Diary of a Wandering Zoologist: A catch up for myself (and everyone else not inside my head)!

Welcome to my blog! I hope it will last and that I'll persevere with it.

I graduated from the University of Cambridge in June having studied Zoological Natural Sciences with a mostly conservation science based slant to my choices. Not long after this I enjoyed a brief jaunt to Bulgaria. There I helped the Balkani Wildlife Society with some wolf conservation work on an exchange from the UK Wolf Conservation Trust. This mostly involved washing and analysing a lot of wild wolf scats (really interesting); getting stuck in the middle of a heatwave and water shortage (fairly interesting); and getting sick (not at all interesting). But it also involved meeting a lot of the local wildlife, some lovely captive wolves and a rescued ex-circus bear, many of whom feature in the below pictures.

I returned from Bulgaria to the blissfully frigid UK part way through August. It was a weird time, with some friends getting married, others returning to Cambridge for at least another year of either work or study, or at least starting definite jobs/ PhDs somewhere in the country. I was left feeling somewhat disconnected and uncertain about my future and incredibly envious of anyone doing grown up and stable things like renting a house. One of the reasons I so coveted this stability was that I was shortly to depart to the great unknown land of Surrey, BC (Canada!!) to undertake an unpaid conservation internship with a Christian organisation called A Rocha. Following my illness, homesickness and desperate desire for stability this seemed like an extremely unwise idea. But as Tolkien pointed out 'Not all those who wander are lost'. A Rocha is Portuguese for 'The Rock'. God is my rock. He is my strength when I am weak, tired and frightened. My stability for when I feel like the world I know and love is falling apart. I can depend on Him completely. So I decided to grit my teeth and take the plunge. I have been out here for a week now and this blog will seek to document my adventures as I journey along with God into unknown waters.