This past holidays I was lucky enough to head to South Africa on a trip organised by their vet school. People from 24 different countries were selected to attend and it went for 16 days. We started in Pretoria (near Jo'burg) at their university before going to Kruger National Park, Cape Vidal, Durban, Golden Gate National Park and back to Pretoria.
It was basically a huge party most of the time but we also got to see heaps of awesome wildlife, and do some medical procedures on a handful of species. This is hands down the best experience of my life and I wanted to share it with you. I hope the photos are enjoyable, but you'll have to bear with me as there are bloody HEAPS of them.
I've put descriptions above some of the more interesting stuff so you know what is going on, hope you enjoy!
SOME NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH
This is their anatomy lab. These animals were not killed for science, but fresh bodies found in national parks are collected and preserved for anatomy lessons in the vet school. There are some antelope, a cheetah, an aborted white rhino calf, a baby elephant and a lion (check out the size of the lion's paws compared to the chair..)
This is the day we went to the De Wildt Cheetah and Wild Dog Centre.. an awesome day
A vulture and albino honey badger also there
We had to dart one of the cheetah as it was sick and the vet needed to do a gastroscopy on it. This is the vet with the dart gun.
The cheetah in the back of the ute, and then on the table in the gastroscopy room. The cheetah had gastric ulcers and a pretty heavy worm burden.
Me feeling the pulse and checking out the teeth and foot
One of the girls taking blood and me giving an intramuscular injection of penicillin
Me checking the heart rate
In the afternoon we went for a drive around the reserve and had a look at some of their other animals. This is a normal coloured honey badger.
This is a smaller cat, a caracal, being fed - pictures are rubbish here.
The resident ostriches thought it was a good time to sneak up on people watching the caracal
We drove into an area where some of their wild dogs were held. We watched them get fed and learnt about their hunting habits. They are 80-100% successful when hunting as they go in a group, and for this reason very few game ranchers want to keep them.. they are therefore pretty rare and even up until the 1970s Kurger National Park rangers were instructed to shoot them on site. They chase their prey as a pack, making spooky noises and seeming like there are more than there actually are until the animal is so tired they can grab and disembowel it.
Feeding the cheetahs
The 'king' cheetah. King cheetahs are the same species but have a different inherited coat pattern. In the wild king cheetahs are usually killed as cubs because they stand out.
This is a post mortem of a warthog. Scroll down away from this if you are squeamish. Sorry if it offends anybody but I found it really interesting.
This is in Kruger National Park now, and within 5 minutes of the front gate we spotted this giraffe
Two male impala from a bachelor herd
Some distant hippos
Our first few elephants. Bachelor males hanging out together.
Getting angry at the bus
White rhino dozing way off in the distance
Some impala (common as dog poo over there! They were everywhere), more giraffe and some female kudu
We arrived at the dorms, chucked our stuff in the rooms and went out to take some photos of the monkeys raiding the bin right outside. These are vervet monkeys.
Our first morning game drive. It was an open air vehicle at four thirty in the morning and it was ABSOLUTELY freeeeezing. There were blankets on every chair and people were bringing their sleeping bags on the vehicle.
An elephant by the side of the track
Some more giraffe
This is a saddle billed stork
Nests in a tree, a baboon and a water/Nile monitor
Hippo
Some lizards at the camp
Our first night drive - again, it was very cold indeed. A cape buffalo
Sunsets with and without marabou storks in the tree
There were a few spotted hyena getting around, making their creepy noises.. This is the only photo I got as it was getting dark and my camera didn't appreciate it. We saw leopards in the tree and heaps of other animals but my camera by this time did not work at all in the dark.
During the night drive, we had a "few" sundowners on the vehicles and as a result needed to pee. That was an issue though as you aren't allowed to leave the vehicles.. Our driver stopped only on bridges, where we could see clearly what was coming from both directions. This is after our pee on the bridge where a ranger was taken by a lion a year previously.
These photos are from the day where we went out and did rhino immobilisations. Rhinos were darted and loaded onto trailers as they were being sold to game ranches. When the rhino went down we rushed in and got to do stuff with them.. I stood back as I had a go with the cheetah but people took faecal samples by doing a rectal, tissue samples from the ear, blood samples etc etc. The rhinos were then given slight antidotes and we literally walked them (pushing/pulling them as they walked) into their trailers. An amazing experience. We saw 4 brother lions on the road this morning but the only photos I got were very blurry.
The first 2 photos are the chopper used to dart and the guards who were watching our backs as we were out in the wild.
This is the 1st rhino, a male. Check out the dart in its backside.
