A Scottish teenager was left blind and paralysed after her bossed refused to take her to hospital.
Laura MacNeil had travelled to Zambia for work after being inspired by Sir David Attenborough, when she came down with a deadly strain of malaria.
But she fell out with the expats who were in charge over what she saw as a lack of professionalism and their attitude towards local workers.
When she fell ill, the management refused to take her to hospital – leaving her paralysed and dehydrated on the outskirts of the camp.
She was saved two days later when Zambian staff forced management to take her to hospital.
Lauren, who was 18 and had just left school, told our sister title The Sunday Mail: “I went to work for seven months in the bush in northern Zambia and had the experience of a lifetime, not all pleasant.
“It was definitely a growing up moment.
“A national park had a place for me to come help and run the lodge and look after the guests but when I got there it became clear it was badly run.
“The general manager and his wife weren’t very nice.
“People weren’t doing their jobs. I ended up running the lodge and doing game drives taking guests out to the bush, even though I was fresh into Africa.
“Then I came down with malaria. The managers left me in my house for two days, which was dangerous with malaria.
“I couldn’t lift my head or move because I had caught cerebral malaria, which can kill you quite quickly. I couldn’t eat or drink anything.
“Eventually, the Zambian crew forced the manager to take me to a local bush clinic. I was in such a bad state that I’d gone blind.”
Lauren was then taken to a mission hospital where she received treatment and regained her sight.
Now 22, she added: “It was run by nuns and didn’t have any electricity.
“Eventually I recovered and flew home but for a long time I couldn’t walk for more than five minutes.”
Remarkably, after graduating from university, the animal lover has returned to Zambia.
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She is helping establish a new ANGWA wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centre near the capital, Lusaka.
Lauren, of Prestonmill in Dumfriesshire, said: “I had the African bug and was desperate to return.
“At the moment we are on a temporary site on a farm south of Lusaka. We receive animals of all species from all over Zambia, some even being flown to us on private planes.”
