Monat: Mai 2015

Good Morning People =)

Yesterday was my last entire day at Lionsrock. It was a wonderful and warm day and we brought enrichment to as many cats as possible. I said goodbye to the ones I will not see anymore on Monday and it felt strange…because I did not realize that I really leave Lionsrock on Monday. After one month being here, everything has become so familiar. I can’t imagine not seeing the cats anymore for a long long time. At least I know one thing for sure: I will come back. I will come back and see whether Tarzan has finally found a female to live with, whether Andy has been brought together with another lion, so they can play and have fun together, whether Simba got better and happier, and I will see the new tiges in their big enclosure (1ha per animal), remembering how scared they were when they arrived at Lionsrock.

I will see all the lovely people here again. Elke, who is such a dedicated and sweet animal keeper. Islam, the manager of Lionsrock, who is the master of braai and always smiling. Brown, the best bar keeper in the world. John who will be married by the time I come back =) And Johannes, who works hard every day and cares so much about the animals and who has introduced me all of them on my first feeding round. I also hope to see again the people of Four Paws who make it possible that Lionsrock exists the way it does: In favour of the big cats, providing them a beautiful and appropriate home. Per (the master of Springboki) is an amazing Person who keeps alive many animal welfare and, together with his wife, Jacqueline, runs (amongst other Projects) a big hospital project in Kenia. If there were more Pers and Jacquelines in this world, it would definitely be a better one.

Uh. I have to stop being sad. Because my adventures are not over yet. And I will have time on Monday to say goodbye to Andy and Simona and the other lions at Adaption 🙂

And noooow let’s go to Nambiti (Kwazulu Natal)! Safari time! Suzanne and I have rented a car for the weekend and in one hour we will head to the Ndaka Safari Lodge. It’s about three hours from here (which is not a big distance here in South Africa). On www.ndaka.co.za you can read more about the place. Our program is simple: Lunch, Game Drive, dinner, sleep, Game Drive, breakfast. In the area of Nambiti, there are (amongst a variety of other animals) the BIG FIVE (Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo, Lion and Leopard). The term Big Five originates from the colonial area when it was heroic to shoot big animals for trophies. Trophies of the Big Five were the most wanted, because they are the most dangerous animals to hunt. Still today, some people are going crazy for trophy hunting. I hope this will stop…At least some Airlines (South African Airlines, KLM and Emirates Sky Cargo) have now banned the transport of trophies (not the Swiss Airline, sadly) and Australia has even totally banned the import of trophies. I hope many others will follow.

I’m so excited to go on Safari and I hope we will see the Big Five. To shoot them with the camera, not with guns!!!

Have a wonderful Weekend! I have to go on adventure now! 🙂

I’m probably the worst blogger alive. But anyway, here we are again! =)

Sooo much happened this week and as soon as I wanted to sit down in the evenings to write something for the blog, there was another party or another braai or a wonderful sundown or just something else very exciting so.. sorry for that!

This week began with the arrival of our new room mate Suzanne. She is a professional volunteer from Great Britain, living in South Africa and taking part in a variety of Animal Welfare Projects. She had been to Lionsrock before, so she knows already a lot about the cats. She just had to get used to her crazy new room mates, but it only took us one funny evening to become friends.

It was a very special week because on Thursday, 6 tigers arrived from Felida, an Animal Rescue Center in the Netherlands which was taken over by Four Paws in October 2013. It has been existing for 20 years, but the animals lived under very bad conditions. Now, Four Paws will transfer the animals which are strong and healthy enough for a transport to sanctuaries like Lionsrock, where they live a much better life. The cats which are too weak for transport will stay in Felida which has been renovated in order to provide an appropriate and ethical home for them.

So the beginning of the week consisted of doing our usual rounds and helping to get the new enclosures clean and ready for the new tigers. In the new enclosures, the animal keepers cut the trees, so we had to carry away the branches and to pick up any rubbish and pieces of iron fences left over from construction.