Down he goes
This is the next rhino, a female. This is the one I helped work on. Taking a tissue sample
My hand on the skin (amazingly thick) and me checking the heartbeat
Some ticks on the skin and my mate taking the temperature
It was basically a huge party most of the time but we also got to see heaps of awesome wildlife, and do some medical procedures on a handful of species. This is hands down the best experience of my life and I wanted to share it with you. I hope the photos are enjoyable, but you'll have to bear with me as there are bloody HEAPS of them.
I've put descriptions above some of the more interesting stuff so you know what is going on, hope you enjoy!
SOME NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH
This is their anatomy lab. These animals were not killed for science, but fresh bodies found in national parks are collected and preserved for anatomy lessons in the vet school. There are some antelope, a cheetah, an aborted white rhino calf, a baby elephant and a lion (check out the size of the lion's paws compared to the chair..)
This is the day we went to the De Wildt Cheetah and Wild Dog Centre.. an awesome day
A vulture and albino honey badger also there
We had to dart one of the cheetah as it was sick and the vet needed to do a gastroscopy on it. This is the vet with the dart gun.
The cheetah in the back of the ute, and then on the table in the gastroscopy room. The cheetah had gastric ulcers and a pretty heavy worm burden.
Me feeling the pulse and checking out the teeth and foot
One of the girls taking blood and me giving an intramuscular injection of penicillin
Me checking the heart rate
In the afternoon we went for a drive around the reserve and had a look at some of their other animals. This is a normal coloured honey badger.
This is a smaller cat, a caracal, being fed - pictures are rubbish here.
The resident ostriches thought it was a good time to sneak up on people watching the caracal
We drove into an area where some of their wild dogs were held. We watched them get fed and learnt about their hunting habits. They are 80-100% successful when hunting as they go in a group, and for this reason very few game ranchers want to keep them.. they are therefore pretty rare and even up until the 1970s Kurger National Park rangers were instructed to shoot them on site. They chase their prey as a pack, making spooky noises and seeming like there are more than there actually are until the animal is so tired they can grab and disembowel it.
Feeding the cheetahs
The 'king' cheetah. King cheetahs are the same species but have a different inherited coat pattern. In the wild king cheetahs are usually killed as cubs because they stand out.
This is a post mortem of a warthog. Scroll down away from this if you are squeamish. Sorry if it offends anybody but I found it really interesting.
This is in Kruger National Park now, and within 5 minutes of the front gate we spotted this giraffe
Two male impala from a bachelor herd
Some distant hippos
Our first few elephants. Bachelor males hanging out together.
Getting angry at the bus
White rhino dozing way off in the distance
Some impala (common as dog poo over there! They were everywhere), more giraffe and some female kudu
We arrived at the dorms, chucked our stuff in the rooms and went out to take some photos of the monkeys raiding the bin right outside. These are vervet monkeys.
Our first morning game drive. It was an open air vehicle at four thirty in the morning and it was ABSOLUTELY freeeeezing. There were blankets on every chair and people were bringing their sleeping bags on the vehicle.
An elephant by the side of the track
Some more giraffe
This is a saddle billed stork
Nests in a tree, a baboon and a water/Nile monitor
Hippo
Some lizards at the camp
Our first night drive - again, it was very cold indeed. A cape buffalo
Sunsets with and without marabou storks in the tree
There were a few spotted hyena getting around, making their creepy noises.. This is the only photo I got as it was getting dark and my camera didn't appreciate it. We saw leopards in the tree and heaps of other animals but my camera by this time did not work at all in the dark.
During the night drive, we had a "few" sundowners on the vehicles and as a result needed to pee. That was an issue though as you aren't allowed to leave the vehicles.. Our driver stopped only on bridges, where we could see clearly what was coming from both directions. This is after our pee on the bridge where a ranger was taken by a lion a year previously.
These photos are from the day where we went out and did rhino immobilisations. Rhinos were darted and loaded onto trailers as they were being sold to game ranches. When the rhino went down we rushed in and got to do stuff with them.. I stood back as I had a go with the cheetah but people took faecal samples by doing a rectal, tissue samples from the ear, blood samples etc etc. The rhinos were then given slight antidotes and we literally walked them (pushing/pulling them as they walked) into their trailers. An amazing experience. We saw 4 brother lions on the road this morning but the only photos I got were very blurry.
The first 2 photos are the chopper used to dart and the guards who were watching our backs as we were out in the wild.
This is the 1st rhino, a male. Check out the dart in its backside.
Down he goes
This is the next rhino, a female. This is the one I helped work on. Taking a tissue sample
My hand on the skin (amazingly thick) and me checking the heartbeat
Some ticks on the skin and my mate taking the temperature
