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Moholoholo Rehabilitation Center + my first Rhino
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We get an early start with a cold outdoor shower followed by a simple yet tasty breakfast. Everything is done at a snails pace here and I'm quickly taken by this relaxed mindset. My alarm, set to Bob Marley's 'Three Little Birds' wakes me up in a great mood while it seems that the neighboring trees were rudely awakened by the local monkey menaces. No worries, no rushes, no problems!
Today we visit the Moholoholo Rehabilitation Center in the morning. This place is sooo cool! Our tour guide shows us all the animals they have and explains the conservation efforts they are pursuing. It seems like an uphill battle but you quickly realize that it has to start somewhere. (reminds me of my conversations with my sister about the environment oddly enough...) We see every animal except elephants (in other words, the whole ecosystem is in danger), and all of them are close enough to touch! I get to feed a vulture, which is fun until Jorge and him got into a fight... they are nasty animals!
We pet some warthogs and I taunt the two lions a bit before shocking myself on the electric fence, at which point I stop taunting because I realize that the fence isn't doing all that much and that the lions could easily bust through if they wanted to.
I pet a hyena on the nose a bunch and am amazed by the fact that the females are so dominant that they actually produce testosterone which causes them to grow male sex organs, who knew? The cheetahs are lazy and don't provide as good or as beautiful a view as we had when my family saw them in Kenya.
The badger is easily my favorite animal of the day! Our guide tells us how he frequently escapes from his pen by building ladders out of rocks or trees. The only way to get him back in the cage is to have him chase around the guy who caught him (whom he absolutely despises) and have him jump into the pen with the badger close on his heels! Apparently, this little guy got out one time and decided to pick a fight with the lion they called Big Boy.
He dug a hole into the lion pen and attacked Big Boy (a male lion who is easily 10x his size). The lion ran away and jumped on top of a box to escape his assailant! I'm slightly disappointed that I don't get to play with more animals but it's probably for the best.
Lunch at the Cheetah Inn is decent at best and we had back to camp for an afternoon nap! We oversleep the afternoon/evening drive but are relieved to find out that we aren't the only ones. The heat is a tricky one as it makes you quite tired without you noticing it.
The sunset drive is much more exciting this time around as we see many animals including a rhino! No kills but hanging out and watching the rhino was pretty cool.
Dinner is once again amazing. A beef stew and the recap of the days events was classic with Richard's animal noises. I teach the crew the card game, animals (from my Israel adventures), and Richard loves it! He is constant entertainment as he describes to the group how to "production" hash while we light another bonfire. We sit around and drink Amarula (made from the fruit hanging on the trees surrounding us) and Richard announces that he was given sniffing tobacco from an African guy he met on the beach somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I wind up trying it after seeing Mr. John do it like a pro (he may be in his 50's, or 60's, but he drinks, smokes and apparently snorts like he's back in his heyday). It's an awful experience and I almost puke.
Never had anything been up my nose before and I resolve to never let anything go up it again! (Note: I blow my nose the next morning and tobacco comes out, yuch!) Jen heads to bed after a bit and I stick around the fire with Richard talking and banging on the drum. He is always smiling and laughing and provides for great amusement. I agree to come visit him in Switzerland later in my travels.
Falling asleep to the sounds of the wild is so cool, but I fear that the bugs have started to figure out I'm around!
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