P.A.W.S

Sitting down to write this after so many incredible experiences, my time at PAWS all the way back in June seems all the more magical. I still remember the very first orientation game drive and my amazement at seeing such incredible wildlife for the first time so close at hand. The glimpse of a leopard’s tail as it stalked off into the bush, or a hyaena, too full to move, resting under a tree - every moment was special. To have helped contribute even the smallest amount to the conservation of the area, by chopping down a few bushes or taking down a fence line is a great feeling. I still miss the untouched peace and beauty of Okonjima, the friendly set up at camp, the challenge of cooking over a fire on duty day or being jolted around on the bumpy roads by good old Shez. Clive’s constant stream of knowledge was invaluable - I only realised afterwards how much I had learnt in my 2 weeks. Thank you Clive and Roma for all your passion and hard work in undertaking such a mammoth project - I will be back!

I’m just writing to say thank you for everything you’ve done for me.  You’ve been kind, generous, hospitable and a great laugh to be around.  This has been one of the best experiences of my life, I have learnt lots about the wildlife as well as the history and current state of affairs regarding bush encroachment. Roma, thankyou for the help around the camp, cooking etc and also being a friendly face after a hard days work.  You are extremely kind and I have loved every bit of your company.  Clive, you’ve become a great friend and I hope you enjoyed my company as much as I’ve enjoyed yours.  You, above anyone else have made this trip memorable, facsinating and rewarding.  I’m extremely happy with what I’ve learnt; birds, animals and our incredible debates on God and aliens!  You’ve picked a touch project but that only means that it’s more of a challenge.  Every bush is one more down as is every pole and wire as I’m sure you know.  I shall miss you loads, keep up the great work and I’ll be back soon (if you’ll have me) to cut down some more bush!  I’ll remember these past 10 weeks for the rest of my life and you two have and always will make this a fantastic memory.

What can I say about PAWS, it’s so difficult to put into words how to describe the experience you live in Namibia. Not because you don’t have a great time, in fact you do, you’ll learn tons of things about nature with Clive, which by the way is the most passionate person I’ve met in my life about his job, or that the camp is absolutely great, built by Clive and Roma themselves or maybe the feeling of satisfaction you get after a hard days work.   What’s difficult to put into words is the connection you experience with yourself, with nature, the experience of total peace where the only thing between you and yourself is your conscience, and it will change your life. This connection will change your way of thinking and turns it much simpler; it will help you value the real important things in life.
You will meet great people, feel good about your work, learn with Roma and Clive many things, interact with the animals, see wildlife in a different way, closer than in any park but in the end is the connection you make with yourself that makes this experience priceless.

I had real high hopes when I decided to do P.A.W.S. but in all honesty it exceeded my expectations.  To say I had the time of my life is an understatement.  The work P.A.W.S and the AfriCat Foundation are doing is so special and important and to be a small part of that made me very proud.  Yes the work was a wee bit tough at times but the sense of accomplishment at the end of it outweighed it all.  The real bonus was seeing the first 5 cheetah’s being released which was an absolute honour and really quite overwhelming.  I will be logging in to keep updated with their progress!  Another big highlight was de-flea’ing the cheetahs.  So cool!  Special thanks to Clive and Roma who went that extra mile to make sure we were always ok.  I promise to visit you guys again!  To anyone thinking of going to P.A.W.S. in the future - DO IT!  The camp is amazing (the open air toilets/showers were my favourite!), the team are fantastic and the animals are out of this world.  It is an experience I will never forget.

We have just spent two weeks at P.A.W.S and it was the best experience of our lives. The work was challenging but extremely rewarding, once you get to grips with the dreaded sickle bushes (Dichrostachys Cinerea, are you impressed Clive!!!) Some of the morning chores, i.e. clearing the cheetah enclosures and cleaning the wild dogs’ water hole, were more like treats than work.  Every day had a wildlife highlight, far too many to mention individually. Our top two experiences were watching five cheetahs being released back in to the wild by Africat which was a great privilege and extremely emotional and we were also lucky to see two cheetahs at Africat which had been darted. We were allowed to get hands on and de flea them which was amazing!   It still hasn’t sunk in what we have experienced at P.A.W.S it was a dream come true for us. To be so close to wild animals and to be able to touch them whilst darted is something we will never forget. We love all animals but cheetahs are our favourite so we thought we’d died and gone to heaven!  If you love wildlife, especially cheetahs and leopards, then this is definitely the place to visit. We cannot speak too highly of how fantastic Okonjima Reserve is and what they are trying to achieve. This is down to the hard work and dedication of the Hanssen family, the Africat Foundation and or course P.A.W.S.  Last but not least we would like to say a huge thank you to Clive and Roma for looking after us so well. They both go out of their way to make the whole experience as enjoyable and rewarding as possible. Clive’s wildlife knowledge is encyclopaedic. We learned so much in our two weeks, we just wish we could retain all the information like he can! The work they are doing is truly inspirational.  We are definitely planning to return next year and would recommend P.A.W.S to anyone interested in wildlife volunteer projects and conservation, you will not find anywhere better.

