As part of our connection to the Conservation Club, we were lucky enough to attend three club meetings with them. The first club meeting was delivered primarily by Liberty and the MATZ and focused on zoos; including the role of a zoo, examples of good and bad zoos, and the needs of animals within a zoo system. Upon the conclusion of the talk, we divided the Conservation Club up into teams and asked each team to represent a different group (e.g. a herd of elephants, a local school, the government, a conservation organisation) and to argue from their perspective whether a zoo in Mfuwe would be a good or bad thing. It was great to see how hard they thought about this task, and each team brought up very good point to support their point of view.

Club two was a Careers day and the speakers ranged from an educator who specialised in children with special needs, to a Working dogs for conservation dog trainer who works with Conservation South Luangwa, a safari guide and a Community engagement officer in Human Wildlife Conflice Mitigation. Some members of the MATZ crew also spoke briefly about the journeys they took to get into their university course (we are all doing some form of animal science). Even for me, who had the opportunity to go to a lot of careers days throughout high school, hearing about these different careers and career pathways was very interesting.

The final club meeting we attended was the morning we were due to fly out. We were lucky enough to be treated to numerous songs by the Conservation Club. I’m not one to get emotional, but my eyes were a little misty by the end of it. We had grown so close over the three weeks we had been in Zambia, leaving now was probably the hardest part of the trip. Many hugs later, we were on our way to the airport. Luckily the 9 months we have until Tisamale Part Two will give me plenty of time to learn how to sing/play them some Aussie songs in return!

Mollie (MATZ Member)