Maud Bonato

The people here and the place feels like a second home for me now, I am just happy that I had the chance to make so many new friends from all over the world, human and animals.

The staff and supervisors were warm and friendly and made us feel comfortable and appreciated from the very beginning. As time went on I realised how knowledgeable and fun they were as well.

Volunteering with AERU has been a life changing experience that has taught me a lot about myself and given me the opportunity to do things I’d never have done before…

One of the best moments here were the Christmas Party for the elephants! We had made for all elephants a cake and on the next day all of us had the pleasure to feed the cakes to the elephants.

I hold a warning for future volunteers: Be prepared to get dirty, it’s not always an easy job but it’s incredibly rewarding and if you let the experience be all that it can be, it will change your life.

But it was not only the ellies I liked here. I got along very well with the other Volunteers, we made trips and went out in the evenings, played cards, cooked together and had a lot of fun. Also everybody from AERU was very nice, always helpful and I enjoyed things like the Braai and Pancake night together with some of them very much. It is always important to have nice people around, and here at KEP are lots of nice people.

When I was in primary school I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I replied “I want to be an elephant, so I can be Ellie the elephant”. This experience has allowed me to get as close to my childhood dream as humanly possible.