SOUTH AFRICA

The Lion Sanctuary

Monday – Buzzing with anticipation we awoke early to go out to the airport. After a short flight from Kampala to Johannesburg we were greeted by Jade who picked us up from the airport along with two other volunteers. Food stop and then on our way to the camp. Memories came flooding back as we drove into the valley and out to the Welgedacht Old Trading Post. I thought of Daniel and Christian, the two volunteers I was here with last year, I thought of Dee, Zako, Wiann, Wayne, Lozanne, Marta, Lynne, Gerald, and Kevin and many others. Then I thought of the lions, the hyenas, the black leopards and all of the experiences I had with them and I wondered how much this would be the same and how different it would be at the same time.

On the car trip we found out that the Spanish cubs, of which I have been speaking about on Facebook and Instagram, will be arriving on October 27… Hannah and I leave on the 25^th… which means no Spanish cubs for me… I honestly can’t tell you how this makes me feel. I think I may have gotten my hopes up too high and now I am very disappointed. I’m contemplating a few options and there is still the chance that we will get to see them… I’ll keep you posted when I hear more.

We arrived at the camp and dropped our bags off and had a brief orientation before heading to the north and south enclosures to say hello to the animals and have a walk around. It felt like coming home. Like this is where I belong. I was excited to see Bobcat and Gabby (photos to come) again and to be reintroduced to the lions and other animals. Here are some photos for you.

 

Icarus

Baby G

Ishca

Dinner was delicious and gave us a chance to get to know the other volunteers that are here for the week with us. An early night after watching the documentary Dangerous Companions with another vollie and Hannah.

Tuesday – In the morning I woke early and it was a little chilly so I popped on my jumper and I headed down to the mongoose to say hello. I sat down with Monster and Aqua. Monster was quite interested in me and was trying to dig a hole in my pockets and then Aqua came up behind me and gave me a nice little nip under the arm. So glad I was wearing my jumper otherwise that could have hurt twice as much! Kind of funny though.

So now it’s off to work we go… After a slight change of plans in the morning we headed off to do an animal check and then to get our hands dirty by filling in a pit with rocks. The afternoon was fairly quiet so I got to meet the little hyena cub and then in the evening after dinner had a chance to have a chat with Kevin.

 

Aqua the Mongoose… aka the culprit...

Meg the Lioness

African sunsets

Toula the Jackal

Wednesday – Feed Day! I like these days. They are hard work but worthwhile. Heading down to the fridge we packed the trailer with the south side food and cleaning gear.

To give you an idea of a typical clean/feed – we lock the lions out of the night enclosures, put the meat in the night pens, lock the lions in the night pens and repeat for all in the south enclosure. We then return to the first one, clean the enclosure by collecting faeces and bones and then lock the enclosure and release the lions, locking the night pen after them so that we can clean the night pen. We repeat for all enclosures.

We did an enrichment feed for the leopards and put their food up high in trees. If you have a look on my facebook, I will post a short video of them jumping for their food.

Unfortunately for me, after lunch and the south enclosures, I spent the rest of the day in bed nursing a very bad headache. I didn’t get out of bed until the next morning.

Enrichment for the leopards… vollies for lunch...

The crew working...

Gandalf the White Lion

Nyeba

Thursday – Feeling much better and well rested I was ready for a day of work. We headed out to do the not so glamorous jobs… fly traps and water filling.  Fly traps involve emptying out water and old meat that are used to trap flies and then cleaning and refilling. It was pretty disgusting but all part of the experience! In the afternoon we finished filling waters and some cleaning and headed back to the camp for a well deserved beer.

Bongani

Tsar

Suja

Fly trap cleaning

Bobcat and Gabby

Suja nudging Tsar

Duke in a tree

Duke

On the field

Tomorrow will be an adventure… a walk with Kevin and his lion (in front of the game truck, while we are safe in the game truck) and then hopefully some time with the striped hyenas.

