Immediately after finishing our lion walk at Tshukudu we hurried on to Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Center where we were scheduled for the 9:30am tour. This was a three hour tour with an opportunity to see many animals up close. It is obvious they take very good care of the animals. Many volunteers from around the world pay big bucks to come and work there. Their animals and the owner have been featured in many National Geographic specials. We spent some time at the beginning of the tour with the raptors, beautiful eagles that had been injured in the wild and couldn’t go back. We learned fascinating statistics, eagles mate for life, reach reproductive age at 8, will lay one egg a year, lives for 50 years, and only 4% of it’s offspring will reach adulthood. Because of many ecological factors these great birds are becoming endangered. Very sad.
Then we got an opportunity to see a momma cheetah with 3 cubs eat at an impala. This is a huge game reserve as well and to keep the animals healthy they must hunt and provide the usual prey food. The momma cheetah was calm and impassive but the cubs were quite perturbed at our presence with lots of hissing, growling and fuzzing up. The momma cheetah lets her cubs eat first. We got out of there pretty quickly.
They had several grown lions that have horrible life stories – some having been in circuses. Now they seem content to just lay around, they can never be released to the wild. There was also a gorgeous leopard that someone had tried to keep as a pet, but couldn’t handle it by the time it was 8 mos old. By that time, it had imprinted on humans and could never go back to the wild. It is about 8 years old now, quite plump with a gorgeous coat. It rubbed up and down the fence and was quite sociable. It was the most “cat-like” of all the big cats, to me.
Another funny little creature is the honey badger. They have a little guy that creates havoc for them because he is incredibly smart and can get out of almost any enclosure. He will tear down trees to build ladders, etc. He is also from a person who had him as a pet but then had to give him up. So, he loves humans. He will escape his enclosure, go to the front office and spray his scent all around – apparently it reeks and takes up to 3 months to dissipate. He also has an issue with the lions and will go into their enclosure and chase them around! At one point the lion got fed up and took a few bites, but honey badgers have enormously thick loose skin so he wasn’t damaged too badly. The honey badger did retaliate and took a bite on the lion’s face, though! As soon as the badger was released from his vet quarters, he escaped his enclosure once again and made a beeline for the lion enclosure. Honey badgers have a reputation of not being afraid of anything and this little guy was proving it.
We spent sometime with a rescued hyena – a fat one that you would never see in the wild. She was actually quite cute, in an odd way, and made the darndest vocalizations. The ranger tried to tickle her and make her laugh, but she wasn’t cooperating. I felt sorry for her because she was alone and without a pack. She was very “happy” to see all of us and stayed very close to the fence, checking us out. The ranger said that hyenas are actually great hunters and hunt up to 70% of their diet, so their poor reputation is bit undeserved.
Finally we went in a cage with a bunch of vultures. Fortunately they are only interested in dead meat. The ranger spent a long time telling us about the different roles that each of the vultures play. There are the smaller vultures with shorter beaks that are usually first to the scene. Vultures can see very far distances and will see other vultures gathering and will decide to check it out. The smaller vultures usually can’t find an opening thru the tough skin. So, they wait,sometimes for several days, for another particular kind of vulture – a bigger one with a huge beak. He will show up, flap round, make a big display and then eventually open the dead animal up for the little vultures. The ranger told a story of another ranger coming across an elephant carcass, and as a ranger he is obligated to find out how the animal died and report to the park authorities. As he was pulling up, a vulture suddenly popped his head out of the elephants butt! He squeezed and out followed about 30 vultures!! They had cleaned the inside out and had done their job well. Hyena will come in next as they have the strongest jaw muscle and can bite thru skin and bone. Eventually there will be nothing left. Nature as it should be.
The Next South Africa Entry: Swadini Reptile Park
The Whole Trip: South Africa – The Summary
hi, my name is Renske Rooth, i live in holland. i saw your site about the mohoholo and i had a view questions. if you don’t mind answer them.. before i ask these quetion, i need to tell you my motivation. with a friend where looking for a animal centre in africa where we can to volunteer work for 6 weeks. we need to do this for school, so we learn how to take care of animals in the wild.
my question is, how did you get there? do you know someone who can help us find a please to stay for 6 weeks?
thank u
with kind regards,
Renske Rooth