Day 3 – Rhino Conservation Day

Today… How can I even begin to describe today? Buckle up friends, this will be a long one.

We started very early this morning with a 5am alarm and a call to meet at 5.45 with Stef to take us to our rhino encounter. Marataba Explorers Lodge take part in conservation efforts with their white rhinos on the reserve, and we’re about to be a part of it! They are in the process of cataloguing their rhino population with AI collars, which record a location of the animal once every 12 hours in an attempt to prevent poaching, and to record any strange behaviour that may indicate illness or strange behaviour that suggests they need to check in on them. There is so much information that they take from each animal during these taggings, and we were lucky enough to be a part of one today, which very few people in the world get to do.

On the way to meet up with the vets and managers and reserve officials, we were able to see more signs of their conservation efforts when we drove passed a few of their quarantine pens for their smaller animals and big cats. When they move animals on and off the reserve, they first spend some time in these pens to ensure there is no illness or medical concerns before moving them to join the other animals on the reserve, or move on to other areas.

We have dubbed Jed the bush pig whisperer since this morning he was able to spot 4 of them! Which we have been told is extremely rare since they are typically nocturnal creatures, they should have definitely been in their dens by the time we were out on the reserve. Stef dubbed this the find of the day. They are quick creatures, so I don’t have a very good image of them, but they are larger than warthogs, with broad shoulders and a white mohawk down their backs.

When we got to the meetup point, we were met by a large group of reserve officials and conservation staff. We met the head vet Andy and his veterinary students who would be assisting us today, as well as the helicopter pilot who would be taking the vet up to round up and dart the rhinos we would be working on today. After a quick briefing of what would be expected of us and what we should expect from the experience, Andy and the pilot boarded the helicopter and went off in search of a white rhino. While we waited, we spoke with some of the vet students who were from various parts of the world doing this once in a life time placement. The passion with which everyone we have met speaks about their job and the animals they work with has truly been a highlight of the trip so far. You can’t work in this industry without having an honest love for the work.

It wasn’t too long before the radios went off with confirmation that a rhino has been darted, and we all scrambled into the vehicles to meet with the vet and ground team. It felt like we were a part of an action movie while we were speeding down dirt tracks with a helicopter rounding up an animal we couldn’t see in the distance. It really added to the excitement and adrenaline! We couldn’t have had a more perfect situation, as we stopped on a straight stretch of a dirt road, a small calf staggered out of the brush and went down sedated right in the middle. We had found a small female calf who was between 18 months and 2 years of age. The ground team had gone to her and blindfolded her and put plugs in her ears to stop any outside stimuli that could risk rousing her while we worked. This team has been working together long enough where the whole process is a well oiled machine – everyone knew what needed doing and just got to work. We were invited to be a part of the entire process, which was absolutely mind blowing.

For each rhino they sedate and tag, they do a number of things to collect data. Their goal ultimately is the AI collar, but they tend to wait until the animal is fully grown before applying one, so for the calf today we focussed on grabbing DNA samples, hair samples, tissue samples, blood samples, removing ticks, treating any surface wounds, microchipping their horns and body and notching their ears for identification. This little girl was the reserves 252nd rhino. She was absolutely beautiful! I was lucky enough to jump in and assist with providing her oxygen while she was sedated, so I was close to her face and was able to feel the breath of her on my hands. I was in absolute awe of this powerful creature. Once we had collected the data that we could, they gave her a reversal sedation injection and we all backed off to the vehicles to watch her come-to and leave us. But this was just the first rhino. Next we were working on her mum.