Uganda - Watoto, mountain gorillas, babies, filming and bodas

UGANDA – Days 1-7

I honestly had no idea what to expect in Uganda. Particularly in the main city. I haven’t watched any doco’s on Kampala or seen pictures that I can remember were actually Kampala and so when I arrived I was amazed. What an incredible city. Very busy, lively, colourful and vibrant. The streets are filled with people working or riding bodas (motorcycles used as taxi type services) or sweeping the streets or selling fruit and vegetables or the occasional gate or bed…. It’s a vibrant city and I love it.

Although here we stand out like a sore thumb… Mzungu’s we are called. White people. They speak the language called Luganda although English is widely spoken as well. In Uganda, I’m white. LOL. In Australia I’m not. It reminds me of my trips to Samoa where we are called palagi’s. (Pronounced palangi). Which also means white person. I kind of like it. In no way is it used as a racist term but more of a term of affection.

We, my friend Hannah and I, arrived here on Monday 6^th late at night and headed to dinner with David and Savannah, my brother and sister in law who are living in Kampala at the moment. The restaurants in Kampala are much like our restaurants in Australia. Although a lot cheaper. 11500 UGX will get you a massive burrito filled with avocado, rice, verduras etc. That’s about $4. I’m pretty sure Mad Mex sell burritos for $10! And the food is delicious. Avocado’s are about 3 times the size of ours! You can get a Coke here for 800 shillings… that’s about 40c!

WATOTO

On Tuesday, after a delicious brekky, we headed into Kampala to go to Central Watoto church. This is where Dave and Sav have been working. Watoto means child in Luganda. The ministry looks after abandoned, orphaned, and less fortunate children. It is quite a large organisation with a couple of large villages where the children are raised and looked after by foster mums. What they are doing is very heart warming and selfless. These children have nothing when they come to Watoto but the love shared for each individual is endless. Some of the children participate in the choir as part of their program. Dave is currently filming their new promo video for the children’s choir before the new tour next year in January and Savannah has been assisting in choreography of the choir. Dave took us on a tour of the church and we met his friends and colleagues and then had the opportunity to watch the kids in action. Aunty Alison and Aunty Hannah thoroughly enjoyed the warm welcome and the incredible singing and dancing that the kids showcased for them. I even got the chance to learn the dance and join in. However I can’t show you that because it’s top secret information. ;)   Followed by some warm loving hugs. I could hug those kids all day.

In the afternoon we popped into Living Hope which is where the ladies make bags, jewellery, toys and other items for sale. The money raised goes back into the community to less fortunate women. I am getting a bag hand made and can not wait to showcase it in Sydney. J

We then headed to Baby Watoto. This is where the babies are looked after before heading to the villages at an older age. We played with gorgeous babies and had plenty of cuddles. For privacy reasons I can not show you those photos but here’s one I can and it happens to be my favourite one anyway.

MOUNTAIN GORILLAS

Wednesday morning we arose bright and early and hopped in the van with Bonny our driver. He was driving us out to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to see the mountain gorillas. While it was a long drive it was totally worth it. Along the way we drove through Queen Elizabeth National Park and saw elephants, baboons, plenty of birds, Uganda kob, and vultures. Unfortunately we were unable to locate the famous climbing lions which was disappointing but the sanctuary will satisfy my need for lions. Haha.

Before dinner we went down to see the local kids do some singing and dancing for us. They were so energetic and even did a little kind of weird gorilla dance and song for us. Settling into our lodge we had a delicious meal and met the team looking after us. We were the only ones at the lodge.

Thursday. Finally! Mountain gorillas! It is seriously unexplainable so I’ll try with photos. We were lucky and didn’t have to trek too far to see them. I made sure that I was living in the moment… spending more time observing and watching the gorillas with my eyes rather than through the lens the whole time and I don’t regret that at all. Having said that, here are a few of my favourite photos.

In the afternoon we went for a walk with Sam one of the men looking after us at the lodge and we walked down to the local hospital.

We spent some time chatting down by the fire before going to bed.

Our trip back on Friday was long but we still got to see a lot of Uganda. Including some crested cranes but as we were going so fast I was unable to take a photo.

This experience is one that will remain with me for the rest of my life. With the only thing between us and the gorillas being nature, it was magical. Like something out of a fairytale. The soul and softness in the gorilla’s eyes is humbling. And I don’t think I’ll ever experience something like that again. They came so close to us when walking past us, almost brushing our legs. Amazing.

