ZO journos take a walk on the wild side
Zululand Observer’s editorial team embarked on a media tour of Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (HiP)
Conservation education was the order of the day when the Zululand Observer’s editorial team embarked on a media tour of Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (HiP) recently.
The team entered the park shortly after sunrise and the early morning light, animals on the move and rolling terrain provided ample opportunities to fine-tune our photographic skills.
The highlight of the day was an educational talk from Dumisani Zwane, manager of the Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife game capture unit.
With rhino poaching continuously placing the park’s rhinos under threat, the organisation is doing all it can to preserve the species.
This often includes the hand-rearing of rhino calves whose mothers become victims of poaching.
Rhino calves aged six months and younger are unable to feed or fend for themselves without their mothers, so are cared for by the game capture unit.
Once the rhino calves – which are de-horned for their own future protection – have reached a certain age, they are released back into the wild.
Apart from looking after orphaned rhino calves, the Ezemvelo game capture unit also captures wildlife that is to be translocated to other game reserves or sold at the organisation’s annual auction.
There are a number of reasons Ezemvelo translocate animals between reserves, but genetic distribution is the main one.
Moving animals from one reserve to another and replacing them with the same species from another reserve helps bring in fresh blood which eliminates in-breeding.
Dumisani and his colleagues are passionate about their work with wildlife and he said it is wonderful to be able to carry out the work in a career he also dreamt about.
His love and passion for rhinos began as a young boy when he saw a photograph of a rhino on his grandmother’s calendar.
Instantly wanting to find out more about the animal, he started learning as much as he could, eventually leading to his role in conservation.
For the remainder of the day we continued to put our photographic skills to the test during our game sightings.
These included elephant, zebra, buffalo, wildebeest, a troop of baboons, nyala, impala, kudu, grey duiker and, of course, rhinos wallowing in the mud.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter.
For news straight to your phone invite us:
WhatsApp – 072 069 4169
Instagram – zululand_observer
