A Grand Finale!

Today was pretty much epic. We got to do some amazing things, and this almost made up for the fact that we have to leave tomorrow.

Our first task was to meet Rita to de-horn 3 rhinos. Rhinos are poached heavily because the rhino horn is considered an aphrodisiac and male enhancement cure in some Asian cultures. Poachers enter a property, kill the rhino, remove the horn, and leave. If owners or guards are found, they are likely to also attack them. They are known to ransack homes looking for rhino horns kept in safes; farmers store them in safe deposit boxes in banks, but poachers believe that they are kept at home. Current international law forbids any sale, trade or movement of rhino horns, in an effort to prevent poaching of this endangered animal. This has always seemed a very logical approach to me, until I saw and heard from people here where the rhinos actually are. Since there is no legal source of rhino horn, the supply is low, so the price is very high. Thus poaching, risk-taking and associated crimes result, since the payoff is perceived to be worth the risk. Many local people feel that legalizing trade in horns will allow them to be sold openly, decreasing the price and thus the incentive to poach

This is also not so much an individual enterprise, but more something that is highly organized and vast in scope. Poachers get inside information on specific farms, drop weapons ahead of time, form teams with specific plans of attack, and have markets ready for the horns they steal. In response, locals have formed a Farm Watch, which is similar to Neighborhood Watch, only a bit more active, better equipped and armed, and sometimes better trained. While we were eating one day, Farm Watch received a tip that poachers were in the area. Dozens of trucks full of armed young men converged, quickly organized and formed roadblocks to trap the poachers, while other trucks full of tracking dogs awaited their call. In this situation, the poaching suspect was caught, but did not have any contraband on him--they suspect he threw it away before reaching the road block. We were blocked today by another roadblock, so clearly this is an active situation.

So, many preserves de-horn rhinos. This requires darting them, cutting off the horn about 8 cm above the skin with a chainsaw, then smoothing the edges with a grinder. Each individual rhino is identified by microchip, and DNA from both rhino and horn are on file in a central registry. Thus if a horn is confiscated, DNA analysis can isolate the source of the horn, so laws can be enforced.

We drove around the preserve for about an hour before locating the first rhino. The air was cool, but the sky was deep blue and the sunlight strengthened quickly. The bush was full of birds and insects all making soft morning noises. The tracks were quite smooth here and we were once again riding in a game viewer on padded seats! We drove past several watering places, looking for fresh rhino tracks. I saw some cat tracks (I;m not good enough yet to distinguish leopard from cheetah, but the other scouting group saw cheetah.). While we were searching, we came across several giraffe in the road. They are so huge and move in slow motion.

Giraffe!

The first rhino was a large dominant male walking with a smaller mature male. They were standing quite close to the road, seemingly unconcerned with our presence. We radioed the vehicle carrying Rita, and they arrived. Rita darted the rhino and he went down quite quickly. Rhinos are very sensitive to the drugs used for tranquilizing them, so they need close, careful monitoring, but their thick skin and large body size makes this a challenge.

Spotted the rhinos in the bush

They are impressive! Interestingly, they are most closely related to horses!

Monitoring breathing at the rhino's nostril, and inserting an oxygen cannula to provide support while he is tranquilized. This is just a tube that runs oxygen into the nostril to help support oxygen levels since the rhino is not breathing very efficiently.

Rhino is down, but needs to be re-positioned for de-horning. It takes a lot of people to move a sleepy rhino!

Pulling on the halter to turn the rhino. Our guide estimated his weight around 3 tons.

Nearly in position

Lying down in position. All the students are pushing on the back to hold the rhino up onto his chest; he would not be able to breathe well on his side. Andre' is kneeling on this side making adjustments to the positioning of the hind legs.

The horn is removed with a chainsaw

And the secondary horn is removed

The blindfolded rhino with both horns removed

The surface where the horn has been removed. The horn itself is fibrous, dense, and surprisingly heavy. It has an odd smell, and stinks of burning hair when they are sawing it.

Rebecca injects a rhino! Note the oxygen canister and tube lying against the rhino's foreleg.

