Walk with me to a new land....

...such strange brothers

And when the mighty herds vanish, may we vanish too my friend.

Just a lazy Sunday morning in the bush

 

Every spring the bush brings forth new life.... a baby nyala seconds after birth!

"I am the voice of the voiceless,
Through me the dumb shall speak,
Till the deaf world's ear be made to hear
The wrongs of the wordless weak

From street, from cage, from kennel,
From stable and zoo, the wail
Of my tortured kin proclaims the sin
Of the mighty against the frail.

Oh, shame on the mothers of mortals
Who have not stooped to teach
Of the sorrow that lies in dear, dumb eyes,
The sorrow that has no speech.

And I am my brother's keeper,
And I shall fight his fight;
And speak the word for beast and bird
Till the world shall set things right.

- Ella Wheeler Wilcox, 1850-1919

Even big boys still like to play!

Lazy lazy afternoons...

 

the seasons are turning and as the weather heats up this little guy

just gets fruitier by the day!

There is one thing I always find so interesting, if you had a Rottweiler or an Alsatian or one of those massive guard dogs people will not expect of it to jump on their lap when they come to visit, on the contrary they will steer well clear but now when it comes to a hand reared WILD animal they just expect it to come rub against them or to want to be tickled behind the ears on a first encounter. They do not realise that it takes hours every day just to keep the animal habituated and that it is still WILD and that its instincts will always dominate. They do not realise that closeness to the animal is earned and that it takes blood, sweat and tears- literally!

You spend hours and hours exercising them, showing them new things and trying to expose them to as many different things as possible – the running water in a stream, the first impala droppings, a murderous thunderstorm, the excitement of making it all the way to the top of a large tree or catching its first field mouse – and still try to give them the life they deserve and still respect their WILD nature.

You learn to appreciate their moods, their fear, hunger, aggression, instinct and love that they will hand out in abundance.

You learn to respect their power, claws and their intuitive nature and you just watch in awe as nature looks after their own child and he just knows what his “forefathers” knew without being taught or having a “real” mother to guide him.

And I still wonder – how do people just walk in and expect this WILD creature to accept them right away?

A favourite photo!

My husband has always been the only person allowed to scratch his tummy and he would go all woozy and sleepy whenever he got tickled!

A few days ago I read an article about the illegal wildlife trade and how they found a baby sun bear in someone’s suitcase. Now I don’t know about you guys but I have never even heard about a sun bear let alone see one so of course I had to do some research and wow, they are fantastic!

They are  also known as the honey bear and is found primarily in the tropical rainforest in Southeast Asa, North-East India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Southern China, Peninsular Malaysia, and the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.

How wonderful and full of surprises nature is with this very interesting creature with his orange horse shoe like “necklace”!

 I will just have to go and see them sometime…

Cutie pie!

After 10 years of being a proud brunette I decided to go back to my “roots”, had my hair stripped back to blond and then added a whole bunch of highlights for good measure… and the first thing I was worried about was how will I smell or rather how my scent will change….because yes, it might sound absolutely crazy but being mom to a wild creature can be quite tricky and something as simple as changing your perfume or body lotion and therefore changing the smell they are familiar to can cause an uproar… so can you just imagine what a whole new “look” might do!

So the first time I went to see this crazy little caracal of ours after the big “make over” I was a bit concerned and a bit worried… will he like the new me…the new smell (I was not sure how the products  used at salons to lighten your hair might smell to such sensitive nostrilsJ)…so, he did a little rubbing, a little sniffing, some hissing and in the end he realised that it is still just mom...and now all I need to do is get use to the stranger in the mirror myself because in the end he is not our little caracal.. we are his PEOPLE!

PS: or maybe he just liked it that the afternoon sun made my hair look like gold!!

Now this is what one should be doing on a Thursday afternoon...

Play time...

It is wonderful to see such a 'dangerous' animal so playful :)

And the craziness continues...

Serval...

Photo courtesy of my hubby!

Another little guy we got to meet a few days ago... also classified as one of the smaller cats servals have spindle shaped pupils unlike caracals whose pupils dilate into circles and not slits.

Today I had the most unique experience –to be within half a meter from a wild leopard… not tamed, not sedated… WILD with just with some wire mesh between us. And what a fierce creature.

You think that when you approach them they might cower in the back but no, she came straight at me, teeth showing, her claws flying everything and with this sound that you cannot even imagine, a hiss like a steam train but a thousand times more intense.

It is a day like today that you realise how small we are, how defenceless against natures beautiful creatures.

It is a day like today that I find it so silly that us humans think we are superior.

Sometimes he can be so impatient...

it's weekend!!!!!!!

An African highway....

Just another day in Africa for us... with me as the backseat driver

looking after the boys! Husband on the left, dear friend on the right.