Travels with Boyd

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While trying to come up with a clever title for this post about my trip to South Africa, this is the best I could come up with. It’s from “The Wizard of Oz”.

What make this even more ridiculous is that there are no tigers or bears in Africa. But I did see a LOT of wild animals, including a couple of lions.

A little background is needed about this trip. While I have been thoroughly enjoying gallivanting around the world, I was getting into a bit of a rut. Going to the main city of a country (usually the capital), then walking tours, museums, ruins, churches, castles, etc. So, I decided it was time to do something different.

One day I was doom scrolling on Instagram, and saw a video of someone bottle feeding a baby rhino. I watched. I clicked. I was hooked.

The post was from an organization called goeco.org. They connect travelers interested in doing volunteer work abroad with organizations all over the world. Next thing I know, I was headed to South Africa to volunteer for two weeks at a place called Care for Wild Rhino Sanctuary.

This place exists because of the on-going problem of wild rhinos being killed by poachers for their horns.

Day 1 – Sunday, June 21

As usual on a travel day (and unfortunately most other days), I don’t sleep well. I’m up at 5:30 a.m. One consolation is the magnificent sunrise over Marsalforn Bay that I am awake to see.

My flight from Malta to Frankfurt is delayed an hour due to thunderstorms in central Europe. I arrived about 8:50 p.m. which made for a short layover, particularly because departure Gate Z69 was probably the furthest gate from where I deplaned earlier – about a 25 to 30 minute walk. I decided to splurge on a business class ticket for the long haul to Johannesburg.

Day 2 – Monday, June 22

Monday started about 38,000 feet in the air. I got about 6 hours of sleep on the plane, thanks to the lie flat seats in business class. I cannot sleep more that 15 minutes at a time sitting up. The flight was about 11 hours.

I checked into the hotel attached to airport about 10 a.m. and grabbed a shower, then had lunch in the hotel restaurant. Had a very nice salmon salad for about $9. Too early for wine, but tempting since an entire bottle cost about $11.

I decided to go to Apartheid museum and hopped into an Uber. While in the car, I discovered the museum was closed on Mondays as I looked to purchase an online ticket. I tell the driver to take me back to the airport. $51 later, I am back at the airport bumming around the numerous shops and kiosks in the terminal. I am not going wandering in Johannesburg. I’ve heard too many horror stories about the rampant crime there.

Day 3 – Tuesday, June 23

I am up at 6:15 (no jet lag! I’m in the same time zone as Malta). I have a nice breakfast in the airport lounge and then get on a short flight to Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport.

I am met by a driver and about an hour later, we turn off the main road to an unmarked dirt road and stop at the gate of a barbed wire fence manned by a young man in military fatigues. There our hands and feet are sanitized (to avoid bringing anything into the sanctuary that might infect the animals) and we bounce around horrendously narrow roads for another 45 minutes before reaching the area in the sanctuary where I will be staying.

This place is literally and figuratively off the grid. The location is a guarded secret because of the illegal poaching that creates the need for such a place. All electricity is solar-generated on site and the water comes from a nearby river. The cabin I will be staying in is… rustic. No heat and no A/C. There is absolutely no insulation so the outside temperature quickly becomes the inside temperature. It is winter here so the the range of temps during my stay will be low 40’s to high 70’s.

I had lunch and met some of the other volunteers, then an orientation. It gets dark around 5:30 p.m. and very quiet… except for the nearby lion roaring throughout the night and some nocturnal tree climbers landing on my roof several times each night.

Day 4 – Wednesday, June 24

My first day of work… up at 5:30 a.m. and then a cup of instant coffee before a brief meeting at 6:30 with the staff to discuss the day’s agenda. A 5-star luxury resort, this is not.

We arrive at the quarantine boma a half hour later. There I learned how to mix rhino milk and what teff grass is. I think this technical knowledge is going to be invaluable to me once I’m done here. Then, the first of a number experiences of a lifetime I would be enjoying on this trip… bottle feeding a rhino.

Later, I shoveled teff grass, and hand fed rhino pellets to some of the others. Very important lesson: white rhinos have no front teeth so you can put your hand in their mouths and not lose any fingers. Black rhinos are a different story. A novice may not easily distinguish between the two. Luckily, I didn’t make that mistake and ended the trip with all my digits intact.

One of the more interesting things I learned was how to make a “shit shake”. It seems that in the wild, baby rhinos start feeding on their mother’s poop for several months prior to being weaned to ingest some of the bacteria in a healthy gut that will help them to properly digest their food once they are fully weaned. Orphaned rhinos who are in quarantine get these bacteria from poop harvested from healthy mothers outside the quarantine. Essentially, the harvested poop is squeezed to release liquid that is added to the prepared rhino milk mixture. Thankfully, I observed rather than participated in the poop squeezing.

Day 5 – Thursday, June 25

Today I get to feed Willem the wildebeest. He is another rescue along with a goat named Sally who have become companion animals for some of the rhinos in quarantine. I also learn how to make fish balls (my skillset is growing daily) and fed RiRi, the black rhino. I am keenly aware that RiRi is NOT a white rhino. Here I’m feeding Willem and Sally:

I am starting to figure out the routine. Instant coffee between 6 and 6:30. Meet with staff. To the boma by 7. A couple of hours of work, then breakfast. A few more hours of work, then lunch. After lunch, more activities. Today, an interesting lecture all about rhino nutrition which helps me to understand some of the things I have been doing in the bomas.

It’s a gorgeous day in the low 70’s. After all, it’s winter here in South Africa. I can’t imagine what working here would be like in the middle of their summer. We typically ride out on the grounds of the sanctuary where the rest of the rhinos roam for health checks and supplemental feeding of some of the nursing moms. It’s amazing to see these enormous animals up close.