On Thursday,the tigers arrived, so in the morning we did the last cleaning round in the enclosures. We were so excited because we knew that the tigers could only be released the same evening if they would arrive at 15.30 latest. It’s winter here, so it gets dark at around 18.30 and releasing the tigers in the dark would be a big risk. But as expected, the tigers arrived late and the release was shifted to the next morning. However, two of the young tigers had to be released immediately after arrival, since one of them was in bad conditions due to the long journey from Holland to South Africa. But only the animal keepers were present so that it was possible to release them quickly and safely. On Thursday evening we went up to the Lodge and met so many interesting people from Four Paws and from Felida. We had a lot of meat and wine for dinner, so that was a really nice and funny evening.

Friday was the Big Day. We went up early and got ready, all excited. But TIA – This Is Africa – and even though we were ready at 07.00, we got picked up only 10mins before the start of the release and so as we arrived, the whole thing just started. After safety instructions, one tiger after the other was released. You may have that picture in your mind of happy tigers jumping out of their transport boxes, running into the limitless wild African Bush. Sorry for disillusioning you! But that’s not how it works. These tigers had lived in enclosures of about 250m2, they had never felt grass under their paws or seen a tree. So putting them immediately into big enclosures (1-1,5ha) would be too much for them and it is very probable that they would go crazy or start to fight. However, the release is a process, and the animals have to be monitored well especially during the first days and weeks. Also, they are first released into adaption enclosures. They are only very small (still more than double the size of their previous home!!!) so that the tigers get used to the new situation. Totally new impressions, smells and noises overwhelm them.

Friday evening we had a Gala Dinner and it was just awesome. We had African food, a couple of good drinks and danced all night long. So Saturday morning we were all quite tired, but we got our energy back just in time: for the sunset in the mountains. It was a wonderful moment watching the sun colouring the skye in deep red and disappearing at the African horizon. After the sundown, we drove down to the cave where we had a cave dinner. We sat around the fire, having a braai and drinking some wine. And oh South African skye, how beautiful you are! Covered by thousands and thousands of shiny stars. It was an amazing night without a single cloud in the skye. John showed us the Scorpion on our way to the Lodge, where we ended this perfect evening in sweet company (Springbooks mixed by Brown, the best bar keeper ever!).

On Sunday we recovered from the last few evenings and had our last NatashaSuzanneSara dinner. Natasha and also Elke left today. It was a great time with you. Thank you so much!!! I hope Elke, you get your working visa quickly, so you can come back very soon. Lucy misses you, but I’m just sitting here with her, she is snoring and seems happy to get some cuddles 🙂
And Natasha, my BFF (haha) you are the craziest girl with the craziest hair. I miss you already! Hope everything goes well in Paris! Poop poop!!

Today I planned my trip to Cape Town, which is now actually OUR trip, since Suzanne will join me. It is going to be awesome! We have planned a lot of exciting stuff, from horse riding and wine tasting to paragliding and cruzking around with our small rental car (thousand thanks and kisses for having -and BRINGING- a credit card, dear Suzanne! 😉 )

I will keep you up to date – I promise! We also have some exciting plans for the coming weekend. If everything goes fine, I will finally see the BIG 5! 😀

Hugs and kisses from Lionsrock! The lions rock!

Hey again! =) As it happens from time to time, I didn’t make it anymore yesterday. We had a very nice girls evening with a lot of hard laughing, hardcore singing and dancing.

Yesterday was enrichment day again, so I brought paper boxes to the lions. This time, we added mixed herbs to the hay and oooh yess they loved it! They rolled around and played and had a really good time. I will never get bored watching the cats playing with their enrichment. They always look so happy =)

In the afternoon, we worked for the new tiger enclosures. The tigers will arrive so soon and it’s gonna be an awesome experience! But now, time flies and still a lot of things need to be done before they arrive. Some of the tigers that arrive next week have never felt grass under their paws or seen a tree in their lives. They stay in very small enclosures (Their indoor area is the size of two Transport boxes! Which is far too small for tigers of around 320kg each!) In their new enclosures at Lionsrock, they will feel make a whole lot of beautiful new experiences, as being able to hide between trees. Those trees were subject of our work yesterday afternoon. The animal keepers cut big branches out of the trees and we had to collect them and put them onto the tractor so they could be carried away. You may ask yourself, why cutting the branches when the tigers want to hide between the trees? Especially in the first weeks after their arrival, it’s very important to monitor them well, in order to understand their behaviour, make sure that they are well and improve their situation if they are not. So it’s important that the tigers are visible. Thus, the trees are a little bit cut now.

