Us and our wonderful guide Chris
Today was our last full day in SA. We started the morning off by going to the Sondela Wildlife Center. This was located right on the campsite property. On the property there were animals all over, including a very friendly nyala named Daisy. They also had a petting zoo with farm animals.
The center was not very big, but held a lot! We stared out by having a tour of the kitchen, and then were able to bottle feed some babies! We fed the Blesbok and the others fed some nyala, impala and wildebeest. There were some young zebra and giraffe who just hung around the center that we were able to interact with. Most of the animals were orphans in some form or another. Then we fed some 6 month old serval kittens wet food and went to visit the 6 week old serval kittens. These little girls were so cute but very aggressive already! They had quite the personality and reminded both of us of Alysha's cat, Oscar. Next we saw the caracals ( lynx like cats) and visited the rhinos. The rhinos were 6 months old and had both lost their mothers. They ate a water and rice mixture along with some pellets. One was already very aggressive and let you know when she had had enough. We then were able to go into a barn and see a 3 day old nyala. She had lost her mother as well and was tiny! Another older nyala was in there with her to act as a surrogate parent. Then the manager came and introduced himself and talked to us about rehab in Africa, the challenges he faces, and showed us the hospital portion. He was a very intelligent man and had a huge heart. He then sent us with a rehabber to meet some lion cubs saved from being raised for can lion hunting. Can lion hunting is when they raise lions and put them on say 3 acres of land and then shoot them. They are not in a large area, so are not hunted, but just shot for fun. This made most of us sad to see but happy that these cubs were saved. We then had the opportunity to clean some pens and we chose the servals. After this, we said our goodbyes and went back to camp to get ready for grad.
Later in the afternoon we went down to the reception to meet up with the director of ecolife to write an essay on a certain subject. It turns out this was canceled and we just had to write a review on ecolife. After we did this we had a spectacular dinner at the restaurant. It was a private affair and we had salad, bread, corn maize and a large portion of lasagna. The meat eaters had food off the braai. We then had a delicious layered cake for dessert as well as some drinks. The directors of ecolife were there as well, and after our meal called us up individually to receive a number of certificates. We had to wear this funny sun hat and a black coat as our "cap and gown". It was pretty funny and there were multiple pictures! After this we said our goodbyes and went back to camp to settle in for the night.
The center was not very big, but held a lot! We stared out by having a tour of the kitchen, and then were able to bottle feed some babies! We fed the Blesbok and the others fed some nyala, impala and wildebeest. There were some young zebra and giraffe who just hung around the center that we were able to interact with. Most of the animals were orphans in some form or another. Then we fed some 6 month old serval kittens wet food and went to visit the 6 week old serval kittens. These little girls were so cute but very aggressive already! They had quite the personality and reminded both of us of Alysha's cat, Oscar. Next we saw the caracals ( lynx like cats) and visited the rhinos. The rhinos were 6 months old and had both lost their mothers. They ate a water and rice mixture along with some pellets. One was already very aggressive and let you know when she had had enough. We then were able to go into a barn and see a 3 day old nyala. She had lost her mother as well and was tiny! Another older nyala was in there with her to act as a surrogate parent. Then the manager came and introduced himself and talked to us about rehab in Africa, the challenges he faces, and showed us the hospital portion. He was a very intelligent man and had a huge heart. He then sent us with a rehabber to meet some lion cubs saved from being raised for can lion hunting. Can lion hunting is when they raise lions and put them on say 3 acres of land and then shoot them. They are not in a large area, so are not hunted, but just shot for fun. This made most of us sad to see but happy that these cubs were saved. We then had the opportunity to clean some pens and we chose the servals. After this, we said our goodbyes and went back to camp to get ready for grad.
Later in the afternoon we went down to the reception to meet up with the director of ecolife to write an essay on a certain subject. It turns out this was canceled and we just had to write a review on ecolife. After we did this we had a spectacular dinner at the restaurant. It was a private affair and we had salad, bread, corn maize and a large portion of lasagna. The meat eaters had food off the braai. We then had a delicious layered cake for dessert as well as some drinks. The directors of ecolife were there as well, and after our meal called us up individually to receive a number of certificates. We had to wear this funny sun hat and a black coat as our "cap and gown". It was pretty funny and there were multiple pictures! After this we said our goodbyes and went back to camp to settle in for the night.
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