Day 8 - Moholoholo Animal Rehabilitation Center

Eve has grown tired of African Fruit Loops for breakfast. They taste much like our Fruit Loops, except they're more colorful and (can you believe it) they might be even sweeter than ours. So, she convinces me to wake her up super early to try breakfast here at the resort restaurant. After making some effort to get dressed, Landon (in his infinite wisdom) decides to go back to sleep instead. 

At 5:45 this morning Eve and I walk the lit pathway towards the reception building. We are both shivering. The temperatures climb to around 95 degrees most days, but in the morning it is in the mid-fifties/sixties. When we arrive at the restaurant, we see no lights on, absolutely no movement inside. The hours posted clearly state 6am, but a kind resort worker tells us that they don't open until 6:30. So Eve and I sit in an empty reception area staring blankly at each other and commenting about the incredibly horrific music selections (it's actually music from back home, just not the kind we like). 

After our little breakfast adventure, we head two hours north of Hazyview to visit the Moholoholo Animal Rehabilitation Center. We arrive just in time for our 930am tour of the facility. Barbed wire and electric fences around the animal enclosures make the place seem quite ominous, but we learn that for the safety of the animals and the guests, all precautionary measures are necessary.  

The organization is guided by wildlife activist Brian Jones. In the 1960s most of the cattle farms in this area and adjacent to Kruger State Park were converted into game reserves.  Along with the change in the land use came the need to address caring for the injured animals found and to educate locals on ways to conserve the wildlife here in South Africa.

This facility receives a lot of animals that are injured by snares (this is a common way to hunt and trap animals around this area.) Scary fact: in just two hours, workers from the rehab center collected 70 snares within a 2 mile radius of their facility.

The goal, of course, is to release these injured animals back into the wild; however, visitors to the rehab center tour the facility and have the opportunity to get up close and personal with the permanent residents of this place.  Some of them, like this cheetah above, were raised in captivity and are unable to be released back into the wild. The cheetahs here are used to promote animal awareness and conservation efforts in the community for Moholoholo.

Our funny lion friend 

We not only meet some of the animals we didn't see while on safari, our guide also introduces us to many different types of birds. 

The very friendly white-backed vulture (as long as you have raw meat to feed him) 

This is a weary day for some of us. As we edge closer to the end of our time here in South Africa, we are spent. Landon is especially feeling low energy today.

While Grandpa D, Grandma C, and Eve continue to follow the guide through several bird areas (with lengthy descriptions on each bird....yawn....) Landon and I sit on the bench nearby. 

"I didn't eat enough breakfast this morning," he sighs.

He tells me his head hurts and though I had a much heartier restaurant breakfast, I feel a lot the same. The two of us are ready to head back, eat, and rest. 

We suffer through a few more explanations on birds of prey and then our 2.5 hour tour is complete. I bolt towards the snack bar --muffins for the kids and a diet soda for me. 

On the way back home, we discover a delicious option for dinner. Kuzu Cafe offers just about anything you could possibly want: sushi, steaks, seafood, chicken, pizza. And we try just about everything. I order a filet topped with mushroom sauce and avocado. It's quite possibly the best filet I've ever had.

Tomorrow we pack and drive towards Johannesburg to start our journey home. In some ways I'm sad to see it end, but in most ways all of us are ready to return.