BIG 5 WILDLIFE & CONSERVATION PROJECT
Overwhelming, that is how we would describe the first week. We met Hein, Kim and Piet over a BBQ the first night and this way got introduced to the South Africa life style. We retired to our beautiful Safari-Style tents and fell asleep to the sound of roaring lions. Next day was Sunday, so still no work, but an afternoon game drive to which we were invited. That was a teaser to what we could look forward to. On Monday morning at the crack of dawn we went into the boma to wake up the elephants, well to let them out really and clean out their boma. Then it was time to feed the reserves animals, but first of all Shaka the pet Eland sneaked in and we had to show it the way out. He is sweet, but rather destructive. The "hard working volunteers" (Barbara, Astrid, Thomas and Lene) loaded up the 4x4 with bales of hay and took their place on top and off we went to feed the Rhinos, Buffalos, Zebras, Eland, Kudus and Giraffes. There are two giraffes, a male and a female and the female was pregnant. Piet, our “mentor”, told us that she was due to give birth in the next couple of weeks, but they were not sure. Of course we were all hoping we would still be here to see that. We very much enjoyed the wildlife facts and anecdotes that we were told by Piet on the way around the reserve.
We also had the pleasure of meeting and hugging a few of the reptiles behind glass i.e. the albino king snake and topped off the day at the cheetah breeding camp by throwing fresh chunks of horse meet to the hungry cheetahs. We even had the chance to go INSIDE the fence, which was fun until they finished their meat and looked at us as if we were the dessert.
All days start in nice colours watching the sun rise while doing the elephant feeding round, but on Wednesday morning we had a very exciting mission - the mother giraffe gave birth on Tuesday night and now we had the chance to see her baby. Pete was the one throwing the news on Tuesday night - there he was, the macho park ranger getting all emotional and excited about a tiny little animal... Another one of his good sides!
AND how was it? CUTE, BIG BROWN EYES, TWO TINY HORN-LOOK-ALIKES and just fitting underneath his mom's belly, still stumbling a bit but full of life. We spent hours there just watching it.
As happy as we were for the giraffe family, we felt a little sorry for the free-roaming cheetah Inianga, as she had to give up her freedom for a while and be re-located to the fenced area to protect the baby giraffe. BUT for us that meant we would get to watch and participate in the vet's efforts to dart and sedate the cheetah on close hold. We felt lucky to get that chance.
We even got a free ride on the back of the truck with the sleeping cheetah. We thought ourselves safe but she suddenly lifted her head and we got a bit of a fright. However, she fell asleep again and we made it back :o).
Another big event during the week was the feeding of the lions. They are only fed approx every 10 days, so image how hungry they were.
We followed one of the rangers in another truck with a whole cow on the back. After a few attempts he managed to off load the lunch without getting out of his car and the female lions started to feast on the “kill” immediately. Of course leaving room for the male lion to eat as soon as he joined the party. We watched for a while very close by. Excited and not afraid, but aware that it’s their space.
The BIG 5 conservation project is about wildlife but also about the environment, so another project for us this week was to make a fenced area for planting trees. We thought slavery was over.. :o) but no… Hard labour but fun, as the result is now 20 new planted trees. Piet’s comforting words were with us all the way… “just imagine you are very strong”… The building of the fence was closely followed every day by the male ostrich, making sure everything was according to plan.
So all in all, the first week has been great and we have done and seen more than we had hoped for. Looking forward to what next week will bring.
11th July 2010, Astrid, Barbara, Thomas and Lene
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