It's Waiting There for You

Thirteen years ago this month, I found myself in a cage in South Africa, sitting on a straw-covered concrete floor with a baby baboon nestled in my lap—and she was peeing on me. After a lifetime of yearning to travel and work with animals, I’d finally made it.

After I hit the half-century mark of my time on Earth, I knew it was now or never. I needed to take that proverbial leap of faith. So, I left a perfectly fine 28-year marriage, quit a job writing about fashion and shopping, and said goodbye to complimentary massages and free trips—all for the privilege of cleaning poopy cages and cuddling baby baboons.

How did I get to the land of baboons? After my divorce, I was depressed and lying on my second-hand couch in my basement apartment in Seattle, worrying about money, and believing I couldn’t afford to follow my dream. Fuck it. Damn the money, I’ll find it. I picked up my computer, situated myself in the backyard garden, and started searching online for overseas wildlife sanctuaries that accepted volunteers. There were many, including sloth rescue sanctuaries in Costa Rica; saving critically endangered orangutans in Borneo; and caring for flying foxes in Australia.

As I scrolled through the possibilities, my chatty landlord appeared. “Will you move your car? The lady who bought the house next door is moving in.” And then, offhandedly, she said, “Oh, and she owns a sanctuary in South Africa.” WTF??? I practically knocked her down running next door.

I accosted the new neighbor as she carried a lamp into her house. The long and short of it was, Kelcey Grimm did in fact own Enkosini, a sanctuary in South Africa that she’d founded 20 years ago. Now she was back in Seattle placing volunteers at a variety of sanctuaries in South Africa, including her own. She told me about C.A.R.E, the Centre for Animal Release and Education, a sanctuary for baboons in the Limpopo province of South Africa. “It’s very hands-on,” she said. It sounded perfect. I applied that afternoon and was accepted the next day.

And life hasn’t been the same since.

Note: Enkosini is a great way to find a bona fide volunteer program in Africa. https://www.enkosini.org