I DID IT! When I first started my internship with CCF, I couldn't imagine time flying by as quickly as it did, but it truly flew by. The last few days were rough because I did not want the internship to end, so I continued to convince myself that I still had time. My last night was fabulous though: We ate oven-baked pizza at the café, had an apple strudel, and went on the night drive that I have been begging for! For sure we saw an aardvark, and I am really sure that I saw an aardwolf as well, but that is up for debate. I did cry during dinner and while I was writing thank you notes to staff members that were influential to me, but that just proves how amazing of an opportunity this was for me.

I have learned more than I thought I would over the course of my internship at CCF. I have practiced husbandry tasks with cheetahs and dogs (general care, feeding, and I have observed some medical procedures). I have learned more about animal behavior, and the importance of including the community in our conservation efforts. (At some point I need to stop saying our, which is really hard because CCF was my home).

CCF has outreach programs for all ages! Interns that are not from Namibia donate money to the facility, which sponsors a Namibian student to intern at the facility. Not only do they accept interns into all of their departments, but younger children are always welcome to camp on CCF property to join general tasks with interns, explore tours, and work closely with our staff during their stay to learn from experts. If a group of students cannot visit, we have members of our Education Department that travel to local schools to give presentations and conduct activities! Students are able to learn about environmental awareness and friendliness, the importance of predators in their community, and they can understand conservation and human-wildlife conflict! Conservation starts at home, and that is why we try to educate the future generations.

Farmers near CCF that work closely with us are considered a part of our conservancy. We hunt game species the same way, record data about the population the same way, and we treat our ecosystem and conduct farming practices the same way! This agreement with farmers allows them to have support from us if they need it, and we can help conduct more predator and conservation-friendly practices! Farmers outside of our conservancy also participate in our educational resources. They can visit our model farm to see different herding and fencing techniques, or we can visit them at their farm or communities to give recommendations! If they are having more direct problems such as livestock loss, we can include them in our Livestock Guard-Dog Program, Kill Identification course (seeing examples of how different predators kill their prey and how we can determine which predator killed a livestock), and our Scat Detection Program! Farmers are able to use lethal methods if their life or livelihood is at stake, but we do not want them to kill the wrong animal. Thus, we can explore their land, have our scat detection dogs find scat nearby, and our genetics team can determine what animal is in the area and what it has been eating! People of all ages, backgrounds, and all over the world are able to learn from our facility by talking to our team, by looking at our website and social media posts, or by exploring the facility/museum.

If there was one thing I wish that I could have experienced, it would be the Namibian culture. I did take a night to go to Windhoek and go to a very well-known restaurant/bar where I ate steenbok, kudu, zebra, and oryx, but I would not call myself an expert on the culture. One of the most prominent differences though is their dating culture. In Namibia, they utilize internet to their advantage: Men date many women from all over the world, which I learned when a friend of mine tried to find me a Namibian boyfriend because it is okay to date someone else if they live in a different country. Although, women are not supposed to date multiple guys. And even though their dating culture may not seem as serious as the one you are used to, it does move faster than the dating culture I am familiar with. Once parents approve of a relationship, you are practically married., and you usually are married shortly after because Namibian men do not usually care if you are in a relationship unless you are married.

Other differences in culture that I noticed were about smoking. In America, specifically Oregon State University, people do not pull out a cigarette at a table with other people around or do not smoke next to others, but most of the people I knew at CCF, from multiple cultures, did not ask first if it was okay for them to smoke around you; they pulled out the cigarette and lit it, expecting you to walk away if you were uncomfortable.

The last difference in culture, that was very prominent, was about socializing and utilizing cellphones. My cab driver, for the entire ride, was speaking on his phone to multiple people. Even my roommate answered her phone, whether I was awake or sleeping. In America, it is considered rude to be on your phone around other people, but in Namibia, you are always talking on the phone! When I was exploring town on my days off, I even noticed workers talking on the phone while they were working, which would be cause for firing an employee where I am from. At first, I thought that it was rude, but I realized just how influential it is towards their culture.

Living in a new environment, learning from professionals, and working everyday in a field that I want to be in later down the road has been life changing! I hope that one day I can return to work as a staff member at CCF, but I am not excited about the traveling. I have been traveling since Sunday at noon, and I do not land in Detroit until almost 12AM on Tuesday! My layovers are 7 to 8 hours long, I take three different flights, and my flights are either 9 hours long or 13 hours long! That and I have an issue with my carry-on every single time! As of right now, I do not have a change of clothes because they weighed my personal item and told me that it was too heavy and that I could not bring my carry-on on the flight with me because my backpack was too heavy. Things would probably be easier if I was able to sleep on flights, but that does not happen either. Either way, this trip was totally worth it!