On the way back we stopped at the equator so that we could be in two places at once. J

WATOTO – SUUBI VILLAGE

Saturday and Sunday were spent with Dave and Sav doing some filming for the promo. We headed up to Suubi village which is on top of a mountain and has the most breathtaking view. The village is equipped with a school, a church, houses, a medical centre and playgrounds. It houses close to 1200 children and their foster mums. Word spread around the village pretty quickly that we were using a go pro helicopter (which I brought for Dave from Australia) and the looks on the kids faces when they saw that helicopter fly was worth every kilometre of transport.

We enjoyed a traditional lunch at Winnie’s house. Winnie is one of the singers in the choir. Her foster mum welcomed us with open arms and we had a traditional Ugandan meal. I really enjoyed it.

We filmed in the school, in the playgrounds and in the cluster of houses.  I can not wait to see the final product that Dave and his team produce.

On Sunday we went to church in the morning and I loved the service. A beautiful message on Jesus’s miracles and that they are not a thing of the past. They are very present today. Afterwards this beautiful girl showed me her home and we met some more wonderful Mama’s. I have so much love and respect for these women who dedicate themselves to God’s work.

We had a late lunch and drove back to the apartment where Hannah and I hopped on a boda just for the experience before leaving Uganda. Dave hopped on another one and filmed us on the sony cam. It was actually a lot of fun! Although we witnessed an accident occur right in front of us with two cars! Crazy. Mum if you’re reading this… don’t worry, we were very safe and the driver was very good. J We stopped in at the markets and bought some fresh fruit for dessert.

A lovely dinner at home with fellowship with Dave and Sav before we fly off to South Africa for the next adventure. Stay tuned for stories from the Lion Sanctuary.

The Discovery…

Well it's been almost a year since I've written and on the verge of my next trip I thought I would write again. I wanted to share with you my journey of how Lobby for Lions, my Facebook and Instagram pages, came about and my journey over the last 2 years with animals. This is a rather long blog so you'll be forgiven if you take 2 days to read it. hahaha. I've injected some photos to make it more interesting.

In September 2013, I ventured on a journey to South Africa that would change my view on life and my priorities forever. I’ve always had a bucket list and South Africa was on that bucket list with the experience to pat a lion cub. I had seen photos of some of my friends who had had that opportunity, was jealous of those that got up close and personal with my favourite animal and all I wanted to do was be in their shoes.  Looking back, I’m so grateful that I did not get that chance as what I would have been contributing too would have plagued me for the rest of my life.

Cheetah from Cheetah Rehabilitation Project

At a very young age I’ve always had a fascination with the African lion. It’s beauty and grace, the majesty and royalty, the power of the roar that echoes through your body when you are close to it, the big full mane of the male lion, the cunningness of the female lion and the extreme cuteness of cubs. For me they also represented a part of the kingdom of God. It’s no secret that they are my favourite animal.

Bruiser the Lion from Taronga Zoo

Over the years I’ve still had the passion to travel to Africa. To go on safari and see lions in the wild or to go to a place in Africa and help raise cubs or something along those lines. In 2012 I undertook a Certificate III in Captive Animals at TAFE. This course allowed me to learn how to look after captive animals, it encouraged me to use enrichment, to open my mind and to study closely animals that I have been fascinated by. Our major assessment was to write a husbandry manual. For those of you that aren’t aware what that is, it is a manual on how to look after an animal in captivity, focusing on a species. We were tasked to choose a threatened species animal and naively I thought that this out ruled the African Lion. Little did I know that the Africa Lion is on the verge of becoming an endangered animal! In the end I chose to do my husbandry manual on the cheetah. I chose this animal as not only is it a big cat and that would still be sticking with the feline species, but I also wanted to learn more about them apart from just their speed. And it was a good choice. I poured my heart into that manual, the work I did at TAFE and the endless hours of formatting and it paid off with marks that reflected my hard work. We were lucky enough to do a few trips with TAFE. One of those trips was a trip to Mogo Zoo. On the two days that we were there we assisted in putting up ropes and hammocks in an enclosure that was to be used as a night enclosure for Western Lowland Gorillas being transferred from Taronga Zoo later in the year for them to live out their retirement. It was a lot of fun to be involved in such a great project. On one of the days we were fortunate enough to be able to witness a male lion get a root canal operation performed. Here are a couple of cool photos of that. You can imagine my excitement being so close to a lion. I snuck in a quick touch of his tail.

