Report on summer volunteering placement at Khulula Care for Wild, South Africa 2013
Heather Thorn – BSc Zoology
The organization – Khulula Care for Wild
The organization I worked for during my two week volunteering placement is called Khulula Care for
Wild. It is a charitable organization, with the aim of rehabilitating orphaned and injured African
wildlife. They have a strong focus on white rhino conservation, and currently have 7 resident young
white rhino. Care for Wild have a variety of other species in their care, with each animal having a
different story and reason for being at Care for Wild. Examples of the other species at the reserve
include lions, white lions, common duikers, red duikers, kudu, bush buck, nyala, impala, caracals,
Serval cats, meerkats, rock python, genets, vervet monkeys and eagle owls. The animals come into
their care in a number of ways, some come through the vets, some are confiscated from people
housing them illegally, some are found injured in the surrounding area and some are brought in by
concerned local people. Six out of seven of the resident white rhinos are in their care due to their
mothers being killed in poaching incidents, hence why rhino conservation is the flagship of the
organization.
Care for Wild was set up 13 years ago by one very determined lady, the reserve manager and owner,
Petronel. Her and her staff and volunteers have dedicated themselves to rehabilitating the wildlife,
and have told me some amazing stories of both their triumphs and their losses. The group of
volunteers and the staff were split into two teams: rhino team and cat team. Rhino team took care
of the rhinos and the antelopes, whilst cat team took care of the cats, monkeys and owls.
An example - Olive the Rhino
Olive is an eight month old Rhino who was bought into Care for Wild during my visit. The reason for
her being bought in, like most other rhinos at the reserve, was due to the fact that her mother had
been killed in a poaching incident. This took place in a local game reserve called Sabi Sands. Three
weeks previously, two other rhinos had been bought into the reserve for the same reason, both also
from Sabi Sands. For the first two days of her new life at Care for Wild, she remained partly sedated,
blind folded and confined to a large metal crate, so we could carry out veterinary checks and keep
her under two hour observations- to make sure she was healthy and didn’t require veterinary
treatment. She was given a drip to maintain her fluid and glucose levels and she was also given a
milk formula six times a day, which consisted of Denkavit powder, pure glucose and water. This was
fed to her in a two litre bottle with a teat. To keep her calm whilst she was in the crate, classical
music was played through-out the day. This technique is often used with new baby animals at the
sanctuary, as it keeps a steady rhythm to soothe them, but it also plays over the noises of daily life at
the sanctuary (dogs barking, car engines starting and people calling out). All of these noises could
potentially cause stress to a young wild animal and so it was important to intercept these noises.
After two days of monitoring, Olive was given the okay to be moved into her new enclosure, called a
boma. Her crate was manoeuvred by a team of workers onto a vehicle and she was transported the
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short distance through the reserve to the rhino enclosures. Here, her crate was off loaded and
everyone but three staff members left the enclosure for reasons of safety and also because it was in
Olive’s best interests not to overwhelm her. Petronel (the reserve manager and owner), Angelique
and Sam (reserve co-ordinators) opened the crate and helped olive back out. At this point she was
still blindfolded. Petronel fed her a bottle of milk formula, whilst Sam carefully removed the blind
fold over her face. For the first time Olive could see her new enclosure and everyone around her. I
felt a sigh of relief to see she was well and moving around her boma, but it was a bitter sweet
moment; the first thing Olive did was look for her mother. It was a moment that bought home the
situation, and even though I was happy she was well and glad that Care for Wild had stepped in and
saved her life, I wished she wasn’t there. I wanted her to be wild and still with her mother,
something every young rhino should be able to take for granted. With the blindfold off, she refused
to take another bottle from Petronel, which was to be expected.
However Olive made excellent progress, and within 24 hours of being released from her crate and
into her boma, she was accepting bottles from Petronel, and within 72 hours, she was accepting
bottles from other staff members and volunteers. This was a triumph for everyone involved, and
reflected on the dedication and passion of the sanctuary towards wild animal rehabilitation. I was
very proud to have been involved in this process and look forward to hearing about how Olive
continues to grow and thrive in the care of the sanctuary.
