Voorspoedige Nuwe Jaar!
That’s Afrikaans for Happy New Year and I hope that for all of you 2010 is a good one. The week before New Years is for me a time to get contemplative and look back on the past year remembering both the good times and the bad times. Whilst sitting on my favourite Baobab branch stuffed full of Christmas rice and peas, I started looking back on the past year trying to find my favourite memory of 2009 to share with all of you. 2009 saw me starting this blog and catching up with old friends like Ditch, it also saw new friends arriving on the scene, the little rhino Thabo amongst others. It also saw plenty of students, some new, some returning getting involved in wildlife conservation.
However, if I had to share my most memorable moment of 2009 I would have to take you back to July and the Moholoholo Rehabilitation Centre. This story involves a little boy called Menno who had a big dream. Menno was from Holland and suffered from a rare bone and lung cancer. However, Menno had a lifelong passion for cheetah and his dream was to actually be able to stroke one. As you can imagine, there are not many places in the world where you are able to close enough to a cheetah to stroke it and certainly not that many tame cheetah!
The staff at Moholoho were contacted by the Make a Wish Foundation and they knew instantly that this was the place that Menno could achieve his dream. When Menno arrived he was taken on a tour of the centre and introduced to vultures, rhinos, servals, lions and even given the opportunity to cuddle up close to a dassie.
Then it was time for Menno’s magic moment, he was taken to the resident cheetah ‘Shinandi’ who has an amazingly sweet disposition. Menno was greeted with a resounding purr and with a ranger standing nearby Menno managed to achieve his dream of stroking a cheetah. Shinandi reciprocated to his affection by licking him on the hand, showing as much an interest in Menno as he was in her.
To be able to give someone that much joy was an amazing experience and when Menno exclaimed that this was the ‘happiest day of his life’, I wasn’t the only one that was moved to tears. Menno’s story shows us just how rewarding it is to follow your dreams and so may 2010 be the year that you all follow yours.
Happy New Year,
Zazu xx
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