Our PeOPle
A humbling holidAy Helen Thornborrow was looking for a different kind of holiday when she visited Zimbabwe earlier this year. She told her story to Sarah Board.
O
n the second day of Helen Thornborrow’s holiday she woke up, pulled on her boots and helped bury an endangered black rhino that was still-born. “We were all devastated. The mother was trying to push it around a bit to begin with, then went into the park when she realised it had died.” Helen’s holiday wasn’t your average relaxing getaway. It was the Imire Wildlife Conservation Park in Zimbabwe where guests help look after the animals, spend time with the local community and generally do what they can to help. Helen says while it was her first holiday of this type, it wasn’t her first time to Africa. “I had been there on holiday in 2017. I’d always wanted to visit because my Dad’s family lived there for 13 years but this time I wanted to go back and do something a little bit different.” So she did.
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May 2019
each day had its own highlights and brought a new experience. Helen and the other volunteers would help handle elephants and rhinos by checking on them, cleaning up their poo and fixing their beds. She says having a male black rhino fall asleep while you rubbed his face was another highlight. “It was pretty amazing,” she says. “I had to pinch myself sometimes.” Imire is world renowned for its successful black rhino breeding programme. Based in the north east of Zimbabwe, the family owned park was established in 1972 and welcomes visitors to its volunteer programme throughout the year. Helen says it was an eye-opener. “The handlers of the animals are the local Shona people and they have so much to tell you about the animals, but they are also very proud to show you how they live, and teach you about their culture. We also fixed fences and they taught us how to plough fields – which I was terrible at as the paddocks are so dry. I was laughed at. There was a lot of laughter, and tears, and laughter tears” She says spending time with the community was one of those “happysad” moments. “We took some underwear, clothes and toys donated by the volunteers to the village and sat with a women’s support group who make sanitary packs for local girls who tend to drop out of school when they get their period. Visiting the village was definitely a moment
when I shed a tear. “We complain about the stupidest things. It was a huge eye opener for me. These people are so happy and they have what most would perceive as nothing.” But it was that rhino birth on the second day that had the most impact on Helen. “At the start of the trip [hosts] Vera and Sam said they had some exciting news, and that in two days they were expecting a baby black rhino to be born. Black rhinos are critically endangered, there are just over 5000 left and the mothers are pregnant for about 15 to 17 months, so it’s a really big deal. It was heartbreaking to see what had happened.” Despite the still-birth, Helen says she loved her time at the park and it was the best thing she has ever done. “I learned that I can do something like that on my own and it’s not that scary – I would do it again tomorrow.”