Trip Report for Animal Rehab Centre, Kapama and Phinda
May 7th, 2012, 02:28 AM
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Trip Report for Animal Rehab Centre, Kapama and Phinda
Hi everyone,
Just a quick report as a couple have asked.
I went with a 22 year old niece and a 28 year old friend to Moholoholo Rehab Centre near Hoedspruit. We were here for 22 nights and then we went for 2 nights to Kapama Game Reserve and then 9 nights at Phinda, 5 at Mountain Lodge and 4 at Forest Lodge. It was a very different holiday to what I usually have in Sth Africa but I have become a wildlife carer at home for over a year now and decided I want to do that on my holidays in Sth Africa as well as I really do enjoy it, for the best part, and I feel as if I am making a small contribution to our world wide wildlife!
I knew the rehab centre would be hard work, as looking after my few possums at home is hard work with collecting food and cleaning as well as time consuming, so that was a given. I certainly didn't realise how much additional cleaning we would be given. There were also some issues for me with some of the staff and that made what I was doing some of the time quite uncomfortable.
We had daily rounds, am and pm, and this was split between four groups. Numbers in groups varied and the work varied as if we had people in our group with their own animals to care for, then the rest of the group had to do more. This bit didn't worry me as our rounds were fairly good and we had all good animals. We did sometimes do jobs that I thought were unnecessary as I think I keep my animals and their surroundings in super good condition, and over there you just did set duties in the am and pm, regardless of it being needing doing or not. Most of the volunteers were 18-23 years of age, so I am wondering if management decided that their judgement in this matter wasn't good enough and therefore set jobs were decided upon. After morning rounds we would go to breakfast and then return for whatever big cleaning needed to be done - this was usually cleaning out the predators feeding cages or cleaning up their living areas and if we were left to do it, it was good as we could go at a good pace but if we did it as a supervised group, then it was time consuming. Generally didn't mind this either. We also had to be big clinic cleans and big aviary cleans, not a fan here at all as once again, anyone with their own animals went and tended to them and these jobs were left to the new people, which for the first two weeks seemed to be us three plus one or two others. These were big jobs that took a considerable amount of time. Never clean as much in a year at home as i did in three weeks there!
I did have some wonderful contact with animals though the majority we dealt with will never be released. Did get to see very newborn Serval and Cheetah cubs. The groups of kids that were there when we were there were great fun and certainly that helped while doing jobs etc.
I did get my own animals to care for in the last week and that certainly helped as I felt I was doing what I went there for, even though it still involved cleaning and feeding, I still felt as if I was helping wildlife as two of the three would have been returned to the wild, a baby swift and a male hedgehog that had been bitten by a dog. I also could have taken on the job as a rhino mum as they had a 2 month old white rhino calf. They never asked as they thought I would not do it as I was there with two others, not sure if I would have or not, certainly would have if I was on my own and that involves a lot more care as you sleep with the calf as well as spend a huge chunk of your day with them.
Now I have that experience I know what I want to do next time, so looking at some options for September/October so pleased I did it as it will act as a guideline for my next volunteer job.
Went to Kapama as it was so close and also wanted to see the Cheetah Conservation Centre. We had a lovely ranger here but no off roading other than for predators so the gameviewing was not as good as I have had in the past. The camp was very nice but large and not the camp I had originally booked as it was flooded and we had to go to their main camp. Not that I would ever choose a place for food, ever - but the food here was very good - beautifully displayed and very good to eat. At a lodge, don't think I have ever had better! And even better, I did not have to clean anything! It was a good place to get back into it after quite a physical job at Moholoholo.
Then onto Phinda, which was a pretty game reserve, very scenic and the most fantastic Black Rhino gameviewing, which is why I went there really. Had two wonderful rangers and some great traveling companions as besides my niece, had 3 ex rangers with me, two I knew and one I didn't. They made the gamedrives just speed by. Was surprised at the number of fences everywhere. Also not a lot of off roading done here and that is always disappointing. Phinda seems to be overly managed in my opinion and while I think looking after the land is essential, I thought they went overboard!
