidance of the wildlife monitors, we helped set up camera traps to detect the presence of nocturnal animals such as the leopards.
• We put trackers on various animals to monitor their location
• And finally, we actually observed animal behaviour whilst driving in a Jeep

that was what we did during our year off volounteering

I haven’t asked you, what was your favourite part of this gap year ?

-In my opinion, the best thing that happened was that I was able to learn a few langages like manda, africans, tsonga… And you, what was the highlight of our enriching trip ?

-I loved being in contact with all the different animals and helping to chage the world.

This year off has changed our lives and gave us a lot of good things to remember. We think that taking a gap year is a  wonderful life experience for young people for instance students, before starting university. It makes it possible to open your mind to the world. Plus it enables you to meet a lot of new people and discover new traditions. Finally it can boost our job prospects for when we graduate.

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