We all have those life goals and "bucket list" things that we want to accomplish or experience sometime in our existence... and I am incredibly excited to make mine a reality very soon!

On Saturday, I will spend nearly 21 hours on an airplane flying through London on my way to South Africa where I will meet up with  kitwanalion  tambako and a bunch of European furs.

We will be doing a 2-week volunteer program at a 1500-acre wildlife reserve about 45 minutes outside of Johannesburg, the Lion & Safari Park, where we will get to basically become staff of the park during the day. Part of our assigned duties are basic things like feeding baby animals, preparing food, cleaning enclosures, interacting with park guests etc. but also included in the package are some unbelievable experiences, such as:

- Getting to walk with adolescent lions and full-grown cheetahs in their natural habitat (separately, of course, and under the instruction of trained guides - This is something I've only dreamed about and I will probably get emotional when it really happens)
- Feeding and caring for the many lion cubs on property
- A guided safari night drive during a lion feeding
- A 2-hour tour with world-renowned animal behaviorist Alex Larenty, who interacts with full-grown lions
- A river rafting excursion where we'll see many species native only to that part of South Africa
- Spending time with researchers tracking, capturing and collecting data for conservation
- A traditional Braai BBQ out in the bush

And so much more. Stuff that I'd watch on Animal Planet or Nat Geo growing up and think "wow that'd be so cool to experience that someday!" Well, it's almost time to do it for real. I have literally waited my entire adult life for this and I still can't believe it's about to happen.

Gonna work one last shift tonight and then pack on Friday and relax as much as I can before I embark on the adventure of a lifetime. Although I heard the wi-fi is spotty down there I will try to update as often as I can on my personal Facebook page (link is in my contact info) and Twitter kijani_lion.