While we were with the calf, the helicopter was tracking the cow. They tend to aim for mother and calf combos to make the most of their opportunity for gathering data. So while we were watching the girl get back to her feet and walk away – which happens quite quickly – we got another radio call that the mother was down. So we all jumped back in the car and raced to find her. The calf was incredible, but the cow… she was absolutely stunning. She was HUGE! We went with the same goal as the calf, but now that we had seen it done before, I think we all felt a little more confident about interacting with the animal. This time the conservation and vet crews were asking us if we wanted to be involved with every process, and we all said yes every single time. I was a part of microchipping the horns, getting measurements, spraying ticks and wounds and got to learn so much about her. She was around 30 years old, and likely already pregnant with another calf. The climate is very harsh at the moment, so with the effort of still feeding her current calf, while being pregnant with another, and while living in a very dry environment, she was a little on the underweight side. She had many ticks that we treated, and a few surface wounds that we took care of. We were also invited to feel inside her mouth – going against every survival instinct I have, of course I did. The inside of their mouths are surprisingly soft, as they don’t have any incisors, just a hard calcification on their lips that they use to cut the grass that they eat. The skin under their arms and between skin folds is actually so soft, where the rest of their skin is thick and hard. Interacting with this gigantic, beautiful rhino was something I will never forget.

With the process complete, we took some group photos, gave her the reversal drug and watched her wake and walk away. Our guides told us that it will typically take a couple of hours, but the cow will call for her calf and track her back down until they’re together again. We said our goodbyes to the conservation team and went on out way towards the camp, with an essential coffee stop on the way. This is when Stefan came face to face with a buffalo while searching for a place to have a private moment. We saw him walk away into some bushes, and back out and walk towards the car red faced. Apparently that gave him a bit of a scare.

We headed back to camp for some breakfast and a couple of hours of relaxation while avoiding the mid day heat. That’s really how it goes here. You have a bunch of activity in the mornings and evenings, but you siesta and keep cool during the middle of the day, which is exactly what the animals are doing too, so being out driving and looking for them a lot of the time would be pointless anyway. I’m making the most use of this time and catching up on todays blog. It’s a dry 37 degrees outside, so hiding away in the tent is perfect. We will be having lunch at about 3 o’clock, and then heading out on our evening drive at about 4.30. So call this part 1?

---

Okay, so much has happened. We went out on our drive and were presented with lucky sighting after lucky sighting! Let be give you the running list like the last entry, but then I need to speak about some experiences. today we met:

• Giraffes
• Zebra
• Jackals (one was sneakily running away with a mouthful of Guinea fowl)
• Impala
• Bush pigs
• Lilac breasted roller
• Kudu
• Buffalo
• Baboons
• Wildebeest
• Rhino (quite a few, but one in particular had an egret buddy who was very cute)
• Leopard tortoise
• Hippos
• Golden tailed woodpeckers
• Red back toad
• Southern tree agama
• A lion and a lioness feasting on a zebra kill (plus two more curious rhinos)
• An elephant at the waterhole, plus the jackal he kept suggesting to leave
• Two cheetahs, also having a drink at the waterhole.

As you can see… It has been an INCREDIBLE day. Early this morning while we were on our way to the rhinos, Stef had pointed out some male lion tracks, and promised we would go look for him in the afternoon… he delivered. We were out on the road looking at a few other beautiful animals, but he was constantly on his radio, conspiring quietly. *potentially triggering* We had been looking out for a couple of different things, so I thought he may have one of those animals spotted with the help of the other guides, but I was not expecting to roll up on a big beautiful male lion and a lioness tearing apart a zebra. You could smell it before you saw them, so the carcass was not a surprise, but that was incredibly special. Unfortunately, they had taken down the zebra or dragged it into the brush, so they were in shadow and obscured, meaning I didn’t get many photos, and the ones I did get leave a bit to be desired.

But something that made the situation even more interesting was the two rhinos who strolled down the road past where we were parked, after taking an interest in the smells and sounds of the lions feeding. There were a few moments where we were a bit tense trying to work out if they would be interested enough to chase the lions off, while we were in between them and the lions. But they were only curious, and once they had a look, they were content to keep moving, and slowly meandered away down the road.

After 2 days exploring the reserve, we’ve managed to tick 4 out of the Big 5 off our list, we’re now on the hunt for a leopard to complete the list. I have faith in our trusted guide, he hasn’t failed us so far. He also mentioned that they have pangolins on the reserve which really caught my attention, so we’re adding that to our hit list!

Tomorrow we have a both a morning and night drive which I’m super excited about. There’s just more chances to see more beautiful animals in the wild. There is just nothing else like it!