Day 6 – Friday, June 26

I am getting to know my fellow volunteers quite well. It’s like the United Nations here. They all have interesting stories as to how they arrived here and are all quite a bit younger than me. There’s Amy from Australia , Mariela from Austria, Christine from Switzerland, Stephanie from Denmark, Amanda from the Washington DC area, Marijka from Cape Town, South Africa and Natalie from Utah.

I got my first taste of “cleaning the bomas” this morning. It means scooping rhino poop. It’s not as bad as you might think. It mainly smells like wet grass.

In the afternoon, we volunteers (called “vollies” by the staff) helped deliver cut up butternut squash as a special treat to the rhinos outside the boma. An added bonus was seeing giraffes and zebras roaming the sanctuary grounds.

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Day 7 – Saturday, June 27

The weekend arrives and a nice break from the boma cleaning and other chores. We have arranged two day trips – one today and one tomorrow. Today, we are headed for Blyde River Canyon. I have to get up at 5:20 for a 6 a.m. departure. Ugh. It’s a guided tour and it takes four hours to get there including a 30 minute coffee stop where our guide, Brandon was bragging about how great coffee is in South Africa. You know what? Coffee is fantastic in South Africa!

We had a 90 minute boat ride. Amazing views of both the landscape and the wild creatures:

Day 8 – Sunday, June 28

After such a great day on Saturday, it’s hard to believe that Sunday was even better. To get the best chance of seeing certain animals, the plan was to arrive at Kruger National Park just after sunrise. That meant getting up at 4:20 a.m.

We were rewarded for the effort by seeing a rare sable antelope right away, but it ran off before I got a picture. The highlight may have been watching a female lion with her two cubs stalking a herd of impalas. We watched for about 20-30 minutes before moving on. Our guide said the lioness may wait patiently for hours before making a charge or may abandon the chase altogether after a long while. We weren’t that patient.

Days 9, 10, 11, 12 – Monday, June 29 to Thursday, July 2

Week two started to feel a bit like Groundhog Day. But the staff did a good job of mixing things up a bit for the vollies with different activities and experiences to break up some of the monotony of rhino food preparation, poop scooping, and routine cleaning. round hog day. For example, one day we took inventory of the supplies in the animal medical center, helped out with some outreach programs for local school children, toured the operations center where the grounds are monitored 24/7 for animal movement and welfare, fence incursions (poachers), and water and electric supplies.

One day, we were out among the rhinos when one of the staff (named Ryno, funnily) approached one of the rhinos on foot to apply some ointment to a cut. The injured rhino was calm enough, but an aggressive male rammed this rhino from behind knocking him directly into Ryno. He was knocked down and almost stepped on. He could have been seriously injured but thankfully avoided a catastrophe.

The evenings were quite dull but I found and finished two great books from their lending library. I highly recommend The Elephant Whisperer and The Last Rhinos, both written by Lawrence Anthony.

One evening, I played cribbage with a new vollie from Colorado named Maddigan who had just finished her freshman year at the University of Montana. An 18-year old girl traveling in South Africa by herself – pretty impressive young lass, she is.

On Thursday, we shoveled oranges donated by a local farmer at various feeding spots around the sanctuary and rode along with Ryno as he attempted to administer medicine to a giraffe with an abscess by shooting it with a dart syringe from a rifle. He missed and spooked the target so that would have to wait for another day. There are two hippos kept at the sanctuary and I got to help with their feeding.

Day 13 – Friday, July 3

By Friday, most of the other volunteers have departed so it is just I’m going with Amanda, Maddigan, and our guide. Another 5 a.m. departure. Ugh. This ride is miserably cold and I’m wrapped in three blankets but still shivering for nearly the three hours it takes to arrive back to Kruger.

This time, we got very near a male lion and his girlfriend. Everyone but me got a good look at a cheetah – a real rare sighting, I was told.

Day 14 – Saturday, July 4

On weekends we get to sleep in a little. It was very cold overnight (low 40’s) so I woke up in a very cold cabin. Ryno was nice enough to lend me a warm jacket at breakfast. A new chore today: we get to help groom the horses used by the rangers to patrol the grounds. After lovingly brush a particularly disagreeable horse named Peggy for 10 minutes, she wheeled around and bit me on the back as I walked away. Her way of saying “thank you”???

Day 15 – Sunday, July 5

The highlight of Sunday was a demonstration by the resident dog handler who showed off their obedience and drug-sniffing skills. But sadly, the skill they are primarily trained for is attacking and taking down poachers.

Day 16 – Monday, July 6

My last day at Care for Wild Rhino Sanctuary and to be honest, I’m ready to go. The rustic accommodations and manual labor were a fun novelty for a while, but two weeks of this was a bit much. That night I watched a documentary called “The Last Horns of Africa“ that prominently features Petronel Nieuwoudt, who founded the sanctuary. She is amazing and I was so glad I had the opportunity to meet her.

The film is a deep dive into the rhino horn powder black market. If you have even the slightest interest in animal conservation, please watch. And have your tissues ready.

Day 17 and 18 – Tuesday and Wednesday, July 6-7

I’m headed back to Malta. I still can’t bring myself to call it “home”… yet. My driver arrives to pick me up at 7:30 a.m. There’s a nice lounge where I have the best breakfast I’ve had in two weeks.

From the time the wheels are up until they touch the runway in Johannesburg, it takes 37 minutes. I will spend the next seven hours (ugh) in a nice lounge there.

My 11 hour flight (ugh) to Frankfurt, Germany lands at 5:00 a.m. and I have a four hour layover there.

31 and 1/2 hours after being picked up at from Care for Wild, my Bolt (think Uber) driver drops me off at my apartment in Gozo. This time, I’m not locked out.