All in all it was an interesting trip. I did have a good time and who I was travelling with helped in this enormouslyl If I had been by myself I think I may well have left Moholoholo earlier and now I am very pleased I didn't. I did get to experience wildlife and see how things work, which is very differently I think from home as we have very strict guidelines here while in South Africa not so much. I also have quite different ideas on the quality of life than they seem to and that made things a bit tricky at times.
But I certainly will be doing the wildlife rehab again, just to a different place, hopefully one that will suit me better!
Kind regards
Kaye
Just a quick report as a couple have asked.
I went with a 22 year old niece and a 28 year old friend to Moholoholo Rehab Centre near Hoedspruit. We were here for 22 nights and then we went for 2 nights to Kapama Game Reserve and then 9 nights at Phinda, 5 at Mountain Lodge and 4 at Forest Lodge. It was a very different holiday to what I usually have in Sth Africa but I have become a wildlife carer at home for over a year now and decided I want to do that on my holidays in Sth Africa as well as I really do enjoy it, for the best part, and I feel as if I am making a small contribution to our world wide wildlife!
I knew the rehab centre would be hard work, as looking after my few possums at home is hard work with collecting food and cleaning as well as time consuming, so that was a given. I certainly didn't realise how much additional cleaning we would be given. There were also some issues for me with some of the staff and that made what I was doing some of the time quite uncomfortable.
We had daily rounds, am and pm, and this was split between four groups. Numbers in groups varied and the work varied as if we had people in our group with their own animals to care for, then the rest of the group had to do more. This bit didn't worry me as our rounds were fairly good and we had all good animals. We did sometimes do jobs that I thought were unnecessary as I think I keep my animals and their surroundings in super good condition, and over there you just did set duties in the am and pm, regardless of it being needing doing or not. Most of the volunteers were 18-23 years of age, so I am wondering if management decided that their judgement in this matter wasn't good enough and therefore set jobs were decided upon. After morning rounds we would go to breakfast and then return for whatever big cleaning needed to be done - this was usually cleaning out the predators feeding cages or cleaning up their living areas and if we were left to do it, it was good as we could go at a good pace but if we did it as a supervised group, then it was time consuming. Generally didn't mind this either. We also had to be big clinic cleans and big aviary cleans, not a fan here at all as once again, anyone with their own animals went and tended to them and these jobs were left to the new people, which for the first two weeks seemed to be us three plus one or two others. These were big jobs that took a considerable amount of time. Never clean as much in a year at home as i did in three weeks there!
I did have some wonderful contact with animals though the majority we dealt with will never be released. Did get to see very newborn Serval and Cheetah cubs. The groups of kids that were there when we were there were great fun and certainly that helped while doing jobs etc.
I did get my own animals to care for in the last week and that certainly helped as I felt I was doing what I went there for, even though it still involved cleaning and feeding, I still felt as if I was helping wildlife as two of the three would have been returned to the wild, a baby swift and a male hedgehog that had been bitten by a dog. I also could have taken on the job as a rhino mum as they had a 2 month old white rhino calf. They never asked as they thought I would not do it as I was there with two others, not sure if I would have or not, certainly would have if I was on my own and that involves a lot more care as you sleep with the calf as well as spend a huge chunk of your day with them.
Now I have that experience I know what I want to do next time, so looking at some options for September/October so pleased I did it as it will act as a guideline for my next volunteer job.
Went to Kapama as it was so close and also wanted to see the Cheetah Conservation Centre. We had a lovely ranger here but no off roading other than for predators so the gameviewing was not as good as I have had in the past. The camp was very nice but large and not the camp I had originally booked as it was flooded and we had to go to their main camp. Not that I would ever choose a place for food, ever - but the food here was very good - beautifully displayed and very good to eat. At a lodge, don't think I have ever had better! And even better, I did not have to clean anything! It was a good place to get back into it after quite a physical job at Moholoholo.
Then onto Phinda, which was a pretty game reserve, very scenic and the most fantastic Black Rhino gameviewing, which is why I went there really. Had two wonderful rangers and some great traveling companions as besides my niece, had 3 ex rangers with me, two I knew and one I didn't. They made the gamedrives just speed by. Was surprised at the number of fences everywhere. Also not a lot of off roading done here and that is always disappointing. Phinda seems to be overly managed in my opinion and while I think looking after the land is essential, I thought they went overboard!
