WEEKEND ADVENTURE

Many of the animals I’m talking about end up here, whether handed over by weary owners, confiscated from black market dealers/owners by watchdog bodies like Cape Nature, or transferred from cramped or faltering zoos. Here in the sanctuaries, they can finally benefit from some kind of rehabilitative process, in permanent homes as close to nature as possible. Meanwhile, human visitors supporting the sanctuaries gain real insight on the fascinating inhabitants, but also an understanding of their delicate existence in the divide between man and nature – a gap it has become too late to ‘unbridge’.

 

My wife Christelle and I visited SAASA in December 2013, starting off at The Jukani Wildlife Sanctuary,        a sprawling big cat sanctuary where highlights included Grompie, one of several lions saved from the (legal in SA!) deplorable lion breeding trade by Jukani founders Jurg and Karen Olsen (left); the massive Siberian tiger whose paw spans a dinner plate when spread; the elusive Black leopard (a true leopard, only jet black) and indigenous beauties like the Caracal and Black-backed jackal. 

 

Jukani also houses a snake exhibition, featuring many

greatly-feared (if misunderstood) snake species, from

the Black mamba to Cape cobras and the lethargic

(until disturbed, let me tell you) Puff adder.

 

One thing that drove us nuts (and no doubt

snake curator Simone Falck), despite the signs placed

everywhere, were certain kids – and worse, their parents – who would bang on the glass cases, trying to get the snakes to ‘do something’ (if a snake does respond by darting at the glass, it can injure itself quite badly).

 

Jukani's predator enclosures are so big and full of natural bush (see left) that even the Siberian tiger (the world’s largest big cat) has room to roam. I’d recommend visiting in the late afternoon, when the animals are more likely to be up and about, rather than sleeping off the heat – and take binoculars.  During the busy season (20 December to 5 January), stationary guides man the various enclosures,  to tell visitors about each species and the man-induced challenges their kind faces, whether in the wild or in captivity. For example, the Jaguar's shrinking habitat; Black-backed jackals being targeted by farmers because of their predation on sheep; or the sad plight of the White tiger. Bred purely in captivity by man, rather than being a true albino, the inbreeding required to ensure the continuation of White tigers, for our viewing pleasure, results in a host of genetic problems. The white tiger at Jukani, for example, will soon be totally blind (right).

 

Amazing that the increasingly threatened future of these, some of the world's most successful predators, lies entirely in our hands.

 

Monkeyland, a bit further up the N2, is the worlds first free roaming multi-species primate sanctuary;         an enclosed 12 hectares of indigenous forest (with a similar sized green belt surrounding it), in which 550+ individual primates from 11 different species, range freely Our expert guide for the morning, Dominik Winkel (right), took us along a circular trail featuring a 128m high suspension bridge (below right), the longest such bridge in Africa. Along the way he brought us close to Lemurs, Howler monkeys, Gibbons and Spider monkeys – quietly and unobtrusively. There's a strict ‘no-touch’ rule here, because the aim is for the animals, even former pets, to be as wild as possible. It’s an Observe, Understand, but Leave Undisturbed approach that SAASA promotes and advances under official Fair Trade legislation. So while a Lemur family can brush right past your knee, or you may well find the particularly charmingly cuddly and curious Gibbon called Atlas trailing your tour group along the path (below, far right), not hugging these locals to your bosom is real human kindness.

 

So sensitive are these little animals to being humanised, that when they first arrive at Monkeyland they must spend anything up to a year in a ‘soft introduction’ cage, before being let out into the wider sanctuary without screeching in fear of their own kind. SAASA’s focus on keeping animals wild, or at least helping them rediscover a bit of their wildness; this is what makes these parks true ‘sanctuaries’. While walking around Monkeyland, be careful not to trip over the 40-odd leopard tortoises. Some are former pets, with visible shell scars from being chained to stakes.

 

Who chains up a tortoise?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Birds of Eden, next door to Monkeyland, was our final stop. The world’s largest free-flight aviary (left), it is a domed, lush ravine of about two hectares in which 208 bird species, and more than 3 500 individual birds, fly just over your head, caw raucously from the bushes or comb the stream below for frogs, as you make your way along a meandering, raised catwalk. You'll need to catch your breath for a while when you first step inside - it's quite something to take in.

 

Highlights - look out for mischievious 'Touraco' family members, including the Grey Go-away-bird and local superstar, the Knysna Loerie. The Red ibises are incredibly vivid against the green foliage. The Barbary doves – sadly bred by humans to have no fear of humans – are a beautiful, dusky pink (please don’t try to catch one). Our sharp-eyed guide, Grace Marais (right), pointed out some of the non-feathered inhabitants, too – Duikers, Golden-handed tamarin monkeys and Giant fruit bats (you know they aren’t blind, of course).

 

Many of the parrots at Birds of Eden are, naturally, former pets. But listening to their echoing calls high up in the trees and imagining them gradually becoming less, rather than more, familiar with human conversation, was a good feeling. No, Polly does not want a cracker.

 

These SAASA sanctuaries offer a real refuge for animals lost in the no man's land between captivity and the wild, and are a must-see if you are visiting South Africa's Garden Route.

 

We came away from Plett realising that the most humane approach to wild species is that, while seeking to know more about them, we should allow them the freedom to know as little as possible about us.

 

Copyright Gareth Pike.

 

* By chance we ended up in the same Monkeyland tour group as SA's Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs,         

   Edna Molewa, and her family. She was kind enough to pose for a photo (left). Here’s hoping the South African government

  can put stronger measures in place to reduce exotic pet ownership.