Everyone helping to move Olive
into her new boma
Petronel and Sam getting ready
to let Olive out
Olive’s first steps in her new
boma and home at Care for Wild
My experience
On arrival to Johannesburg Airport, I was met by a staff member and escorted to my transport along
with the two other volunteers travelling to Khulula Care for Wild that day. The journey from the
airport to the reserve took 4 hours and on this journey I saw some amazing wildlife – Zebra,
wildebeest, rhinos and impala. It was a beautiful start to my adventure in South Africa. I arrived at
Khulula Care for Wild and was introduced to the other volunteers and staff members.
The following day my placement began at 4:20am, as I had decided to join the rhino team and the
first feed of the day was at 5:00am. We prepared the food for the rhinos and also the antelopes.
There were six rhinos to feed, all of different ages and requiring different food. The two baby rhinos,
Timbi and Forrest, received milk formula in two litre bottles, two older rhinos, Libby and Sabi,
received their milk formula in a ‘lolly’ – this meant we mixed it with less water, so it was a thick
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paste, which we scooped onto dry food and fed to them. The two oldest rhinos, Storm and Lunar, no
longer required milk supplements and so they were fed dry food – teff, lucern and rhino pellets. The
milk formula for both the bottles and the lollies were mainly made up of milk powder, glucose
powder, probiotic and water. The antelopes received a mixture of food, they received fresh fruit and
vegetables, 20% and 80% respectively, and they also were given dry food – lucern, teff and antelope
pellets. The next feed of the day was at 9:00am and before this feed, we would walk down to the
rhino section of the reserve and do the daily cleaning of the animals night pens. The animals were
then fed again at 11:00am, 3:00pm, 6:00pm and 9:00pm. At the 3:00pm feeds we would prepare
their night pens with fresh bedding, ready for the evening ahead, and at 6:00pm the animals were
encouraged into their night pens – however they did not always go in! But this was okay as the
weather was warm throughout the day and so it was not a necessity for them to stay indoors at
night, like it is in the winter. This was the basic daily routine, but in between the feeds a lot went on.
Some days we would collect fresh bedding from the fields surrounding the enclosures, this was
called ‘slashing’ and was one of my favourite parts of the day, because although it was hard work in
direct sunlight, afterwards we got to run and jump into a nearby fresh water river – the most
refreshing experience ever. During the day we also had time to sit in the enclosures with the animals
and interact with them. This was the most unique part of my experience, as every day I would spend
time with the baby rhinos, Timbi and Forrest, and the antelopes. Something I never thought I’d ever
get the opportunity to do. Sometimes we would just sit with them and watch them, maybe take
some observations on their behaviour, on hot days we would give the rhinos a mud bath and
sometimes we would walk around the enclosure with them, petting them and playing with them. I
think this time of the day was important for them, just as it was for us, as it stimulated them and
offered them some extra enrichment. On a couple of occasions I spent some time on the cat team,
and in this time I got to go into enclosures with Serval kittens, caracals, meerkats and lions – again,
an incredible experience.
During the days we also got some time to ourselves, everyone spent this time differently; I liked to
wonder around the reserve with my camera, as this gave me to opportunity to take pictures of the
beautiful scenery, and the wildlife. I saw many wild animals during this time, for example I saw wild
nyala, common duiker, giraffe, paradise fly catchers, greater crested buntings, brown headed king
fishers, Kurrichane thrush, guinea fowl and rhinoceros beetle. In the evenings we would light a
campfire and have some down time, because the days were very long so it was important for the
volunteers to relax and catch up with each other. In this time we did some star gazing, and learnt
about some of the different constellations, and on certain nights we saw the Milky Way. On one
occasion, we went on a night walk to get to an old mine on the reserve, here I was lucky enough to
see wild baby porcupines and cave bats.
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Timbi getting her first mud bath
Feeding Asuwa, the Kudu, his
fruit and vegetables
Feeding Timbi her milk formula
During my time at Care for Wild I learnt a lot about myself and about caring for young wildlife. It
takes a lot of hard work, time and passion to do this job, but the main thing I learnt was that it was
never a chore; I was never present because I had to be, but always because I wanted to be. I met
amazing people, beautiful animals and contributed to something bigger: the conservation of a
species, the white rhino. Before going to South Africa, I had never experienced conservation; I had
only been told about it, or read about it. The lessons that I learnt through experiencing it are
invaluable and I know one day these lessons will help me to shape my career in animal conservation.
I would like to say a huge thank you to the Arthur Hosier and Meyer Sassoon travel award scheme at
the University of Reading, without which it would not have been possible for me to go on this life
changing adventure.
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