Giving Back
Elandela Lodge is self-funding an array of conservation programs that focuses mainly on
Large Predators of the South African Bushveld and the highly endangered Rhinoceros
LEOPARDS
The Elandela Leopards are beautiful and the favourite of many visitors. Leopards are solitary, nocturnal predators and their perfect camouflage makes them difficult to spot – truly a case of being at the right place at the right time! On the section of Elandela Private Game Reserve where Elandela Lake View Lodge and Elandela River View Lodge is, there are no lions and this is leopard heaven.
It is not unusual for some guests to happen onto one, or more, of the magnificent spotted cats every day of their stay but luck is the deciding factor and to edge the percentages in your favour we advise the purchase of a Night Drive, after dinner, to endeavour finding a leopard with a spot light.
PART OF oUR CONSERVATION PROGRAMS: ELANDELA RHINO SURVIVOR TRUST
Elandela Rhino Survivor Trust is a registered Non-Profit Organization that came into being after a Rhinoceros cow was shot 16 times and then hacked to death on Elandela Private Game Reserve in June 2011. Her three-month-old bull calf was assaulted and nearly died of dehydration and predation as he careened aimlessly through the reserve for the two days it took the Elandela rescue teams to find him. His resuscitation was a difficult but successful one.
Unfortunately due to the assault and dehydration “Roccy”, as he was affectionately named, developed cataracts in both eyes. The initial objective of Elandela Rhino Survivor Trust was to finance a cataract removal operation for Roccy at the Onderste Poort Veterinary Hospital near Pretoria. This successful operation on the third of January 2012 drew wide world-wide media attention because it was about the only positive story in a sea of sad reports regarding the assaults on our country’s Rhinos.
Roccy and his story made a special impact on children and in order to inform the youth of the imminent extinction of the Rhino the activity book “Roccy the Survivor” was published by the Trust. Subsequently, an orphan female calf, named Clova, was purchased and these orphans, who have been raised by us, have endeared themselves to all Elandela’s visitors as part of our awareness campaign, aimed primarily at school going children, regarding the Rhino’s plight.
The remainder of Roccy’s family went through a second poaching ordeal in May 2013 when a group of rhino poachers wounded 4 of Elandela’s Rhinos on one night! The young female, “Escape”, was then wounded for a second time and she had to be tranquilized and treated 5 times to heal her infected bullet wound. “Swagman” had a bullet lodged in his shoulder and “Premier” has a bullet hole in his ear! “Precious” had a shot through her vertebral processes but the good news is that not only was her life saved but also that of her unborn calf.
Unfortunately, Swagman succumbed to a poacher’s bullet in August 2016.
The gestation period of a Rhino is 18 months – that is why at the rate of more than 1000 Rhinos killed per year in South Africa we are living in the last moments of time for a species that has dwelled on earth for millions of years!