April 21-23 Rhino Time with Ryan and Wooten family!

Monday morning, we picked up the gang at 6:15 to head for the area office. We were all gathering there to head off to Kruger and our Rhino Saving project. We had two vans and one car. Ryan, Liz, Adri, Doug, Bethany and Walt, plus Elder Kyle and Sister Kyle were in one van with Elder Kyle driving. Two couples were in the car and everyone else in the other van with Elder Humphreys (PA couple serving in Zambia) driving the other van. There were 18 of us headed off to Ndabushi Game Lodge just outside the gate of Kruger National Park. It is a six-hour drive from Johannesburg, so we needed to be on our way by about 7 am. Off we went to Ndabushi about 7:15 am.

The drive was long, but we were thoroughly entertained by Liz's family. They are lots of fun and had us laughing most of the way. Liz's brother Walt is funny enough to be in stand up comedy. Bethany is funny in a more subtle way and then there is Doug (Liz's dad) who is pretty quiet, but when he does say something, usually sarcastically, it is very funny. Adri is a sweetheart - so obvious where Liz gets it. We finally got there and Sean and Diane were waiting...seemed happy to see us. The place was in a pretty bush setting with individual cottages. Elder Kyle and I stayed in this one. The rest of our van's occupants stayed in a three-bedroom cottage.

The lodge, where Sean's wife Dianne would cook the food was large and roomy, so we could all gather there before out outings or before meals. Everyone pitched in and helped with whatever needed to be done before or after meals. We had braai's outside around a fire pit in the evenings and sat at long tables put together in the outdoors by the fire pit. It was a comfortable way of 'roughing it'. The food Sean and Dianne provided was delicious and the company even better. It is so enjoyable to share such an experience with other missionary couples and a special treat to have our son and his fiance (and her family) there with us.

Before dinner, Sean took us out in the bush to show us the river running through the property. We had to walk through tall grass with Sean cutting through it will a machete...real out in the bush feel. We saw lots of huge spider webs with these yellow and black striped spiders. Adri is very afraid of spiders, so we were watching when she walked right under a large web with a spider in the middle. She didn't like it, but was pretty cool about it (Especially after we drove through the bush to get there and saw them everywhere and she couldn't stop talking about how she didn't like spiders).

We were hoping to see some hippos, but none today...just spiders. When we got back most of us had burrs stuck in our pants and shoes. I was not expecting to go traipsing through the bush that day, so I had on some lightweight pants and tennis shoes, both of which were covered in burrs from the knee down. Liz was very sweet and helped me pull them off my pants and shoes. My shoes were like Velcro...had the burrs all over them. I even found more when we got home that we missed. It was still fun and we came back to the lodge and had some great mean cooked over the braai (BBQ) and all the wonderful goodies to go with it. We then sat around the fire for a bit and talked. It was very relaxing. Of course the sky was clear and filled with millions of stars, but the odd thing was they were in a different place than we were used to and seeming to move fast as well. Ryan got out his Ipad star program and matched them up. It was way cool.


Ryan, Bethany and Walt wanted to play cards and asked me to come and play. Doug, Adri, Elder Kyle and Liz wanted to go to bed, so it worked out as a foursome and we had lots of fun, but got tired and turned in early as well. I don't think Ryan was tired (Does that guy ever get tired?), but he didn't have anyone else to play cards with, so he had to turn in as well. This is their cottage where we played cards...just pretend it is night.

Liz going up in Helicopter to scope out rhino locations

The next day (Tuesday) was rhino capture day. We had to get up at 4:30 and be ready by 5:30 to head out to the drop off spot where we picked up our open vehicles to go to our rhino destination. Before we left, we gathered around and Sean told Liz and Ryan that as a wedding present they would be the ones to go up in the helicopter. Liz looked shocked and fearful and Ryan had the biggest smile on his face...He couldn't wait. Liz informed us later that she was afraid of heights, but she was determined to overcome her fear.We got to the place to drop off our cars and climbed into the two vehicles and drove to a place where we were to meet up with the vets and helicopter pilot. While we were waiting for the helicopter to arrive, I kept watching Liz's face and she was worried. All I could think of was, "Wow, she is going to go anyway even though she is not loving the idea!" The vet began to explain what we would be doing and started asking for volunteers to do things like: cover the eyes of the rhino, put socks in its ears, put medicine on the ear after notching, count the breaths per minute, put drops in its eyes, check its temperature, etc. The vet explained how the rhino would be paralyzed, but not asleep, so we needed to do all we could to keep it from panicking. He explained how the rhino needed to be somewhat alert for it to be ideal.

Then the helicopter arrived and made a dare devil entrance...pilot showing off. That's when they told Liz she would be going up to help them scout for rhinos. When they found the rhino, they would bring her back and pick up Ryan to go with them to dart the rhino (requiring more tricky maneuvers). Liz was a real trooper. She went over and put the earphones on and climbed into the helicopter and it took off right away.

 We got some more instruction while they were gone and not too long afterwards we heard the helicopter come back. It landed and Liz got out and Ryan got in. I watched her face wondering if she would look green, but she was all smiles. Her first words were, "It was AWESOME!" She told us how she saw herds of elephants and other animals. She was so excited. We were very happy for them and that Sean chose them to do this.

Ryan going up in helicopter to film darting the rhino

We then heard by radio that a rhino had been spotted and darted and we jumped into our vehicles and rushed to the scene. The rhino was close to the road and easy to drive to. We could hear and finally see the helicopter in the distance showing us where to go. On our way there, we were told that the rhino was spotted with a female and baby rhino...that at the last minute the male rhino split from them and started down the road, which was lucky.

