I'm sitting in the departure lounge of the airport in Johannesburg waiting for my plane for Frankfurt. It's time to say goodbye to South Africa and move on.
This month has gone by incredibly fast, I can hardly believe it, with its ups and downs and pretty low moments when I was wondering what I was doing here. Not enough work at the centre. Same duties day after day. And the similar 'young' crowd as the one I encountered in Thailand. Nice young people, completely immersed in their own lives as young people will be, with their concerns and sense of humor that I confess to not always sharing. Obviously, they thought the same. This past week, a couple of 'older' women arrived at the centre and that was a relief as I could finally have a normal discussion with them as they 'spoke' my language....
That said, just when I thought things couldn't get more boring, everything happened at once. Such is the nature of Moholoholo Rehab Centre. About a week ago, we were called by the owner of a nearby game reserve to come and get a baby zebra who was really in a pretty bad way. We never really found out what happened to its mother (poaching is always suspected of course). The female zebra was 3 or 4 weeks old. We brought her back to the centre and put her in the clinic on a bed of straw and started trying to feed her. She got constant attention with someone sitting with her all the time. She wouldn't drink milk, so we had to force feed her and put her on a drip. Unfortunately, her health went from bad to worse and she died two days later. It was very sad to watch as she tried to catch her last breath (I happened to come into the clinic right at that moment) and her whole system just shut down. Poor little thing.
The following day or two days later, we were called to go and get a baby bushbock only a few days old, whose joint in the right hind leg had been eaten by a baboon (though she still had her leg but in a very bad state). She was abandoned by her mother. We brought her into the clinic, Brian asked us what we thought we should do seeing that even if she were to be amputated, she could still lead a normal life at the centre and breed. So we all said, go ahead with the surgery, bring her to the vet straight away. Cost is always a consideration of course, but they were willing to give it a try. So we all piled into the bucky and drove hellbent into town to the vet's office. The vet operated for about one hour actually saving the leg, only to have the little thing die on the operating table, of a heart failure, probably due to excessive stress.
Things were getting tough, but such is life in Africa. You try your best and then move on because other animals need your attention.
And then, I had a wonderful surprise. Just when I was thinking I couldn't wait to get home, some of us were told we were being taken on a 2-day outing on a nearby reserve which belongs to the same owner as Moholoholo. So off we went to Nhoveni, bright and early on Friday morning. Brian was due to join us late morning and that, for me at least, was a real treat! In a nutshell, he took us on a 3-hour bushwalk on Sunday morning, two 3-hour bushrides Saturday afternoon and Sunday late morning. I truly think there is nothing that man doesn't know about African wildlife and it was just a very special moment. While up there with us, he relaxed, became really funny, telling us stories of when he was young and wild in the bush, calling to the birds, teaching us about tracks, trees and other vegetation....We were driving along and all of a sudden, he spotted the vultures going around in the air, sign of a nearby prey... Alive or dead? Difficult to say. So rifles in hand, Brian and Martin led us through the bush to try and find the prey. Suffice it to say, we were completely oblivious of the dangers involved. He wasn't of course and imposed absolute silence on us and extreme caution. Well, we did eventually find the birds' prey.....a poached white rhino, horns still intact, so we assumed that the rhino was shot, wounded, ran away to die a distance away and the poachers lost sight of her.
Rhinos are the most sought after animals in Africa at the moment. Last year, 333 rhinos were poached for their horns, this year to date, already 101 have been killed. As Brian said, in a few years , at this rate, we will be able to show our children pictures of rhinos, an extinct animal, and they will have no idea what it is. Poaching is a terrible problem. And the truth of the matter is that, the poachers are not the problem, for the most part they are very poor people who only want to feed their families. The problem are the people who commission the poaching out of pure greed: a rhino horn sells for 1 million Rand (a huge amount of money) and the buyers are for the most part the Chinese market who use it for allegedly medicinal purposes. Only the horns are taken, they have no use for the rest of the animal. As such, we found this female rhino is an advanced state of decomposition, horns intact. At least that is one pair of horns they won't get, but it is a life wasted and there is a baby rhino somewhere in the bush roaming around without its mom.
The two days were eventful as you have just read. We were lucky to see a couple of elephants, an injured hippo (probably poachers also), giraffes and zebras, many impalas and even a buffalo! That was a fantastic way to end my trip and I was very, very lucky.
When I think back on my month here, I realize how full it has been, although I didn't always think so at the time. Again, I have learned tremendous amounts, only to realize how much I still don't know. Daunting. I am not sure I will return any time soon however, it is a little too brutal for me and if one is not a meat eater, it is quite difficult. But, on reflexion, I'm glad I did it, it was one heck of an experience!
And now, in a couple of days time, I'll be off to England, London specifically, to lead a very large group of runners to the London Marathon. Talk about culture shocks...no time to adjust and I'm off again (I love it;-). So there probably won't be any further postings until I get to Israel and settle in to Kibbutz Lotan.
Self portraits of 'Dela' and Della...
Cheers to you all and I hope most of you have Facebook to be able to see the full album of my stay in South Africa. Additionally, I will put more pictures on my blog as soon as I get home.
