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My name is Lisa, I am 21 years old and study Zoology in Vienna, Austria. Because of the fact that Austrian students are 3 months off University for the summer, I decided to spend some of this time abroad and chose South Africa. Not really knowing what I have to expect I started my journey on the 7th of July and after 32 hours of travelling I finally reached my new home for the next 2 months: East London. There the Rathbone Family and their 4 dogs put me up warmly and I felt welcomed from the beginning on.
On my first day Kiki showed me the whole resort and I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the landscape. I really fell in love with the wildlife, animals I only knew from TV or zoos. I also met the famous Abby, the tame giraffe of Areena, who welcomed me with a slobbery kiss.
Another outstanding thing for me is the friendliness of the South Africans.
So what am I doing as a Volunteer at Areena Riverside Resort? One task I took to my heart is the touch farm with the goats, ducks, emus, chicken and turkeys. I feed them every day in the morning and therefore I got the nickname “goat-mommy”. Everytime the goats escape, I can hear somebody calling my name and with a bucket of mealies the whole herd of 7 goats follows me back to the enclosure. I feel like Konrad Lorenz when the group of goose in the enclosure follows every step that I take, looking at me with big eyes and begging for food.
I also help the lovely ladies in the office, where, besides doing the work of course, we have lots of fun and my coffee-consumption increased rapidly.
Another part is the Adventure Village, where I help cleaning boats, making the Riverside Patrol and am able to take part in the Quadbike Trips. It is so beautiful to paddle down the river and enjoy the beauty and peace of the surrounding area.
As I study Zoology I enjoy helping Kiki with the game reserve. We check the fences while riding the horses, check if the animals are doing well and count the animal population.   
I also wanted to help Kiki with hunting, but my first hunting experience in SA was not the best. As we shot a Wildebeest and had to disembowel the stomach, I suddenly felt a bit sick and the next thing I remember was lying on the ground with about 5 pairs of eyes staring at me.  I fainted and was unconscious for about 10 seconds. Now everybody thinks that is how Austrians hunt: taking a nap while hunting. So I decided to better not take part in the hunting trips anymore.
Last Wednesday our morning started with an Ostrich-chase through the whole pet farm. We loaded 5 young Ostriches in the Horse Box and drove to their new home, the Lion Park. Unloading the Ostriches, we got a conducted tour through the whole park where they have cheetahs, tigers, wild dogs and white lions. When we came to one of the enclosures with a lion inside, Mark, the owner, said to Kiki and me that we should come inside. After one moment of hesitation we went into the enclosure and played with the 1 ½ year old “Lion Baby” and his best friend, a dachshund.
Another outstanding event was the visit of 2 men from SABC2. They wanted to make a clip of Abby and report about his story in the SABC2 News. It took us about one hour to find him, driving through the whole resort. But in the end he was standing in front of the entrance, waiting for his big performance and now Abby (and Kiki) is a TV-Star and popular in all of South Africa
Beside the work I also have time to see parts of South Africa. One weekend we went to Jeffreys Bay to watch the BillabongPro surf contest, which was also a new experience for me, as we don’t have a sea in Austria and therefore no surfing.
Summarizing I can say that I really enjoy my time here and be thankful that I am able to be here in South Africa. I’m looking forward to my second month at Areena Riverside Resort with lots of  new adventures.

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I'm sure many of you have been wondering what happened to your April issue of SkinnAreena! I hope you enjoy the new format of our monthly newsletter - please feel free to comment - on our website, on our Facebook profile (Areena Wild Coast - check it out and become a friend!), or via email - we'd love to hear from you!

 

Please keep checking our website - we have all sorts of exciting specials lined up for the June and July holidays! We are also planning a bunch of fun-packed days for kids in grade 6 & 7 in our 5-day Adventure Bush Camps!

For those of you living in the host cities for the Fifa World Cup, we want to remind you that there is a little patch of paradise to escape to - get away from the hustle, bustle and traffic, have a warmer winter, right here at Areena!

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Cheers Robert! The Areena staff and friends said goodbye to Robert-Pik McLaren this month. We wish him all the best with his new life path. We are going to miss you, Pik, our octopus wrangler. On a welcoming note, we'd like to say a friendly 'hello' to Shadrek, our new adventure guide from Zim