Harley and Danielle inject B vitamins, supervised by Andre'

Allyssa and Rebecca prepare injections

Rhino tail

Hind feet. The "toenails" are hard, like hooves, but as you can see on the further foot, the bottom of the middle of the foot is covered with thick skin only.

Nails and sole of foot

Rhino ear

Incredibly thick, hard rhino skin. This crease near the flank is several inches thick and so hard it cannot be moved.

As soon as the reversal agent was given, the rhino stood, then walked calmly off after squinting at us in confusion for a few moments. We quickly packed up and moved on to search for the next rhino. It took another hour or so to locate him, and a bit longer to dart him as he had moved deep into the underbrush. The de-horning proceeded efficiently once again.

Jessica (left) and Lily (right) with the blindfolded rhino. Students look on.

Harley applies protective spray onto de-horning site

Andre' positioning the rhino

Danielle, Harley and Luke with the second rhino

Rita (right) monitors breathing, as students help keep rhino upright on his sternum

Jessica and baby Alexandrei with rhino 2

Harley, Rebecca, Allyssa and Lily with the rhino

Rhino horn on the ground. Seems pretty insignificant to be the cause of so much fuss!

We went in search of the 3rd rhino, but after well over an hour, gave up and returned to the bush camp. On the way, we made a quick stop to visit a tame caracal on the property. She had been the foundation of a breeding program, with many offspring on the property and nearby, but she was now retired and too habituated to humans to release. These are the smallest of the big cats; they hunt by jumping and catching small prey, sometimes in mid air! They are also capable of taking down an impala!

Sami and Sahara the caracal

scratching Sahara's chin. Note the long ear tufts!

The next part was the only dark spot in the day: We had to say good-bye to Rita. She was going on to dart a single sable, and we were headed up to a local waterfall. We all hated to leave Rita, as she has been so patient and kind, and so knowledgeable, but it was time. 

We drove nearly an hour to the waterfall entrance, only to be turned away by the gate attendant: The waterfall is just inside the neighboring province, and the tourism workers there are on strike, so the waterfall and access were closed.

On the way back we encountered another FarmWatch roadblock, and saw 2 giraffe in the road. Along the way, we discussed meeting Lily's brother Troy, who took us to Kruger last year, and some other friends, to climb to the top of a hill and watch the sunset. After a brief bit of free time at the lodge, we headed out. This was a property that Lily had not been on before either. We met Troy at the gate, and he led us to a spot to park. Then we walked to the base of the steep rocky hill, and began to climb. The rocks were gorgeous: Streaked red and white and green and white, and tossed vertically in every direction. The climb got steep and rocky quite fast, and soon we were scrambling up rough boulders on the way to the top. The last bit required some actual climbing; Lily and Troy seemed convinced that I wouldn't be able to make it without help, but once I had a plan, I easily gained the top. We sat up there on top of the world and watched the red sun disappear behind the mountains. The breeze cooled, but the rocks remained warm for a while. Soon it got dusky and we had to head down. We went down a different route, a "path" that was a bit less steep and more obvious than the route we took going up, but was quite a challenge as I had no shadows to help me figure out how far each rock was from my feet. No accidents, and we all arrived safely at the van. 

Beautiful veined rocks

Climbing to the top of the world

Up on top

looking down on the world

The views are unmatched

The sky quickly turns colors, highlighting the mountains

The mountains become layered shadows

And the world quiets

We are on top of the world!

A quick drive back in the dark brought us back to the lodge for supper. Jane made an enormous meal: grilled pork chops, vegetables, pap, pumpkin fritters and lasagna! And peach upside down cake for dessert. I am sooooo full!

Tomorrow will be a difficult day. Although we don't have to leave early, and Jane will make us breakfast, we have to pack and leave. It is so hard to leave our adventures here! Even though I know I will be back next year, it is such a long time to wait to see these wonderful friends again! Instead of being sad to leave, I am trying hard to be grateful to have been here again, and positive about coming back again. 

I may add a few farewell photos tomorrow; otherwise this is the end of our adventure. I hope you enjoyed sharing it at least a tiny bit as much as we enjoyed living it! I have really loved each moment here and have made so many wonderful memories!