During my time studying I was volunteering at Featherdale Wildlife Park in Doonside in Sydney’s west. It’s a lovely little park for Australian wildlife with a focus on birds. They have over 2000 birds there! My experience there was beyond words. I got hands on experience in the field of zookeeping from reptiles, to mammals, to birds. I assisted in basic husbandry of feeding, cleaning, enclosure maintenance, enrichment and education. Some of my highlights included doing the reptile encounter, presenting the Tasmanian Devil talk, presenting the Echidna talk, and the maintenance of the koala enclosures. I was privileged enough to hold the koalas transferring them from enclosure to encounter areas and there is nothing like a cuddle from a koala. Working at Featherdale really inspired me and taught me so much about the industry. However it’s not always about cuddling a cute koala! The hard labour certainly comes with the job as well and the jobs that no one likes doing (like raking the farmyard every morning for 2 hours where goats, sheep and cow roam and freely poop! Hahaha)

Following on from Featherdale, I applied for a volunteer position at Taronga Zoo. I applied for Carnivores (which I really really wanted for obvious reasons!), Primates and Ungulates and the Bird Show. With limited experience in all aspects I was very surprised to hear that I had been accepted in the Primates and Ungulates division as well as the Bird Show division. Unfortunately not in Carnivores this time around but that’s ok, my experience came further down the track with that. I was now faced with a decision. In the end I went with the Bird Show. Either decision would have been wonderful but I felt at that stage that the Bird Show was the best fit for me. It combined my love of animals and I would have the opportunity to see how presentations work within zoos and perhaps learn how one day I could educate the public effectively. Over the last year at the Bird Show I have furthered my experience in working with Australian birds and absolutely loved it. The keepers there are a wealth of knowledge and were ever so patient in my learning phases and hurdles. My highlights have included handling some birds, running the show from the technical side of releasing birds and learning telemetry, more training techniques and watching the keepers train the birds as well, from pigeons all the way up to wedged-tail eagles. Here are a few pics for you.

So here is where the story dives in… In July last year I decided that it was time for another overseas adventure and England and Europe were on the cards again at the time. Unfortunately those plans fell through due to a change in circumstances but this turned out to be a fortunate case for me. I wallowed over the course of the weekend, with only 4 weeks to go til my planned leave from work was meant to be taken. Do I still go to England and Europe and just change the plans? Do I cancel my leave and just settle into my new job? Do I go somewhere completely different? I’ll admit, I was upset but I wasn’t going to let that get me down. So… I decided it would be best for me to go somewhere else… now to choose where… After thinking about it for like a day, I decided that Africa was the best fit! So within the next week, I planned, booked and got everything in place to leave in 3 weeks and it was the best decision I have ever made. You can see my journey in my other blogs…

Before travelling to Kevin Richardson’s sanctuary, I stayed in Johannesburg in a small hotel. The hotel owner was trying to encourage me to go and visit the Lion Park in Johannesburg. I looked into it and saw that you could have experiences with lion cubs amongst other animals and it seemed like an interesting place to visit. So one morning I enquired how I would get there. The hotel owner was going to charge me an exuberant price to drive me there and back and to be honest I was a little worried of travelling by myself to get there so in the end I decided not to go, knowing that the next day I would be seeing an abundance of lions at the sanctuary anyway. This turned out to be the second best decision (the first being to travel to Africa) I’ve ever made.

Upon arriving at Kevin’s sanctuary I started to ask many questions. (All staff and guests and Kevin were very patient with me!) During the course of my questioning, I learnt about canned lion hunting. This made me sick to my core and still does. The thought that lions were being farmed and bred just to be shot or killed by a bow and arrow made me want to throw up. The day I found out about it, I had enquired about Lion Park in Johannesburg and whether it was worth visiting or not. I was immediately told to avoid the place like the plague. Why? I asked. The lionesses there are breeding machines. Within a day of birth the cubs are pulled away from their mother to be hand raised, petted and ‘cuddled’ by tourists for money making ventures and when they are too old for all of this, sold off to hunting farms. The lioness immediately goes back into oestrus to produce more cubs. Think like it is for the puppy mill in Australia, only replace puppies with lions.

