Anna's exciting week at her placement and on the Garden Route

My internship at Edith Stephens Cape Nature Reserve has been amazing.  During the first week, I created a Facebook page (go like it at “Joseph Pedro Foundation and Edith Stephens Nature Reserve Partnership”) and began to outline a workshop for women.  I’m so excited for the workshop I’m planning.  I’m creating two separate workshops – one for the mothers and one for their children – that will occur at the same time, and then at the end, they will come together to plant a garden of fruits, vegetables, and herbs at the reserve.  My goal is to educate the mothers on healthy eating and how to grow their own fruits, vegetables, and herbs.  With this knowledge, they can cook healthy meals for themselves and their children and even have small gardens at their homes.  For the children, I want to teach them about different types of fruits and vegetables through easy recipes and art projects.  If they recognize the food, they will be more likely to eat it.

This past weekend we all went on the Garden Route.  My favorite part was the safari.  I love animals, so it was exciting to see them up close in their natural habitat.  We saw giraffes, zebras, elephants, lions, buffalo, rhinoceroses, just to name a few!  I learned that rhinos have no natural predators – not even lions – and they have poor eyesight, so they spend their days roaming around and eating the grass in front of them.  Sounds like a nice life.

Something that really surprised me was how many large animals eat a completely plant-based diet.  Anyone who believes humans can’t gain muscle or be strong on a vegan diet should learn about rhinos, giraffes, buffalo, zebra, and elephants!