Today was a day off, since it was public holiday. We slept in and went on our rounds. I stayed wich Andy and Simona for pretty much the whole afternoon and it was really interesting to observe them for this long time span. Andy was very active, playing, rolling around and roaring. She is in heat now and is very restless and clinging. Simona was clamer, but as time was passing, she became more interested in what I did and she was very happy when I gave her the paper back of my note pad. She rolled around, tore it into pieces and had a lot of fun. As the sun went down, it got chilly and I went home. Now I’m sitting here with my shiny, coconutty face. I got sunburnt again – so coconut oil will turn red into brown – hopefully.

So.. I promised to tell you more about big cat issues…this part will not be so shiny and happy and playful. It’s actually incredibly sick what people are doing to those wonderful animals…Can’t imagine how someone can do such things.

A lot of the cats at Lionsrock were born in captivity, living in far too small cages and trapped on concrete floors behind iron for their entire lives. A number of them bred for breeding or worse, the most inhuman „canned hunting“ business. Too many big cats are suffering all over the world. For Paws is an Animal Welfare Organisation, originally founded in Austria, situated in 10 countries, to help suffering animals. They brought the big cats to Lionsrock, which is their Sanctuary and provides them the best environment and care possible. Many of them need to learn how it feels to walk on grass, some of them need to find a way to trust humans. All of them need our help and understanding and this means to give them back their lives and their dignity.

What is canned hunting?
There are Lion breeding farms (there you can also go to volunteer, so take care where you decide to go!!) that breed lions. The cubs are used for photo tourism, so they got as little food as possible, in order not to grow bigger fast (since tourists prefer small, cute animals to take pictures). Due to misfeeding and thus the lack of important vitamins and minerals, some lions will never get as big as a real, healthy lion. Their hind legs will forever be shorter and they suffer diseases due to the lack of calcium. When the lions get older and lose their „cuteness“, they are simply being killed or even used for canned hunting. They are sold for huge sums – well, their trophy. You can even book a guaranteed trophy online, just check it out on Google. So you go out there, with your gun and a hunter who will kill the lion if you (partially) miss your target. I think I don’t have to tell you how cruel this is. Maybe if you read this, you think „oh that’s awful“, you think shortly about how sick that is, but then..you forget. Because it’s easier that way. And because it’s so far away. Not in your world. Not existing. But people! This really exists! I will never forget it because it’s in this world! It’s hard to do anything against it, since this form of tourism is economically very interesting. Check it out online, for 20’000 Euros you can get a really pretty lion head to decorate your room with!

But…Australia for example is the first country which banned the import of trophies. That’s where we have to start! When people go to Africa to get trophies but they cannot take them home, this will certainly stop some of them! What we need are legislations that forbid the import of trophies. Of course this is not the only problem..

Zoos run out of space for their animals and still breed them (what is more attractive than having cubs and little animals in the zoo?) and so rescue centers run out of space, too. What would be needed is the cooperation between circus, zoos, vets and animal protection organisations. But that’s a long way to go…Zoos hate animal protection organisations, and the latter hate zoos. We should stop thinking in little squares and think more of the welfare of the animals.

I could write the whole night about that topic..but let’s stop here. You made it, thank you, dear reader 🙂

You find a lot of information about animal welfare, legislations, canned hunting and photo tourism online if you are interested. Just take care – what people tell you is not always the truth!

In my next blog I will tell you the stories of some of the animals here at Lionsrock. I’m glad they have made it and live here now. I see them walking on grass, roaring, playing and rolling around. And I see how humans take care of them. I admire all the workers, animal keepers and managers and all the staff here. They live for their work and they work for animals‘ lives.

Huh how sentimental! But that’s what happens when you actually see it with your own eyes =)
Good night people! And don’t forget what you’ve just red 🙂 Just don’t 🙂