 

Gabby, one of Kevin's lionesses.

One of the workers at Kingdom of Wildlife Sanctuary gave me some material to read to learn more about the practice. Tourist places and volunteer places that allow you to touch a cub or walk with lions or have your photo taken with lions in it all contribute to the canned hunting industry. This industry is large scaled. Places posing as lion sanctuaries and continually spreading lies about why the cubs are not with the mother are all involved in this industry. Lies such as “The cubs were rejected by the mother” Or “They will grow up with a better life this way” Or “The mother died” are all lies that owners of these sanctuaries tell unsuspecting visitors and volunteers. Yet the life of these lions is to make money for these so called ‘sanctuaries’ to be injected into the hunting industry. And when you think about it… it all starts to make sense. How could every litter be rejected by the mother? How is it possible for a cub to have a better life without it’s mother? How come they have SO many cubs? Where do these cubs go when they are too old to be held by tourists and guests? Some places will make you believe that those cubs go to sanctuaries to live out their lives, or they are released into the wild. FACT: It is not possible to release a captive bred lion into the wild. These lions are too habituated to humans and do not have the necessary skills to survive in the wild. They may be king of the jungle but that does not mean that they do not have threats.

The cold hard truth is that these lions and their cubs are bred for one purpose and one purpose only and that is to ultimately be shot by wealthy trophy hunters. These hunters have the ability to come to these ‘farms’, select the animal they want to shoot, then bait is put out for that animal to make it easier for the hunters to find the animal in what is already a confined ‘hunting’ space and then when the habituated animal comes for the bait, it is greeted with a shot to the stomach. No hunter will aim for the head and for a quick ‘painless’ kill of these animals because they want that head to be in tack for their trophy for their wall.

Kevin Richardson and Thor

In recent months the world has been outraged by people like Melissa Bachman, Kendall Jones, Aaron Neillson and many other heart breaking ‘trophy hunt photos’ that have gone viral. So what am I meant to do about it? I thought about this for a long time. What can I do? I’m just a girl from Australia. So far removed from Africa. What difference can I make? Well… making a difference doesn’t have to be huge. After returning to Australia, I knew that with the knowledge I had learnt, I couldn’t sit back and watch it happen and not do anything about it. So Lobby for Lions was born. A simple, effective way to reach people. Social Media. We have this at our fingertips so why not use it. I created a facebook page. It didn’t take long to get up to 500 likes and I’m now close to 800 likes. I also started an Instagram page Lobby for Lions too which now has close to 700 followers. However, for me it’s not about the popularity of the page. It’s about spreading awareness and getting the word across and if over the course of this I only educate one person and that person changes their plans when in Africa, then my work is a success. And so far so good. I get so excited when people come to me and ask me for advice. I’m certainly no expert on the matter but I am willing and open to share my experience and the knowledge that I have. For every one person that I tell, they will hopefully tell 10 other people and thus the domino effect.

I joined in the Global March for Lions and connected with like minded people in March this year. We raised awareness and even made it to Channel 7 news! In a month we march again... This time including Elephants and Rhinos. I am organising this along with some other dedicated women who I met at the Global March for Lions.

I’m certainly not alone in this and have found support all over the world in people that are in the same fight. From London to Sweden to America and South Africa. People are banding across the world to make a difference and to fight to get this act banned. Global Marches are happening, petitions, people changing importing laws and making each step count. It’s encouraging and makes my job that much easier to keep spreading the word.

I go back to South Africa this year in October. I take with me two friends who I told about the canned hunting industry who did not know about it before. I hope they get to experience what I did knowing that their contribution is going towards something good and not evil.

Stay tuned here for my Africa blog which will come in October. I’ll aim to blog as often as I can so you can get a first hand feeling of what it’s like. J