rhino update

1004.

1004 rhinos were poached in South Africa last year. That is nearly 3 per day! 343 poachers were arrested.

86.

86 rhinos were poached in South Africa in January. Yep, 86 in one month. 21 poachers have been arrested.

You might remember from my last rhino post that the illegal trade of their horns fuels poaching. Asian countries, primarily China and Vietnam, believe the horn has medicinal properties (i.e. a hangover cure) and pay a very high price to get the horns. However, the horns have no medicinal value and are actually similar to human fingernails. Just think: rhinos could be wiped out because of a ficticious hangover cure. So, so sad. The key to conservation is to decrease demand through education - by spreading the word that the rhino horn does not cure anything.

Have you seen this PSA that Price William, David Beckham and Yao Ming made? Note: this YouTube video link might not work on your iPhones and iPads because you need Flash, but it will on a normal computer. You can also search it on YouTube.

If you are interested in adopting a rhino or donating to the Save the Rhino conservation effort, here is a link to help you get started. DO IT!!!!!!  Save the Rhino donation link

Love,

Jess & Mat

H20

“Don’t drink our water!” was one of the first tips we received upon our arrival in Witbank, ZA. I’ll be honest; I didn’t realize how much of a giant pain in the ARSE it would be to avoid ingesting tap water. Think about it: washing dishes, cooking, bathing, and brushing your teeth…all of these routine tasks involve using water from the good ‘ole tap. Bad tap water meant that we had to completely adjust our water habits.

The reason I am sharing our bad water situation is because we have had several days of water that looks like this:

Methinks a pipe is broken. Hey, Witbank, this is NOT okay!!!!!

Now, here is a photo of what our normal “clean(ish)” tap water looks like – yellowish with a bit of an odor. This is also NOT okay but it's better than brown!!!!!

Aside from Witbank’s poor water quality, we experience many other water-related issues such as not having it. Yep, our Municipality will arbitrarily turn it off for no apparent reason. Sometimes for days. As I type this, I am desperately worried that I am jinxing myself and it will be turned off in the near future. Eeeeeek! Oh well, I am doing it for the sake of this little blog. :-)

Due to the gross water, we are forced to buy purified, clean drinking water a couple times a month – typically 145 Liters per trip. The clean water business is a lucrative one here in Witbank. Here is a photo of our water containers:

If you are planning to visit ZA in the future, don’t worry, the nasty water situation is not consistent across South Africa. It only affects a lucky handful of cities with broke Municipalities like ours.

So, next time you turn on your tap and see clean and clear water, think of us and be grateful you don’t have to worry about what specimens might be lurking in your glass.

Love,

Jess & Mat

MONKEYS!

We recently visited a monkey sanctuary called Bushbabies.  It is a strikingly beautiful place that is set up like their natural habitat - wild and open. No cages! We walked through a jungle-like scene as monkeys crossed our paths, jumped from tree-to-tree, stared at us and went about their daily routines. It was both peaceful and exciting at the same time.

This sanctuary acts as a respite for monkeys who have been in captivity for most of their lives – either in labs or as pets. All monkeys at Bushbabies are donated or rescued. Monkeys are difficult to care for and we learned they become particularly hard to handle when they reach sexual maturity. Thankfully, centers like this exist so these monkeys will not be abandoned and unable to care for themselves.

Being unable to release them in the wild once they are “domesticated,” the monkeys can roam freely here for the rest of their little monkey lives.

{mom & baby}

{ringtail lemurs from Madagascar}

{feeding tables with fruits and veggies}

{check out this guy's eyes}

{suspension bridge over the treetops}

{Matty being a monkey}

{ringtail lemur}

{to the right - ladders for the monkeys to climb up to main walkway. how cool!}

{another view of suspension bridge}

{monkeys hiding in the treetops}

Love,

Jess & Mat

Themba the Olifant

Olifant is the Afrikaans word for elephant. Why am I defining this word, you ask? Well, this past Saturday we got to WALK an elephant. Trunk-in-hand. What did you do?!

Can you believe it? We got to touch, feed, and walk a 13-year old male African elephant named Themba at the Elephant Sanctuary in the Hartbeespoort Dam area of Brits, ZA. Being next to such a huge animal (with no fences in between us) was an unforgettable experience. We interacted with elephants for TWO AND A HALF HOURS. Oh yeah, I also got sloppy elephant trunk kisses from him! It was a-mazing.

{our first glimpse of the elephants}

The Touch:

For the most part, elephant skin feels just like you think it would – tough and leathery. I think it feels a bit like a pencil eraser. The “elbows" and "knees" were very rough and calloused and looked like tiny rock pebbles had been glued to his skin. Themba’s trunk felt rubbery and his tongue felt like a cold piece of meat! Not at all like ours. By far the biggest shock was his ears – they felt like very, very soft leather.

{feeling Themba's belly}

{Themba's ears are so soft!}

{Themba was smiling for the camera}

The Feeding:

We fed the elephants some pellets, which they LOVED. They couldn’t get enough! When you feed the elephant via their trunks, you drop the pellets directly into the trunks; you don’t hold the pellets in your hand and expect them to suck it up. The handler tried to get Mat to eat some pellets after he asked what was in them. Mat politely declined. Ha!

{stretching his trunk for pellets}

The Kisses:

Themba kissed me with his trunk! He put his trunk on my face and blew air out. It was such a cool feeling!!! I didn’t realize until afterward that my face was covered in dirt. Mat may or may not have gotten little jealous that the elephant smooched his wife J

{my face is priceless!}

{post-smooch}

The Walk:

We were instructed to walk in front of Themba and hold our right hand backward in an upward C shape. The handler also said to “keep walking and don’t stop even if the elephant takes its trunk out of your hand.” Themba, the smartest olifant in the world, placed his trunk in my hand so that I was holding the tip of his trunk. I thought I would be scared because, let’s be honest, he could crush me at any second but he was very gentle and walked calmly behind me.

{how cute is Mat's face!!!! he was so happy!}

We also learned a lot about elephants:

 -  Their ear canal is in front of their large ears. I always thought it was behind. Oops!

 - They have super long eyelashes

 -  The trunk is 100% muscle (no bone, no cartilage)

 -   Unlike Asian elephants, African elephants have two finger-like features at the end of their trunk to help them pick stuff up

 -  Tusks are used to dig for food and water, rip bark from trees, and males use them to fight

- Like humans, they are either “right-tusked or left-tusked” and favor one side the most

 -    They can eat up to 300 lbs of food in a day and spend 18-20 hours eating and drinking

 -     They only sleep 3-4 hours a day and it is typically not consecutive hours

 -     They are endangered and, sadly, are STILL poached for ivory

 -    They are highly social and form deep family bonds. Females often “adopt” abandoned elephants into their herd

 -    The oldest female leads the herd. Males are kicked out of the herd when they are around 14 years old and they lead a nomadic lifestyle until breeding time comes around

-     They are extremely intelligent and they have a better memory than humans (maybe not Sheldon Cooper’s memory…)

I hope you enjoyed seeing our Elephant Sanctuary experience. If you ever come to South Africa, this is a MUST DO adventure.

Love,

Jess & Mat