Holly Masterson - Namibia
This summer Holly got to live out her dream of traveling to Africa and working with a conservation organization. Located in Otjiwarongo, Namibia, the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) was founded by Dr. Laurie Marker in 1990 with the goal to save the cheetah. Various CCF programs to reach this goal include raising guard dogs and donating them to local farmers to prevent poaching, production of logs that are made from invasive bush species taking over their natural habitat, and a model dairy goat farm used for teaching about sustainable farming.
For eight weeks, Holly lived and interned at the veterinary clinic on the CCF reserve. She worked closely with a variety of animals like goats, dogs, cheetahs, and more. Holly had the opportunity to practice lots of different clinical skills including blood sampling, catheter placement, fecal floatation, anesthesia monitoring, and detailed necropsies. She also had the opportunity to write a thorough case report on an individual that was at the CCF clinic receiving critical care during her time there. This report is still being edited before she plans to submit it to be peer reviewed and published in a veterinary case journal.
Besides all the wonderful skills she was introduced to and practiced in the clinic, Holly had the opportunity to spend lots of time doing other tasks on the farm as well. General days which occur once a week offer interns with specific departments to explore some of the other cool projects happening at CCF. Cheetah feeding, dairy goat milking, dog training, genetics lab tours, and tourist office work are some of the other incredible opportunities she had the privilege of exploring during her time there.
After long working days, she also found time to have fun exploring the reserve in the evening. Night drives looking for critters were Holly’s favorite part of the whole internship. She got to see all kinds of different animals including aardwolves, oryx, leopards, honey badgers and aardvarks. She insists though that no matter how many giraffes she saw, they were always extremely majestic and couldn’t be beat. During these night drives and other activities like karaoke nights, Holly got to meet the other interns, some who were from all over the world as well as those local to Namibia. She made lifelong friends and is excited to keep in contact with them. After saving up 8 days off, Holly also rented a car with some fellow interns and traveled to three different exciting places in the country. They went to Etosha national park where she saw her favorite animals, elephants in the wild for the first time. She also went to Sossousvlei and climbed the world’s second tallest dune and then to Swakopmund where she rode camels with her friends.
Holly hopes to one day become a livestock veterinarian in a rural area where access to care is limited. Thanks to this internship she has learned how critical it is to include coexistence with wildlife in this career field. She feels that the experiences she received from this trip are unique and irreplaceable and she hopes to return someday soon. She is also very thankful to the CCF scholarship donor, Mary Woolsey and the wonderful global programs team that allowed her to go on this trip.
