Live from Zululand Rhino Orphanage

An endangered species experience to Zululand, KwaZulu Natal in January 2022 by Maddy and Mia

This is our daily rundown of what we got up to

Travel to SA

• Travel from London to Joburg and then to Durban
  • The flight was quite long and we had a bit of a layover in Joburg but we managed to get quite a lot of sleep and so it went quite quickly
• Drive from Durban to ZRO
  • A long drive but after the rest of the travel it felt quite quick
  • It was really nice to see some of SA during the drive

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Week 1

• Orphanage
  • Duties at the orphanage consisted of:
    • Feeding Leko 4 times a day
      • 06:30, 11:00, 15:30, 20:00
      • This was by far the most special part of the trip – being able to bottle feed a rhino is a once in a lifetime opportunity that we will never forget
    • Cleaning Lekos boma, sleeping area and water trough
    • Letting him out into the bigger boma at the start of the day and bringing him in in the afternoon/evening
    • Feeding the hippos
      • Charlie requires medication so they are both handfed pellets in order to give him the medication
    • Feeding mystique
      • The antipoaching dog at the orphanage
  • We were able to go into Lekos boma to spend time with him and encourage him to walk around in the outside section
  • We also spent a lot of time spraying him with the hose to encourage mud bathing
  • We also had to weigh Leko once a week
    • This was quite tricky as you had to get him to stand still on the scales
      • He usually got quite impatient as he wanted his milk
• Rhino Dehorning
  • This was an incredible experience
  • This was on a black rhino calf
  • We watched the helicopter go up to dart the rhino and we were lucky in that the rhino went down in the road
  • We were able to get hands on and involved in sampling and any other small tasks that needed to be done
  • We were also lucky enough to get the chance to ride in the helicopter afterwards
    • This was only a short journey but it was super special
• Wild dog feed
  • These were 4 male wild dogs that were being held for another reserve
  • We were able to watch them being fed 2-3 times each week
    • There was also daily boma checks that we were able to go on some days
      • The boma checks were to make sure the fence was intact and working and check that all 4 dogs were ok and also make sure there were no lion or other predator tracks around the edge
  • The first couple of feeds the grass was really long and so we could only see the dogs when they were jumping – this was really cool to see how they coped with the long grass
  • The later feeds the grass had been cut so we were able to see more of the dogs and see them feeding on the carcass
    • The freshly cut grass attracted a lot of birds and so we saw vultures, maribu storks, kites and many more
• Pangolin walk
  • This was such a rare opportunity as you would never normally see pangolins in the wild
  • The pangolin we walked with was a young adult male that was in soft release due to being rescued from the illegal wildlife trade
  • He was weighed every day before and after his walks
    • We were able to gets hands on in order to weigh him
    • Once he reaches a certain weight he will be released fully and monitored
  • During the walks we followed him around as he searched for food and ate
    • Usually for about 3-4 hours
  • During these walks we were out in the bush and it was quite thrilling
• Wildlife Act
  • 3 times a week we went out with Wildlife Act
    • Wildlife Act is a Non-Profit Organisation that monitors and tracks priority species on reserves.
  • We had the opportunity to go Saturday and Sunday mornings (setting off at 4:30am) and Wednesday afternoons
  • Most of the time we were tracking the recently released orphaned rhinos or following up on sightings of other priority species
  • These drives were when we had most of our sightings
    • Lions, hyenas, elephants, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, impala, kudu, wildebeest, nyala, warthogs, black-backed jackal, white rhino, vultures, monkeys
  • The animals were tracked via telemetry if they had a collar on
    • We were able to have a go at pinpointing the direction of the signal
      • This was super tricky as even being off by a few degrees can send you in a different direction when at long range
  • Animals were also tracked via spore and other animals behaviour
• Bush clearing
  • We spent a couple of hours clearing alien vegetation from Lekos outside boma
  • This was a very difficult task as it was very hot and sweaty and the bushes were very spiky
    • We had to take regular breaks and a lot of water was required

