What's been going on: 20-26 June
The weather has been very moderate over the past week. We’re extremely grateful for this welcome respite from the cold, especially when we see the freezing temperatures the lower parts of the country have to contend with. Then again, winter is far from over so we may well be commenting too quickly.
On a more sombre note the Emerald-spotted Wood Dove that Christo took under his wing recently passed away. Unfortunately it wasn’t able to recover from being exposed to the cold for as long as it did, but at least we can take solace in the fact that it died in a warm and loving environment.
NEW BABIES
At long last we managed to spot the Wild dog pups. What an amazing sight. Unfortunately their ever protective parents chose the very densest area in the camp to make their den, so viewing them is very much a case of hit or miss. The only reason we knew that the little guys had finally arrived was because we heard their unmistakable yelps and growls emanating from the overgrown foliage. So far we’ve only seen two of them, but we’re keeping a close eye on the area of the den site. Hopefully we’ll be able to snap some photos of these elusive darlings soon.
NEW STAFF
We would like to welcome Licia Minnaar to the HESC family. She joined us recently in the position of assistant curator, and is proving to be every bit as elusive as our new pups because we can’t get her to stand still long enough for us to take a photo of her. Licia thinks she’s outsmarted us, but what she doesn’t realise is that we have an ace up our sleeve in the form of Henk, the friendliest guide that ever there was. Watch this space!
DREAMS DO COME TRUE
A while ago Jeno van Tienen visited us from the Netherlands. Reach for a Dream fulfilled this brave young boy’s wish of meeting a cheetah. This past week a foundation in the Unite States that grants terminally ill young people their ultimate wish did the same for Joseph Schilling. It’s been Joseph’s lifelong dream to see African animals and get a glimpse into the life of a curator or wildlife vet. We were astounded at just how well educated, motivated and excited this youngster was. His goal is to become a veterinarian and we have no doubt that he’ll achieve this. We wish him only the best of luck for the future and are honoured to have played a part in fulfilling one of his dreams.
STUFF
The kids are still hiding out indoors, so we have no school trips to tell you about. Koos has also been behaving himself, so nothing to report there either. If there’s anything in particular that you’d like to see more of or know more about then please leave us a comment and we’ll do our best to get you what you want.
That’s it for this week folks,
The HESC Team 😉