All in all it was an interesting trip. I did have a good time and who I was travelling with helped in this enormouslyl If I had been by myself I think I may well have left Moholoholo earlier and now I am very pleased I didn't. I did get to experience wildlife and see how things work, which is very differently I think from home as we have very strict guidelines here while in South Africa not so much. I also have quite different ideas on the quality of life than they seem to and that made things a bit tricky at times.
But I certainly will be doing the wildlife rehab again, just to a different place, hopefully one that will suit me better!
Kind regards
Kaye
May 7th, 2012, 05:03 AM
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Thanks for posting this Kaye, especially about the rehab center. That info is just as interesting as the info on game drives 
I agree with you about Phinda being overmanaged, you said it better than I could. It made for a strange feeling, and although I loved most things about it, not sure I would return because it almost started to feel like being in one of the animal parks at home; not quite a zoo, but not entirely 'wild' either. And driving along the perimeter fences as much as we did didn't help that feeling.
I agree with you about Phinda being overmanaged, you said it better than I could. It made for a strange feeling, and although I loved most things about it, not sure I would return because it almost started to feel like being in one of the animal parks at home; not quite a zoo, but not entirely 'wild' either. And driving along the perimeter fences as much as we did didn't help that feeling.
May 7th, 2012, 11:13 AM
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Good to hear the enclosures are cleaned so well. Having grown up with horses, I know what you mean - always mucking, cleaning buckets, sweeping. It's a good workout, though. I did it for free, too.
I haven't been to Phinda. We did visit nearby Tembe and Zululand Rhino Reserve. We enjoyed both. Certainly not perfect (but for under $150 pppn, I would not expect perfect), but we saw lions, cheetah and white and black rhino. The elephants at Tembe were very entertaining. Food is good, not great. I recommend both as alternatives. Plus Hluhluwe and Mkuze NPs. Thanda is in the area and they have dogs (who keep leaping the fence into ZRR). The fence was an issue at Tembe -we drove it every day, but they explained it was to protect the interior parts of the park - most of it is not accessible. It is on the Mozambique border, and they are trying to control a poaching issue without erecting fences. It's a difficult situation, but they are trying to do the right thing while still having good experiences for guests.
Thanks for the interesting report. Tembe has a volunteer program. We ran into them a few times - they were tracking something. We have since found out some lions were relocated to ZRR!
I haven't been to Phinda. We did visit nearby Tembe and Zululand Rhino Reserve. We enjoyed both. Certainly not perfect (but for under $150 pppn, I would not expect perfect), but we saw lions, cheetah and white and black rhino. The elephants at Tembe were very entertaining. Food is good, not great. I recommend both as alternatives. Plus Hluhluwe and Mkuze NPs. Thanda is in the area and they have dogs (who keep leaping the fence into ZRR). The fence was an issue at Tembe -we drove it every day, but they explained it was to protect the interior parts of the park - most of it is not accessible. It is on the Mozambique border, and they are trying to control a poaching issue without erecting fences. It's a difficult situation, but they are trying to do the right thing while still having good experiences for guests.
Thanks for the interesting report. Tembe has a volunteer program. We ran into them a few times - they were tracking something. We have since found out some lions were relocated to ZRR!
May 7th, 2012, 07:38 PM
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Hi ShayTay
We were to stay at Karula, but ended up at River Lodge. Karula was badly damaged and not expected to be ready until about August.
Hi Femi
Yes I think it is overmanaged, in many ways. A lot of animal management also seems to be very controlled, again this is my opinion only. But I did go for the Black Rhino and for that it was fantastic. They were, in some cases, nervous at first, but the longer you sat with them, the better they become and the more relaxed. Also saw Black and White Rhino together and I am not entirely sure if this happens anywhere in the wild naturally. Fencing is something I have not seen for many years and it does come as a bit of shock, regardless of why it is there. Taking photos with fences in the background is not an option for me so that does make it a bit tricky as the cheetah at Phinda seem to like the fence line on occasion!
