Blog post by Eilis and Co.

Hi all.

After another comfortable night with our wonderful host families we met at the school. The plan for today was to catch a bus to the Bear and Wolf sanctuary in the Black Forest. However our plans changed
when we discovered that the bus wasn't going where and when we expected. Instead we went into the city. We walked around the shops, ate food, sampled Starbucks hot chocolate and sorted out more SIM cards. At 11 we made our way to the train station to catch a multitude of different busses, trams and trains. The final bus ride to the sanctuary was very beautiful. We drove through little German towns still blanketed in snow and past the tall trees of the black forest. There were so many picturesque photo opportunities along the way that we could not capture them all. When we made it off the bus to the sanctuary the sun was shining off the snow so brightly that those of us who didn't bring sunglasses regretted our forgetfulness. After a crunchy and slippery walk up the drive we made it to the top. The sanctuary had many wooden buildings and thankfully a toilet. After lunch and a toilet break we were given a guided tour of the sanctuary. Since it is winter here many of the bears were hibernating but those that were awake made up for the rest. First we went to the enclosure with three young bears. They were all siblings around 18mths old. They were rolling in the snow and having a wonderful time. We also saw a wolf pack of all brothers, a lone wolf and bear who became friends and a brother and sister pair of lynxes. They all had stories of where they had come from and why they were there. Like the lynxes who had come form a zoo with only a small concrete area for them to live in. When they came to the sanctuary They did not know how to climb trees like lynx in the wild so they had to learn this basic skill all over again. We said goodbye to our lovely tour guide and after a quick visit to the gift shop went back down the drive to wait for the bus.
It was a very fun day and we all returned to Freiburg happy if not a little tired.