Conservation
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Thank you for your support in our conservation projects.
We are proud to announce that our expansion project for elephant habitat is a very successful work in progress, and without your incredible help it would not have been possible. Soon Thula Thula will be 5600 hectares!
Maintaining our fences, roads and general infrastructure is an ongoing task. Our conservation efforts in protecting our 5 rhinos, our special elephant family and all our wildlife can never be stopped. Neither the dehorning of our rhino and veterinarian assistance when our wildlife family is in need of care, as it is our responsibility and commitment to do everything to ensure their safety and wellbeing.
We do thank you for your support.
Francoise and the Thula Thula Wild Team
ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL CONSERVATION OPERATION WITH OUR ELEPHANT HERD
The collaring with VHF and satellite tracking of our new Matriarch MARULA, daughter of Frankie, took place on the 14 of August at Thula Thula.
Read the full article in our Newsletter.
Humane Society International - Africa supports Thula Thula with an elephant collar!
During the recent annual elephant immunocontraception vaccinations, HSI-Africa wildlife director Dr Audrey Delsink and Project Implementation Specialist JJ van Altena of Global Supplies 1stop, together with the Thula Thula crew and Volunteers Academy fitted a satellite collar to beautiful elephant cow, Nandi. The collar will assist the reserve and Elephant Reintegration Trust research team in ongoing monitoring and data analysis after the reserve’s expansion.
THE STORY OF NTOMBI AND HOPE FOR THE FUTURE OF RHINO CONSERVATION
Ntombi, a 8 month old female orphan from poaching, arrived at Thula Thula in November 2009, rescued and cared for by Moholoholo rehab centre in Hoedspruit in Mpumalanga. She joined our little orphan Thabo who arrived at 4 months old as another victim of a poaching incident on his mother. They became inseparable. A beautiful love story. But after 12 years, still no baby…
Dr Morne de la Rey from RHINO REPRO in Pretoria came to Thula Thula in December 2021 to do fertility tests on Ntombi and Thabo. This is how we discovered that Thabo was sterile. As per Dr. de la Rey's diagnosis, many orphan rhinos who suffered the trauma of witnessing the horrors of poaching, this is sadly common.
In December 2021, 2 weeks after the fertility treatment on Ntombi, we acquired a 17 years old wild white male rhino from Phinda game reserve. We named him RAMBO.
A new love story was about to start…
Thanks to the revolutionary OPU treatment (Ovum Pick Up) of RHINO REPRO by Dr De la Rey on Ntombi to reboot her cycle, there is now hope for all orphan rhinos and the reproduction of endangered species.
Sadly our little miracle baby Iphi passed away at the tender age of two weeks. A terrible cold front with heavy rains caused her to contract pneumonia which led to her passing away. One morning, our rhino monitoring team found her mother Ntombi on her own. After a few hours of intense search by the whole team of game rangers and anti poaching unit, her tiny body was found lifeless. An autopsy was conducted by our veterinarian Trever Viljoen who concluded it was pneumonia. There was nothing we could have done. We are all heartbroken at Thula Thula.
On a positive note, we now know that Ntombi can have babies, as a result of the fertility treatment she received two years ago by Dr Morne de la Rey. So we have hope that Ntombi will fall pregnant again.
Thula Thula embraces
new rhino technology
Thula Thula Private Game Reserve recently conducted a successful operation to protect their rhinos, led by Dr. Trevor Viljoen from Mtubatuba Veterinary Clinic. The operation involved dehorning five rhinos and fitting them with specialized GPS collars. Heligistix assisted in darting the rhinos, while Project Rhino aided in locating them using a plane. Additionally, Mfezi Security and Thula Thula's anti-poaching team were involved in ensuring the safety of the operation.
Françoise Malby-Anthony, the owner of the reserve, emphasized the importance of continuous monitoring and protection efforts, especially with the planned expansion of the reserve by a further 1000 hectares.
The GPS collars, described as revolutionary, not only help in locating the rhinos but also record their movements and behavior. The collars, provided by Rouxcel Technology, are solar-powered and require minimal maintenance. This collaborative effort showcases the commitment of various organizations to protect rhinos from poaching and other threats.
A MASSIVE THANK YOU TO ALL WHO WERE INVOLVED!
Rhino Conservation and Monitoring
Due to declining population numbers, and a need for behavioural research the Volunteers Academy is conducting rhino monitoring and research to ensure their safety as well as monitoring their health, behaviour and territories.
Rhino Identification
Rhinos are identified by individual notch codes and age.
Rhino Monitoring plan
Rhinos are monitored on a 24-hour basis, with the Volunteer Academy during the day, while the Anti-poaching and K9 unit continues monitoring 24/7. We monitor our rhinos not only for their own security but also to get insight into their behaviour, socially for females and territorial males.
Health Monitoring
During rhino monitoring visual health assessments are done daily.
Horn growth and the effect of dehorning is observed.
The Tick load per rhino will also be monitored as well as any injuries that can occur during bull territory fighting and mating.
Behaviour Monitoring
Gaining more insight into rhino behaviour, social grouping is an ongoing research project.
This means we will be monitoring the female herd and their social grouping as well as dominant and submissive bulls and their interactions. We want to see how Rhino cows manage their herd and move throughout their home-range as well as trying to learn more about audio and body language communication.
Behaviour monitoring also correlates to health monitoring by watching feeding habits, this gives us insight into their condition as well as their preferred grass species for eating,
Territory Monitoring
We keep track of territorial disputes and holdings. Bulls will hold a territory around preferred grasslands and waterholes or mud wallows and monitor the outskirts of their territory, they will mark this territory by leaving dung piles at crossroads, usually along roads and animal walking paths, allowing us to monitor territories by looking at dung and tracks. During the breeding period of a female Rhino, she will not be allowed to leave a dominant male's territory, and we will be able to monitor this and their breeding periods during this time.
