![\"Alicia](\"https:\/\/www.caldervets.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/3-Alicia-at-the-game-reserve-241x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFeeding orphaned cheetahs, firing tranquiliser guns, helping microchip a rhinoceros and tracking lions, giraffes and elephants aren\u2019t the usual day-to-day activities of your typical Yorkshire teenager \u2013 but they were all part of a life-changing experience for one trainee vet nurse.<\/p>\n
Alicia Scott, a 17-year-old apprentice at Calder Vets\u2019 Dewsbury hospital, spent two weeks at the Welgevondon Game Reserve, in the Limpopo province of South Africa, working with some of the \u201cbig five\u201d of Africa\u2019s wildest animals.<\/p>\n
The incredible trip was organised by a tutor at Askham Bryan College in York, where Alicia began her veterinary training, and she said it was a life-changing experience.<\/p>\n
The adventure was in support of Saving the Survivors, a team of wildlife vets who help endangered or injured wildlife who are victims of poachers.<\/p>\n
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Alicia, who lives in West Yorkshire, said: \u201cThe animals and scenery were mind blowing, like something you would have seen on The Lion King.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery turn there was a view of some of the most amazing animals that South Africa has to offer – from zebras, wildebeests and giraffes to lions, rhinos and elephants.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alicia wasn\u2019t there for the sight-seeing, though – she was there as an animal lover trying to make her contribution to conserving these magnificent species.<\/p>\n
Her tasks included racing across the bush to reach a rare white rhino which had been sedated by a tranquiliser dart fired by vets from a helicopter.<\/p>\n
Alicia added: \u201cWatching the vet fire the dart and then having to rush across the terrain to get to the animal within minutes was a real adrenaline rush.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we approached her, she was shaking and grunting from the effects of the sedation so we had to work fast before she woke up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe vets injected her with vitamins, marked her ears to help identify her in the future, and, fitted microchips in her neck and her horn.<\/p>\n
\u201cMicrochipping the horn meant that if she was hunted and killed by poachers her horn could be tracked and potentially reveal the culprits.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust watching this whole experience, and being a part of the process was out of this world.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing so close was incredible, I could feel the sheer size, strength and power of her just from having her leg rested on my side.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Alicia](\"https:\/\/www.caldervets.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/4-Elephant-300x293.jpg\")
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The rush to find three orphaned cheetah cubs before they were attacked by predators was another nail-biting drama for the teenager.<\/p>\n
Alicia said: \u201cThe three cubs were only eight months old and they would have struggled to cope on their own.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey would have been so vulnerable to predators like lions who could easily kill them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went looking for them and suddenly they walked out right in front of our jeep.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe fed them impala meat and the next day the vet fitted one with a tracking collar and gave vaccinations, including for rabies.<\/p>\n
\u201cI noticed they were the same vaccinations we use on dogs back at Calder Vets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alicia then tried her hand at firing a tranquiliser gun, admitting: \u201cThis was the thing I was most nervous about but once I\u2019d fired it I seemed to relax.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hit the target pretty well considering it was really hard to hold the gun because it was so heavy and I\u2019m so small.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her final taste of safari came in a \u2018bush-tucker trial\u2019 type game of impala poop spitting.<\/p>\n
The teenage explorer explained: \u201cIt\u2019s an old tribal tradition and the aim is to place a piece of impala poo into your mouth and then spit it out as far as you can.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhoever spits it the furthest is the winner and gets to eat that night.<\/p>\n
\u201cI seriously thought about not doing it but then I realised how hungry I was and that I might only be in Africa once in my lifetime so I should make the most of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew it wasn\u2019t going to hurt me so I decided to give it ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cMine didn\u2019t go the furthest but it did go the highest \u2013 so I had something to celebrate and it was all great fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
The only sour taste of the trip was learning the shameful figures of just how many of the world\u2019s most endangered species are being slaughtered each year.<\/p>\n
Alicia revealed: \u201cA doctor from the charity \u2018Saving the Survivors\u2019 informed us that every year 27,000 elephants are poached with 1028 rhinos being poached in 2017 alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis charity does incredible work trying to save these wonderful animals from being hunted and poached.<\/p>\n
\u201cI take my hat off to the amazing people working for them, using all their funds, skills and energy in a bid to save these species that are on the verge of extinction.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Alicia](\"https:\/\/www.caldervets.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/2-Alicia-learns-to-fire-a-dart-gun-225x300.jpg\")
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Feeding orphaned cheetahs, firing tranquiliser guns, helping microchip a rhinoceros and tracking lions, giraffes and elephants aren\u2019t the usual day-to-day activities of your typical Yorkshire teenager \u2013 but they were all part of a life-changing experience for one trainee vet nurse. Alicia Scott, a 17-year-old apprentice at Calder Vets\u2019 Dewsbury hospital, spent two weeks at<\/p>\n