On the 26^th and 27^th of October Mrs Von-Zieden’s Stage 1 Tourism class along with Mr Clark and Mrs Stevens went on a camp to Monarto Safari Park. The purpose of the camp was for the students to complete their final assessment task. The students were able to develop and demonstrate their practical tourism skills. They also gathered primary sources and information through observation that related to the tourism industry. The students and teachers took part in a variety of educational activities such as meet the keeper talks, matching footprints, weight, height, body parts and faeces to the correct animal.

Upon arrival to Monarto a zookeeper took us on a private zoo loop tour. Seeing and visiting animals such as meerkats, Przewalski horses, black rhinoceros, giraffes, ostriches, zebras, white rhinoceros, cheetah, lions, hyenas, African wild dogs and the bison. After the Zoo loop tour concluded we met John who was the Education Officer at Monarto. He showed us parts of the zoo that generic tourists are not able to access which enabled us to start gathering sources for our assessment.

During our time at Monarto we stayed at the Indaba Camp Site. We then met Ruth who stayed with us at Indaba. She arranged numerous bonding and educational activities for the evening. All of the students participated with enthusiasm and had lots of fun. Later in the evening once we had finished dinner Ruth took us on a night walk around the camp site. She taught us lots about the history of the nature and wildlife that was at Monarto. After a long day students were exhausted and went to bed ready for an early start the next morning.

Early Wednesday morning Ruth woke us up by beating an African drum (which students did not appreciate!). Once everyone was awake and ready Ruth took us on a sunrise walk to explore the nature in daylight. We got to see a mother emu with her five little chicks which was a highlight of the morning. At 9am, John came to take us on a "once in a lifetime experience". Students were excited until we went into the rhino enclosure and pulled up next to a big pile of rhino poo. Of course we all knew what this meant… we had to shovel rhino poo. After this very enjoyable "once in a lifetime experience" we took the poo to the hyena/African wild dog enclosure. John then took us on a more enjoyable experience, visiting the chimpanzees. Students thoroughly enjoyed this as they were about to be fed once we arrived at their enclosure. This was the last activity John would show us for the day.

For the rest of the day students got to explore the park in small groups and join the public on the Zoo loop tours. We heard the Meet the Keeper African Wild Dog Talk as well as the Meet the Keeper Chimpanzee Talk. By the end of the trip students were worn out from all the activities and exploring. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves over the two days at Monarto Safari Park. A massive thanks to Mrs Von-Zieden for organsing the trip for the Year 11 students as well as Mr Clark for supervising and Mrs Stevens for driving the bus.

Charlotte Davey & Eliza Loy