We got a big one - named Riley in honor of Ryan/Liz

Both of our vehicles were going pretty fast over some bumpy terrain to get there, but we finally made it and everyone piled out an ran to the scene. The very large bull rhino was laying on his side with his feet straight out to the side. The first thing I saw was that he didn't have a normal tail, just a little stump of a tail and it was quivering, whether in fear or because of the drug or a little of both, I don't know. I just had a feeling that this large powerful creature was vulnerable and I felt bad for him, even though I knew that we might be saving his life from poachers.

How many it takes to microchip a rhino

The vet wanted the guys to roll him over on his stomach, because it was the best position for the rhino, so all the men got behind the rhino and at the count of three pushed the rhino. Luckily he was a big roly poly rhino, so it was easy to roll him and they did. Then everyone got to work so that the rhino would not have to be out very long. The vets do their thing to implant devices to track the horns and discourage poaching and then they notch the ears of the rhino to show it has been done. This will make it easier to not only catch the poachers, but will help them determine which park the horn came from and hopefully discourage those who would be afraid of being caught. Many have been caught because of this program.

The sad part is that they are poaching the horns and usually killing the rhinos so that they can sell what amounts to what fingernails are made of to certain Asians who believes the horn is an aphrodisiac and can make them live longer. They have their superstitions and will not stop this craziness. The rhino moved his head a bit and snorted, so being that close to his huge head was so amazing. Elder Kyle held his horn most of the time to try and keep his head straight for the Sister Harrington to monitor his breathing.

Finally all was done and then Sean said to hurry up and each couple go in for their individual shot with the rhino. It was very fast and then we were all done, the stuff taken out of his ears and over his eyes and we were told to get back into our vehicles while the vet gave him an antidote shot to bring him back. It only took seconds and he was starting to move and almost shaking his head as if to say, "Where am I and what just happened?" One lady asked Dianne if he would be able to find the female and baby rhino and she said that they would have not trouble calling to each other and hooking up. She then said, "Just think what the female is going to say when he finds them - Did you get in a fight? You have blood all over you. Have you been drinking? You look like you've been drinking, can't even walk straight. And you got your ear pierced and you smell like humans!" We were cracking up as she did her monologue.

We were very close in our vehicles...close enough that he could have easily charged us if he wanted to, but he only turned towards us and seemed to look at us for a few seconds. Then he turned and crossed the road and headed off into the bush. Wow. You cannot beat that for a wildlife experience. Everyone admitted that it was amazing. We were also sad to think that so many of these powerful creatures are getting killed weekly. We went back to the drop-off point and climbed into the vans to head back to the lodge. Words were not enough to describe what we just experienced, but everyone tried to use the proper adjectives. We all admitted that it would be hard to top this experience.

We got back fairly early, had some lunch and then were free to swim in the pool and hang out. Sister Humphreys brought her suit, so she got into the pool. Elder Humphreys took a quick nap after talking Public Affairs with me for about 15 minutes.


We enjoyed the nice weather, great company and being in the outdoors. Walt and Bethany cooled off with their clothes on. Why didn't I think of that?

That afternoon Sean had arranged for half of us to go to the wild-life rehabilitation place and the other half to go to the endangered species place not too far away from the lodge. Our group went to the Hoedspruit Endangered Species center which focuses on the conservation of rare, vulnerable or endangered animals with cheetahs being one of their main concerns. The Centre is actively involved in: the breeding of endangered, vulnerable or rare animal species, the release and establishment of captive-bred cheetahs to the wild, the treatment and rehabilitation of orphaned or injured animals which are brought to the Centre, the education of learners, students and the general public in conservation and conservation activities, Eco-tourism and a hands-on Student's Program to conservation and adventure enthusiasts from around the world.

We saw many different animals being rehabilitated. These lions were orphaned and were brought to the centre for rehabilitation. They were huge and seemed to care only about sleeping...very lazy according to the guide. This guy just rolled over on his back and slept. It was difficult seeing these proud animals behind a fence, but they cannot release lions that humans have fed into the wild, because they associate humans with food and will attack them. There were two of these guys called black mane lions in this enclosure...both were sleepy.


These rhinos were rescued from poachers who Poachers cut off their horns, but they lived. Unfortunately the horns were cut so deep into the skin that they can not grow back. One of these rhinos had a steel plate over his stump, because he kept rubbing it against stuff and causing it to bleed. Very sad, but they are surviving together in this enclosure and cannot be released in the wild. This would make anyone committed to do what they can to stop poaching.






The most disgusting thing we saw at this place was a vulture bone yard! They throw bones with some meat left on them in this area and the vultures feed there. Needless to say it smelled horrible and looked horrible and the guide just stopped the vehicle to let us sit there and smell it and watch the vultures...maybe a guy thing, but I was glad when we finally drove off.







This particular Cheetah is called a King Cheetah and is very rare. This used to be the cat of choice for the Pharaohs in ancient times. They really are beautiful animals and I liked the fact that they can be released in the wild even after being in captivity.

This Cheetah seemed to be posing for me. What a beautiful animal. We saw several baby cheetahs and the guide said they are getting close to be released into the wild. Cheetahs do very well even when being in captivity for some time. It made us smile.

I caught this guy yawning. They are such majestic creatures

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We came back from our trip and Dianne and Sean had a Braai ready to go. As usual the food was delicious and Dianne totally outdid her
self with her desserts...Yum.

We gathered around the campfire again and enjoyed being in the bush with the stars so bright in the sky and the air so clear. All that was missing was horses and our bedrolls.






The next day we headed bright and early to Kruger park. We didn't see a huge amount of animals, but we saw lots of giraffes, zebras and finally some elephants.

We met for lunch with the group and then headed back to Johannesburg. We had a great time! Plus we felt we did our part in the fight to keep poachers from killing rhinos...at least it's a start.