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Week 2

• Releasing cheetahs
  • The reserve aquired two new male cheetahs that are not brothers so they have to be bomad for a while in order to create a bond between them
    • This bond is needed to better the cheetahs survivals chances against other predators
  • We were able to help carry the travel containers into the boma and watch as the cheetahs were released
    • This was incredible as they were super fast and it was out first cheetah sighting
  • These cheetahs were very wild and we had to spend a lot of time habituating them to the presence of vehicles and people
    • This was quite tricky as all they wanted to do was hide
  • We also got involved in feeding the cheetahs 2-3 times per week
    • Unlike with the wild dogs there often wasn’t much to see as the cheetahs hid at the other side of the boma
  • There was also daily boma checks that we were able to be a part of as well
• Rhino Sample Organisation
  • We spent one morning organising all of the rhino samples and resalting them.
  • This took a lot of time but it was really cool to look through the different samples and see how old some of them were
• Community Food Drop
  • This was a food drop we did alongside the SA rugby legends with help from the charities SA Harvest and The Domino Foundation
  • We spent a lot of time packing up the trucks with all the food before we were able to set off
  • Driving to the different communities was really cool as were up in the hills and it was very scenic and pretty
  • We went to 4 different communities and dropped off 40 sets of food at each
  • Everyone we met in the communities was so happy and thankful for all that the reserve and the ZCT was doing for them
  • It was a very tiring day in the sun moving heavy bags of maize and potatoes but all the effort was worth it to help the local communities
• Sunday Morning – the craziest morning
  • Rhino Dehorning
    • This was our second dehorning
    • This happened to be on the mother of the black rhino calf we had done last week 
      • We were super lucky to see another black rhino
    • Unfortunately she went down in some very thick bush and so we had to fight through in order to get to her
    • It was really cool to see the team working in a different environment and still getting everything done just as well as before
  • Investigating a wildebeest calf
    • One of the lodges on the reserve had reported there was a wildebeest calf with a broken back that had been struggling to stand for multiple days
    • After seeing the calf, the management decided the best plans to end its suffering and use the carcass to feed the cheetahs in the boma
  • Feeding the cheetahs
    • Whilst we were hanging the carcass up in the cheetah boma, the cheetahs began to come over to us – which was super strange as they were very skittish
    • After leaving the boma we realised it was because there was a family of 7 lions along the fence line
      • Lions can cause a huge problem for bomad animals as they can stress them out and cause them to try to escape
    • We had to chase the lions off by scaring them with the vehicle until they had moved far enough away from the boma
  • All of this was done before 10am
    • This just shows how unpredictable and crazy the day to day life on the reserve can be
  • After a hard morning we went out with the team for a meal
    • This was really nice chance to chat and relax (and eat some good food)

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Week 3

• Painting
  • We spent a couple of days painting the creche (primary school) in the local community
  • This was lovely because our paintings will last within the community for many years
  • It was quite a messy process and we ruined lots of clothes LOL
  • It was a really nice chance to do something different and see another side of conservation
  • It was also nice to talk and get to know some of the members of the local community
• Cultural Experience
  • We had the chance to help test a new cultural experience
  • We went out into one of the communities and ate some traditional zulu food and saw traditional zulu houses
  • This was really nice to be involved and see some of the zulu culture
• Working with Mike the Vet
  • Cheetah relocation
    • This was on a different reserve
    • They had a cheetah that had been hand reared and was hunting ok but when shed been moved to this reserve, she stopped hunting and had backed herself into a corner with no game
    • We watched Mike dart the cheetah and then helped move her onto the vehicle and place a drip
    • We then rode in the back of the cruiser with her
      • This was a very bumpy ride
      • Mia was tasked with monitoring if the cheetah was waking up
      • Maddy was tasked with monitoring and holding the drip
    • We then watched a little bit of the cheetah waking up but this can be quite a long process and so we didn’t stay until she was fully functioning
      • But someone else did (she was not left alone)
  • Rhino post mortems
    • This was quite a horrific day
    • 2 rhinos on a different reserve had been poached for their horns
    • The point of the post mortem was to recover the bullets for forensic investigations
    • The smell was the most horrific thing that we had EVER experienced
• Mongoose
  • One of the lodges had found two baby mongoose that had been abandoned
    • They couldn’t find the mother anywhere
  • We helped feed them and look after them for a day before they were transferred to a rescue facility
• Staying at the lodge
  • We were kindly gifted by TEP a night at lovely lodge
  • This was such an incredible experience and a great way to end our trip
  • We had some AMAZING food and went on two game drives
  • All the staff were so welcoming and friendly
• Last meal
  • We went out on the very last night for a nice meal with some of team
  • This was a lovely way to say bye to everyone

Travel Home

• This was a super long journey (32 hours in total)
• We were thankful to finally be home but super sad to have left ☹

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