I was back in South Africa. This time it was not in search of penguins (though, it should always be, shouldn't it?) but to learn more about rabies. After landing in Johannesburg, I had a 2 hour drive up to Pretoria for the night. I fell asleep at 7pm in an effort to be alert enough to start my crazy whirlwind roadtrip through Kwa-Zulu Natal for the next 5 days with a selection of rabies experts. After a 5 hour drive to Pietermaritzburg, we settled in for the night at the Alberts Falls game reserve. We had to be at the KWN rabies labs by 9 the next morning for some meetings, which left us a great opportunity for an early morning game drive. We were up and in the van at 6am watching the bright red sun rise above the hills slowly burning off the morning fog. It didn't take long to get our first glimpse of zebras, impalas, wildebeests and antelope wandering around in the mists. We stopped to have a staring contest with a giraffe. And I will say, that by the end of this trip, I discovered a deep love of giraffes in all their goofiness and long eyelashes that I didn't realize I had before. It helped that every giraffe we saw seemed to stop whatever it was doing in order to pose for some pictures.
As I said this trip was a rabies learning trip. We met the team responsible for rabies control in KZN, learned the history of rabies and rabies control in the area, and discussed the challenges the team faces. The next morning, we visited an impoverished township in Pietermaritzburg where rabies is endemic and HIV/AIDS is rampant. Estimates have the prevalence of HIV in this area at almost 60%. The epidemic leaves behind alarming numbers of orphans. In the town we visited, there are about 1200 houses, more than 80 of which are orphan houses. There is a volunteer organization who spoke with us that morning working in this town trying to care for these orphans as new orphan houses are discovered on a regular basis. The HIV problem also directly affects the rabies problem in that so many adults are dying of AIDs, the dogs that they owned are then left abandoned. These newly stray dogs form packs which have attacked and killed several children in the past year. This is real fear for the townspeople. In addition, without any dog vaccination programs, rabies can circulate uncontrolled in these areas. A burgeoning stray dog problem would not help since it will ensure that dog density is high and the population is continually being replaced. After speaking with some townspeople and school-children who did not understand the connection between rabies and dogs, it was clear that increasing awareness is important.
After leaving the town, we took off for Hluhluwe game reserve. The drive took us through the Land of a Thousand Hills which was absolutely beautiful terrain. Hluhluwe is a huge reserve with several different sections. We didn't have any time to explore as we drove in because we had a meeting scheduled with the wildlife veterinarian and technician at the game capture camp. The camp was impressive. If you've ever seen a nature show about studying, monitoring or caring for wild animals, then you can imagine what this place looked like. At the time, the only animal they had in their capture pens was a grumpy male hippo with some wire tangled and embedded in one of his legs. We had a fascinating conversation with the staff about how rabies circulating in the domestic dogs surrounding the reserve spills over into the reserve. The African wild dogs in the reserve tend to wander out every night and interact with domestic dogs putting them at risk for picking up the virus. Once a member of the pack acquires the virus, it tends to spread quickly though the pack often killing off every dog. These dogs are not abundant and the reserve is becoming more and more worried about their fate if they cannot control the rabies problem outside the reserve.
The staff was exceedingly nice in letting us stay the night on the game capture camp in these wonderfully furnished canvas tents. They also let us take an evening game drive which was exceptional! Again, we saw many zebra, koudo, enyala, impala, warthogs and wildebeasts. But we also saw so many white rhinos and cape buffalo. We also had an amazing close encounter with a young male elephant who decided that it wanted to cross the path right in front of us, stopping long enough to let out a little trumpet which prompted our driver to back our vehicle away slowly. We watched it climb a small embankment, tear the top of a small tree and eat it like a lollipop. We saw a number of spotted hyenas which are typically very shy animals. One remarkable sight was watching the reflection of about 10 hyena eyes in the distance creep up towards us in a pack. Another remarkable site was the lion. He was lazily walking down the side of the path as we drove right by him. We stopped as he meandered off into the bush a little and then plopped down. He stretched and licked his huge paws and, every few seconds, opened his mouth in an enormous yawn to make sure we had a nice clear view of his canines. After a little while he started letting out short, low barks which continuously got louder and louder. We guessed that he was calling to his females. We were proven correct when, after a minute or two, we started hearing answer calls from somewhere in the murky darkness behind us. By now we had turned the vehicle off and so the only sound filling the air was the call and response exchange of the lions. Eventually, the male got up and started wandering off, still calling for his females. We never did see the females as we drove the last stretch back to camp.
The next morning we were up early for the 5 hour drive back to Pretoria since we all needed to get to Botswana the next day. However, we, of course, could not pass up the opportunity to take one more game drive on the way out. And it was totally worth it. This time we saw many more interesting birds including several large raptors. We saw a baby white rhino learning how to scratch its stomach on a rock while his mother grazed nearby. We saw several women collecting thatch to roof their houses. We arrived back the Farm Inn in time for dinner and the next day, I headed to the airport for a quick 45 minute flight to Gaborone, Botswana.
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