Thursday, August 23, 2012

Excitement rages at 8 months away...


I guess today you might say I got a little carried away (wow, rhyme much, Kelsey?).  I had a horrible night's sleep and, consequently, to occupy my brain I started thinking about things that excite me: one of those big things being my trip to Africa.  This got my heart racing and mind reeling to the point of no return, and because of that I am probably running on less than two hours of sleep today.  THEN when I got to work I read every page on Drakenstein Lion Park's website, looked at every single one of their lions and read their stories, and looked at every single picture on their Facebook page.  And THEN (no, I'm not done) I watched every YouTube video that mentioned Drakenstein and got a closer hand look at the place I will be living for four months and the people I will be working with (not to mention the furry ones).  Hence this 8-months-ahead-of-time post (8 months and 11 days to be precise).  BUT...this is not the first time I've done world traveling and I know how fast time flies.  Soon enough I'll be sitting back here on my bum in the USofA thinking "where the heck did Africa go?"  Needless to say, I'm looking forward to my time living in a cabin right next to the lion enclosures, listening to them talk at night, drawing them, loving them, working for them, and most of all bettering the lives of a few lions at a time.  I will leave you with a quote from the owner and founder of Drakenstein Lion Park, Paul "the lion" Hart: "Saving one animal may not change the world, but for that one animal the world will change forever."

Ta ta for now!  I'm sure I will be posting again soon about being even more excited. -K-

p.s. If you're interested in where I'm going, here are a few links for you:
http://www.lionrescue.org.za/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Drakenstein-Lion-Park/219530708059835
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pVYyAJ1q_g

p.p.s. The lion shown above is Gaucho, one of the first that will definitely appear in a painting upon my return :))