Vegan Hell

Vegan Mofo 2010 – Day 20
Okay first I need to apologize for not posting yesterday. We went out of town for our company end-year xmas party at a game lodge out of town. I didn’t take my laptop with because I knew I wouldn’t have time and even if I did there was no internet connectivity.
So why was it vegan hell in a resort out of town ? Well for two reasons. Firstly, the concept of a vegan was foreign to the hosts and for lunch we had a badly thrown together stir-fry and there was nothing else, no bread and all the salads had cheese in them. Dinner was worse the hostess said to us they we were so difficult to cook for so they didn’t know what to do. So what did they do ? We got a massive plate of BOILED vegetables !! So badly boiled in fact all the veggies were still water logged and then was about 3 tablespoons of water still in the plate. So some would say why so whiney you got food didn’t you ? I been all over the world and I think a 4-star lodge should know a little more than just boiled veggies ?
Secondly, we went to a nearby game reserve and we go to see some amazing animals including the African Wild Dog which is one of the most endangered species on the African continent where there are less than a thousand in the wild (according to the ranger – fact needs to be checked).

Okay this game reserve wasn’t a zoo but the animals had less than a couple of acres in each their enclosures and the majority of these animals were born and bred in captivity. So while these animals are safe from hunters or poachers in the wild they don’t have much of a life in an unnatural environment. It’s not a rehabilitation centre or sanctuary either the game reserve exists purely for profit and the animals are not much more than assets. Would I have gone there under normal circumstances – No – but it was good to see the place exists and we can investigate it further and it’s at least now on the Animal Rights radar.