Heather McPhail

 

Our guest speaker today is Heather McPhail. Heather is involved in Interact, she is a former Youth Exchange Student and highly involved in volunteering. She was awarded the prestigious Paul Harris Award in November 2013.

 

Last year, Heather decided to take time off and did some wildlife humanitarian work for three weeks. She went to Africa and the desire to do so started at a Rotary meeting. She left in November, did a three- week world-win safari and went to South Africa. Her first stop was in Victoria Falls, Zambia where she experienced Devils Pool. During the drier months of the year, the Zambezi River drops quite substantially, and from mid August to mid January it is possible to walk along the lip of the falls. This can only be done from the Zambian side. If you ever decide to visit Victoria Falls, always go in the dry season.

 

Heather did a safari to three National Parks: Chope National Park, Okavango Delta Park and Kalahari National Park. For the entire trip, the temperature was 40 degrees Celsius. She then moved on to Botswana and commented on the indigenous people. There are 100,000 Bushmen in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Angola. They are the indigenous people of southern Africa and they have lived there for tens of thousands of years. Like everywhere, the indigenous people are mistreated.

 

Namibia has the tallest dunes in the world. She did some hiking in Cape Town, South Africa, which is absolutely beautiful. In KwaZulu Natal Heather experienced real wildlife. In South Africa she went to a private reserve where all the animals are fenced in. The Wildlife Act provides free services of tracking the animals. Collars with GPS go on most of the animals.

 

As a volunteer, Heather had to get up at 3:30 a.m. to go out and monitor the animals. Being able to find the animals and sit with them was so much more exciting than just taking pictures. As a volunteer, Heather had to count the elephants that can completely immerse themselves under water. During her time there, 26 dogs escaped, they had to be sedated and brought back into the park. It was wonderful to be outside, in the rain, the sunshine and to be under the stars at night, great experience!

 

In March, Heather will be volunteering in Mexico with an Interact group.