I am back in Namibia! If Africa is my favourite continent, then Namibia must be one of my favourite countries. I am relieved to land at 
Windhoek airport and see Clive waiting for me on arrival.
Clive and his wife Roma have set up People and Wildlife Solutions (P.A.W.S), the organisation I have come to volunteer with.
The camp I will be staying at is about a 3 hour drive from Windhoek. We pick up some of the other volunteers who have also flown in on Saturday and set off on our journey.
I am really excited to see the wide open spaces of Namibia. It reminds me of the Outback and the Centre of Australia. With about 2 people per square metre it has one of the lowest population densities in Africa. Its landscape varies from rugged coastline, stunning sand dunes & deserts to dramatic canyons. Cities such as Swakopmund cater to tourists offering everything from sky diving to sand boarding. But I have come here to get away from it all and enjoy what Africa does best. Wildlife!
It is spring time in Namibia and the buds of the acacias and other bushes are just starting to bloom. In a few weeks, this 
country will be awash with colour and I can’t wait to see the change.
We stop for supplies and snacks on the way and finally arrive at our campsite.
PAWS has set up camp in the Okonjima Reserve. As it is not 
the busiest time of the year, I get my own tent. It is quite spacious and I am really looking forward to spending some time under the stars and enjoying the solitude of life in the bush. Perhaps, on this my year off, I may finally find some time to chill!
Clive gives us a quick introduction to the campsite. The toilets are quite rustic and completely open to the great outdoors. There is really no one out there except perhaps a curious oryx and a few noisy birds! After a few nervous giggles we adjust to life in the bush and the open air toilets.
There are seven of us volunteers and we are all female! Claudia who hales from Germany has already been here for a number of weeks but the rest of us are newbies. Sarah, a zoology grad is originally Scottish but now resides in England. Alice is also a zoology student and together with Pam & Nicola makes up the contingent from England. Liz who is currently studying conservation is also from Scotland and Katrina an occupational therapist hales from Ireland. I am the sole Aussie for the moment. Many of the volunteers are here for a couple of weeks but Alice and I will stay on for 4 weeks
We have a common area where we cook our food and hangout. At night we light the fire and cook on the open fireplace. Just beyond the fireplace is a water hole which is flood lit at night. We are often kept entertained by dik dik, kudu, oryx, porcupine and baboons, all of who visit this waterhole for a drink!
We all take turns to cook 
for the entire camp, including Rion part of Clive’s African staff with whom we will work closely.
I lie in my tent on my first night excited to be finally here in the largest wild cat reserve in the world. I listen to the sounds of Africa, wondering if one of the resident leopards in this enclosure is prowling around. I can’t fall asleep. The sounds of the bush hint at an exciting month ahead and I lie awake for ages.
On Sunday we start our orientation and Clive informs us about the program ahead. In the morning, we will be doing a variety of work from bush chopping, alien plant control, fence rolling (more on this later) and picking up cheetah poo! Our day will start early. We need to report for brekkie at 6.30 unless we are on duty when we report for work at 6 to organise breakfast for the camp! Our working day ends by noon, when we come back to camp for lunch and a siesta or a break from the hot Namibian sun. In the evening we are rewarded for our mornings work by going on game drives that include cheetah and leopard tracking.
As part of our orientation, Clive takes us for a drive on Sunday morning and introduces us to the problems this reserve has to cope with. Over grazing by European farmers has decimated the land and resulted in poor soil which has caused the proliferation of weeds such as Sickle Bush and Black Thorn Acacia.
The reserve is home to a number of cheetahs and leopards who go through the welfare and rehabilitation process in separate enclosures and reserves. Those that have not been brought here from captivity and can be self sustaining in the wild will be released to a large reserve eventually. The reserves are also home to a variety of other game and on our morning drive we see a huge number of animals including kudu, oryx, giraffe, eland, and dik dik.
In the future, a number of species that are currently 
not found here will be introduced including rhino, ostrich and springbok.
The cats are radio collared so they can be monitored and their welfare and progress tracked. This work is done by the AfriCat Foundation which was setup by the owners of the Okonjima Reserve. Some of the cheetahs and the leopards that arrive here have been in captivity elsewhere and they are unfortunately not suitable for release into the wild.
Cheetahs that have been orphaned at an early age and been removed from the wild have not learnt the life skills of hunting required for surviving in the wild. The welfare program that is run here enables them to be released into a reserve and monitored to ensure they are able to hunt and be self sufficient before they are finally released. The cheetah program has been very successful so far with only a few cats that have required supplementary feeding.
In the afternoon, our orientation continues with a a bit of leopard tracking. 
Despite their radio controlled collars, finding these cats is still very hard.
We are really fortunate. On our very first day of leopard tracking, we manage to find TJ, one of the older leopards with a colourful past. We hear him in the bush and see him through the grass but he doesn’t really come out of the bush into full view.
He appears to have a kill and is busy eating. We can 
hear him but see him through the grass. As we leave the area we spot a jackal. He sits in the middle of the road and appears to pose for us. The light is fading fast but we manage to get a few pictures. The sun is setting now and it is time to head back. If this is our introduction to Okonjima I can only guess at what might lie in store during my four weeks here.
But we are still in luck and the day is not quite over. Clive stops the car and points in the direction of a tree in the distance. There, lying with his legs dangling down is Shakira, one of the collared leopards that live here! 
The picture is not great, but I am thrilled to have finally seen a leopard in a tree this close! We head back to camp and dinner. What a weekend it’s been. 
All men should strive
to learn before they die
what they are running from, and to, and why.
~James Thurber
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