Heya guys, I had a fantastic time at PAWS! I would recommend it to anyone who wishes to go in the future. It is the perfect choice if you love the African wildlife and don’t mind the hard work in the morning as well. If you do decide to come to PAWS you will meet plenty of fantastic and lovely people who make you feel at home, even though you are thousands of miles away from home. Roma and Clive make it an experience of a lifetime that you will never ever forget. Mainly through all the effort they put in to make everyone happy whilst they are out there. Thanks again for the amazing time to Roma and Clive!

I arrived at PAWS an overwhelmed, burnt-out, quiet 18-year-old on her first solo adventure from home, and left after 4 weeks confident, refreshed, inspired, and truly happy.  As it was the first stop on a life-changing gap year, I have to say that PAWS has played a huge part on the person I am today. Not only did Clive teach me more facts than I learned during most of my senior year in high school (acinonyx jubatis!), but he and Roma also opened my eyes to how much more there is to the world than what I’ve seen, and how much I can do if I just go out there and try. They gave me motivation, and a deep appreciation for the world’s natural magnificence.  At PAWS, you wake up to chirping birds and eat your breakfast looking out over seemingly endless bush, without a car in sight. You work hard, but know you’re simply doing good for the world, and there’s something refreshing and soul-healing about that. You relax just as hard, maybe jumping in the pool while you watch wild baboons play on the cliffs just next to you, before heading off for an evening game drive. As much time as I spent working, I spent learning to see the beauty surrounding me all the time.   If you’re still not convinced PAWS is worth your time… I went to Tanzania afterwards, and hardly got close enough to even the less-elusive animals to take a decent photograph. At PAWS, I sketched a wild male leopard from maybe six feet away, and felt like rather than being a tourist, I was really earning the right to be there.   Thank you Clive and Roma for putting your hearts into this project and giving me the opportunity to help! You are amazing people, and here’s hoping I’ll be seeing you again sometime in the near future. (I need to replace the sickle bush scratches that have healed, after all!!)

Where to start? When the travel company you’re speaking to speaks so highly of one their trips, over and above all the others they offer in Africa, you know you’ll be in for a truly memorable few weeks. Clive and Roma offer a truly unique experience that I haven’t experienced, or heard about, since. What strikes you initially is being based in the middle of the wilderness - cooking on an open fire for your fellow volunteers, porcupines wandering up to investigate any leftovers there may be, camping out under a rather spectacular blanket of stars and falling asleep listening to the baboons (and occasionally leopards!) on the mountains behind camp to name but a few. As our daily guide, Clive projects a real enthusiasm towards the project that is infectious - while the work is by no means easy on some occasions, it’s incredibly satisfying to be part of this unique and worthwhile project. And besides, spending a few hours each morning working in the sun, be it cleaning the cheetah enclosures for Africat, removing old fence lines or simply removing the alien plantlife from the reserve that has been responsible for such damage to cheetahs across Namibia, is infinitely preferable to sitting behind a desk. However, a tough few hours in the morning makes our afternoon ‘treat’ even more appreciated - tracking leopards, hyenas, practising the survival skills and techniques of the bushman or simply learning about the vast array of flora and fauna in the Okonjima reserve is a fantastic reward for a morning’s work - and of course being able to do something like that everyday isn’t something even honeymooners on exotic trips to Tanzania can dream of! A truly memorable 6 weeks which I have recommended, and shall continue to recommend, to anyone that will listen! Thank you Clive and Roma.”

Clive and Roma,

Thanks again for the wonderful experience you offered us.  We had a great time. You are remarkable people and we wish you all the best because you deserve to succeed.  Big hugs, Ad and Margriet

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If you’re thinking of taking part, just do it and you will not regret it. After spending two weeks here it was one of the best adventures I have ever done. Clive and Roma are very welcoming and you soon feel like one big family. Hard not to learn something from Clive, he seems to know everything about the reserve and its animals. In the mornings the work is tough, but you feel like you are doing something worthwhile, that you are making a difference even if it is only a very small part. Afternoons you enjoy the beauty that you are surrounded by, whether in the landscape or the animals. Almost every day we were out on Safari, tracking down the reserve characters. The night sky is something I will never forget. It’s hard not to fall for the place’s magic. Once you had your time there you long to return, I know I do.   Thanks again Clive and Roma