Loading the buffalo from Bucklands.

This morning was the coldest day we have experienced in the Eastern Cape and I was up at 5 30!! We drove this morning to go fetch the buffalo (heifer and her 1 month old calf) it was freezing!! When we arrived it was a whole 0 degrees centigrade or for my foreign readers it was 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

On arrival we were greeted by a small family of Rhino, a bull, cow and their calf, it was sunrise and my camera was not on the right setting but here are the photos...

Upon arrival I was so glad to see I was not the only one wearing shorts after being told it is not wise. Moving off to the bomas where Hopewell’s buffalo and calf were, there was a lot of commotion as two other bidders had bought some buffalo and were also loading.

It starts where the vet darts all the buffalo in the boma and then he had four small teams of students who each had to look after a buffalo and monitor it while it was down, checking temperature, heart rate and breathing. Once that is done it is the fact of moving the buffalo into the truck and as you will see this is not light work!! The buffalo is moved by using a steel stretcher and on that is a tough material stretcher. The reason for this is so that the metal stretcher will close the gap from the ramp to the truck and then slide the material into the truck with the animal on it; this took about 10 or so men to carry it.

Hopewell’s buffalo were a bit difficult as they had to dart the mother then take the calf out and put it into the truck first which was not easy to catch the little girl!! As our buffalo had given birth a month prior she was rather on the large side and she was carried with great difficulty with almost two teams of men carrying taking turns.

Once in the truck the vet closes it and sent to Hopewell, arriving here was a safe trip for all and the releasing process was quick and simple which was great. The mother and calf ran off into the bushes and found the male and female which were offloaded on Friday!!

sorry that they are so blurry!! need and uto focus lense!!

My two boys, Monty and Mitch!

As you all know it was a while go that we got the two serval males who I have grown to love as they have become friendlier towards me and accepting me in their territory slowly but surely. I have been feeding them once a day or even twice a day depending on the weather. a few little interesting things that took place was that the elephants decided to make it their stomping ground and stomp down a few trees , one almost landing on the boma. This tree used to stand about 7m high so it was a large piece of wood which could have easily damaged the boma and set the Servals free.

Speaking of setting free, that is what shall be happening to them which is sad as you build up a relationship but it is a wild animal and needs to be free. I will do it the same as last time and set meat by the entrance of the boma with the gate open. Seeing as they are both males the dominant one will stay in that territory and then the other brother will have to find his own new territory somewhere else.

this was a photo i found of shiela! such a lovely little one!

I believe it shall be interesting to see if the male who keeps the territory won’t just live in the boma with the gate open because there is enough protection for him there to live. The one thing game need is water and you can in a way control them with it. If I stop filling up the water trough he will move to find water and if it’s too far for him to walk every day then he will just make a new territory for himself there.

having a wee bite of water buck for breakfast

The other Servals which have been let loose have only been sighted once and that was at dusk about a month ago. Was such a relief to see that she had been surviving and doing well because she looked healthy and when we saw her she was hunting a small little mouse or shrew? At the time we had a group of guests who saw the female cheetah with her cubs on a bush buck kill, the serval and a caracal on a baby bush buck. 

These were the last Servals that will be coming onto the reserve so now we will have a total of 6. 

I would love comments or any questions about my year or about Hopewell! Thanks

Great Hunt and feeding!!

Saturday morning was a lovely late start here on the farm as if you are on duty, which I was, you need to be up by 8AM. Went on the roads to check the water and the fence to make sure all was working well and found an elephant had snapped a 6m Acacia tree at the base of the truck!! It is astonishing how much power they have. the two guys I had with me wanted to go back and get the chain saws and machetes but I had rope in the back of the bakkie so I said I’ll show you something new guys. I tied the tree to the tow bar and dragged it a few meters off the road and sorted, let nature take its course with the tree. Once that was done and I had explained to them about the micro ecosystems that can form from that we headed to finish the rounds.

All was good and we got back to the work shop and then got told to go hunt. Don’t get me wrong I was not the slightest bit phased as long as it’s done properly and ethically then im good to go. We headed back out to find a male water buck that had a decent amount of meat on him. Finally after an hour of driving we tracked the herd down and saw that there was a decent male with them. As soon as the door opened they ran off into the thick bush and one would say the hunt was over. Water buck will run into dense bush and then stop as they camouflage really well, hence them stopping. I took a good walk around to the other side of the thick bush where I found the clearing and waited for a decent shot. Eventually I saw the male about 80m away and was standing at a strange angle so shot placement would have been difficult.

This was the water buck that got shot over the weekend for food, all part of game farm management

#selfie with a cheetah, not many of those selfies going around.

Thankfully I moved a few steps over and my jersey got caught on a thorn tree alerting him making him look directly at me, shot on target and trigger pulled. The male dropped and was dead as I arrived up to him which makes me happier knowing there was not a lot of suffering.Loading the buck onto the bakkie was another story which took about half an hour and eventually led to success.

as soon as i dropped the leg off for him he was on it!!!

 The reason for this hunt was 1. For my servils, the two boys Monty and Mitch who are doing a lot better now. I went for a walk in their boma today to clean the water and make sure the fence was still alright and the one came pretty close which is great progress!! 2. The male cheetah Thabo, friendlier then most domestic cats and loves a good stroking! I gave him a leg today just to make sure he is doing well and he enjoyed that immensely.

this was after his meal, just giving me a bit of loving.

So my weekend and Monday has been a fun exciting one and looking forward to more interesting things going on here.

Monty and Mitch,my two new servils

On Saturday morning got up fairly early and doubled checked that the vehicle was prepared to go to Grahamstown for the collection of the two brothers, Monty and Mitch. They are both one years old and are a lot smaller compared to the breeding male who has been shown in previous posts. 

I arrived in Grahamstown strictly for business otherwise it would be a good party weekend!! Got my permit for the transportation of the servils and headed back to Hopewell. they got delivered straight to the boma area where they will be kept for the next month just to let them realise their surroundings and calm them down a bit.as with the others I will be feeding them twice a day and checking on their basic health to make sure that they are doing well at all times.

There is a complication that had risen as the male who was let out, that is his territory and will probably not move away as the other males are younger than him. I thought this may be a problem but following orders had to do as instructed. Upon arrival this morning with food I heard something in the bushes and looked back and could see nothing, so I thought nothing of it until I felt a wet nose on my knee. It was a high adrenaline moment, even though it’s a small cat, it can still send you to hospital for stitches. Backing off slowly and giving him a piece of meat he was very relaxed after that, depending on if he stays there he could maybe become slightly tame???All will have to wait and see. 

Will keep you updated on the boys

My Servils

Breeding pair of servils in their boma waiting to be released.

 Feeding time! nom nom nom