RHINO RESCUE

At the area office is a church employee named Sean Donnelly.  He is the Public Affairs director for the Africa Southeast Area.  For the past 10 years or so, Sean and his wife Diane have been involved with helping to save the Rhino population in Africa.  We’ve probably mentioned it before, but more than 1,000 rhinos were poached last year just so people could cut off their horns.  They are smuggled to China and Viet Nam mainly, for their supposedly medicinal powers when they are ground up.  Four or five weekends a year, Sean organizes a group to go down to the Kruger National Park area to tag, and evaluate rhinos.  If he gets a group of about 15-20 people together, the amount each person pays, is enough to cover the cost of the “Rhino Rescue.”

             

The Klaserie game preserve is a 6-7 hour drive from Johannesburg.  It is a private reserve of about 200,000 acres.  That sounds pretty big until you figure that the Kruger National Park game preserve is more than 4,800,000 acres.  It borders right on Kruger Park game preserve.  There are no fences between Kruger and Klasserie, meaning the animals are free to roam between the parks.  The difference is that because it is private property, the owners have more leeway with what they do on their property with lodges, hotels, etc.

 


A pod of hippos at the watering hole

One of the many beautiful birds

We left Johannesburg at 6 am Thursday morning.  We reserved/rented a van from the area carpool and rode with two other couples. 

 

Mama baboon giving her baby his daily bath

 

We got to our “modest” bungalow about 2:30, and Diane Donnelly fixed a nice Dutch oven dinner for 21.  We left at 6am the next morning and drove about 30 miles to Kruger Park and did a “self-drive” in the park and saw lots of great animals.  We met up at a picnic area in the park at 11am and Donnellys had prepared a nice bacon and egg breakfast on gas barbecue grills.  After breakfast/lunch, we drove some more in Kruger Park then went back to our place in the Klasserie Reserve.  Donnellys fixed us another great Dutch oven dinner Friday night.

 

A crocodile sunning at the watering hole

 

Saturday we left at 5:30am and drove into the Klasserie reserve.  We rode with guides in their open safari vehicles.  Two people in front then 3 rows of 3 people each in open vehicles.  They did have nice sturdy canvas half doors on them in case a lion wanted to jump in.  At 6:45 am we met up in a big clearing.  Waiting for us was the warden from Klassserie Reserve along with a veterinarian, his daughter and 3 interns from the US.  The vet showed us all the drugs he uses to make the “cocktail” to bring down the Rhino.  Because these drugs are so powerful, he doesn’t mix the dosage until they have identified just how big the rhino is that he has to dart.  Right at 7am, the helicopter arrived, then the grand adventure really began.

 

NEXT TIME:  FINDING MS RHINO