Hi Christabir
I actually think it did give me better arm muscles as not only are you scrubbing but carrying buckets etc around as well! I paid to do the cleaning Christabir! And it is not that cleaning that got my hackles up a bit, OK the kids would say a lot! No Phinda is considerably more than $150pppn! But gameviewing is so different to different people, and I know I am a little hard to please, ok again the kids would say I am hard to please but you pay so much money to do this type of holiday, that if I pay a lot and really have great gameviewing then that is fine with me, not so good if you pay a lot with limited gameviewing. But in saying that I did really go to Phinda with Black Rhino gameviewing in mind, and that did happen! There are quite a few volunteer placements around, it is getting the one that best suits me that is proving tricky. I have liked the look of a few, then reading it carefully, you do a huge amount of land clearing and fence building etc, maybe if I was 30 years younger, certainly not now and certainly not paying to do it!
You are welcome Pollydill!
Kind regards
Kaye
We were to stay at Karula, but ended up at River Lodge. Karula was badly damaged and not expected to be ready until about August.
Hi Femi
Yes I think it is overmanaged, in many ways. A lot of animal management also seems to be very controlled, again this is my opinion only. But I did go for the Black Rhino and for that it was fantastic. They were, in some cases, nervous at first, but the longer you sat with them, the better they become and the more relaxed. Also saw Black and White Rhino together and I am not entirely sure if this happens anywhere in the wild naturally. Fencing is something I have not seen for many years and it does come as a bit of shock, regardless of why it is there. Taking photos with fences in the background is not an option for me so that does make it a bit tricky as the cheetah at Phinda seem to like the fence line on occasion!
Hi Christabir
I actually think it did give me better arm muscles as not only are you scrubbing but carrying buckets etc around as well! I paid to do the cleaning Christabir! And it is not that cleaning that got my hackles up a bit, OK the kids would say a lot! No Phinda is considerably more than $150pppn! But gameviewing is so different to different people, and I know I am a little hard to please, ok again the kids would say I am hard to please but you pay so much money to do this type of holiday, that if I pay a lot and really have great gameviewing then that is fine with me, not so good if you pay a lot with limited gameviewing. But in saying that I did really go to Phinda with Black Rhino gameviewing in mind, and that did happen! There are quite a few volunteer placements around, it is getting the one that best suits me that is proving tricky. I have liked the look of a few, then reading it carefully, you do a huge amount of land clearing and fence building etc, maybe if I was 30 years younger, certainly not now and certainly not paying to do it!
You are welcome Pollydill!
Kind regards
Kaye
May 7th, 2012, 09:18 PM
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Kaye - at Tembe, volunteers pay $350/week, 2 week minimum and according to the literature it's mostly game tracking and keeping the webcam functioning. Apparently the eles like to play with it. Sounds like it's very basic and you cook as a group. Not everyone's cup of tea. But $700 for 2 weeks in the bush looking for wild dog is just a dream to me!!
We decided a couple of years ago that we enjoy S Africa so much that we'd go often (for us that's not that often) and cheap. Our last one was three weeks and less than $220 pppn. I think it was 18 out of 20 nights on safari. We chose community and independently run camps that don't market to the US or Europe and National Parks. I'm easy to please, but we had many great game drives and met so many great people - mostly S Africans. Can't wait to go back.
We decided a couple of years ago that we enjoy S Africa so much that we'd go often (for us that's not that often) and cheap. Our last one was three weeks and less than $220 pppn. I think it was 18 out of 20 nights on safari. We chose community and independently run camps that don't market to the US or Europe and National Parks. I'm easy to please, but we had many great game drives and met so many great people - mostly S Africans. Can't wait to go back.
May 9th, 2012, 03:08 AM
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Thanks Leely, I am certainly wanting to do it again and aim to go back in September to another wildlife rehab.
Thanks Christabir, that is certainly a lot cheaper than most rehab places but that does not give me the hands on experience I really want. The one I am looking at you have to do your own meals, and buy your own food while at Moholoholo all food was provided. Luckily for me, food is not a real issue. You really do do your gameviewing on a budget, great job!
Yes Lyn, I think I would love that - even hippo mum, ele mum or any type of mum!
Kind regards
Kaye
Thanks Christabir, that is certainly a lot cheaper than most rehab places but that does not give me the hands on experience I really want. The one I am looking at you have to do your own meals, and buy your own food while at Moholoholo all food was provided. Luckily for me, food is not a real issue. You really do do your gameviewing on a budget, great job!
Yes Lyn, I think I would love that - even hippo mum, ele mum or any type of mum!
Kind regards
Kaye
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