The highlight of my week was when I talked to the safari manager at a local park in Botswana. I thought l was familiar with how nature is back in Southern Africa but he proved me wrong. He talked about all the work they put in just to keep the safari open for tourism and for the animals to thrive. One of the saddest things was when he talked about how tourism has declined tremendously dueto travel restrictions and this has led to poaching. My heart bled because of people’ ignorance towards nature’s call for help. The last thing that should be on our minds during these trying times is invading the source of our wellbeing that is nature. As much as there is a rise in how technology is advancing and bringing a boom to Earth’s economy, nature has a very key role in all this. From an article l read on The Guardian by Tony Juniper, he said “ As we struggle to cut emissions from fossil fuels, one study estimates that the value of the carbon capture services which could be gained through halving the deforestation rate by 2030 is around $3.7 trillion. And the wildlife in the same forests has huge value too – about 50% of the United States’ $640billion pharmaceutical market is based on the genetic diversity of wild species, many of which were found in forests. And it’s not only the genetic diversity in wildlife that brings economic benefits.” This is all just a snippet of how much we could potentially gain from conserving natural resources.

I also managed to visit a lake nearby and that was so fulfilling. I felt calm and ease and forgot about all that was going on around me. Later on after doing some research I found out that going out can be actually a mood booster! I will be going outside more often now.