They are released and doing very well...

Well the 6 girls were released on Friday and boy was it a day. The volunteers and staff here worked so hard to have everything ready for the big event. They painted building, removed grass, set up tent & chairs, drinks, food....you name it they did it. It was great to see all of our new marketing pieces arrive too to give it that little extra something :)

The 6 girls were in great spirits and probably a little confused by all the people surrounding their enclosure. Thank goodness the fence was securely built as the girls had their eyes on a few of the kids!! As some speeches were given the girls rested on their front paws as if they were listening as well on how important a step this was for them. All they probably wanted was the gate to open so they could get to the impala that were about 200 meters away.

As the gates opened a great applause from over 100 people roared through the release site. I'm pretty sure all the other animals took off at that point. The girls came out one by one with some doing a little stretching before they left their enclosure. It was quite an amazing to watch and I'm not gonna lie....a little emotional.

Once the girls were out in their 800 acres site we all went off to celebrate. At our Boma we served some cocktails and snacks and mingled with the crowd. I was able to meet one of the Chief and he even invited us to go to his land one day. After everyone left then it was time for the the team to celebrate...and boy did we. Everything went off so well and people were so thrilled with the day that we continued our celebrating well into the morning...or sorry did I say morning...well let's just say I took a nap before starting the next day's work.

Now there is just one part left that I would like to share with you. On the drive to our GM's house at 4:00 a.m. the owner of the company decided he wanted to hear "The Gambler" by Kenny Rogers. It was like music to my ears. Of course nobody had a copy of this and most people didn't even know what it was but I just said "Don't worry...I got this" In my best country twang I started to sing "The Gambler". Now I wish I could have had a photo of the expression on Mr. Connelly's face when I went through the entire song but I will sum it up by saying he was impressed!! As I was singing he also would tote..."true..so true" or "that's how I live my life". I knew someday that my knowledge of the "the Gambler" would come in handy one day but I didn't think it would be in Africa!!

Cheers everyone :)