Hungry Tortoises and Hungry Monkeys
On Monday, I went to Wild Rescue Nature Reserve not far from the community of Melkhoutfontein and Stilbaai. My mission was to pull out an invasive plant called Acacia Cyclops, which grows rapidly and takes out the native plant species around it. Pulling it from the ground was really hard, not only because the plants were big and the roots were long, but they were also secure beneath rocks. The solution to this was removing the rocks, and the effect of that solution was revealing a yellow scorpion underneath. I wasn't scared because I thought it was dead. (It was, in fact, not dead.) The hike to get to the Acacia Cyclops was very pretty, we climbed high and got the prettiest view of the river and a cave that dated back 800 years ago! Seeing all the indigenous succulents was fun too! It was a very unique hike, and challenging because it hadn't officially been cleared out. Thankfully, we did not get lost!
Another thing I got to do in my time there was travel up to where the monkeys- Delighlah and Princess lived, and watch them get fed by one of the long-term volunteers. I learned a lot about the important pieces that goes into interacting with wildlife. Wild Rescue is a hands-off sanctuary, but the volunteer I went with had been working with the monkeys for a long time, who are very social animals, just like humans. Delighlah and Princess had to be split up because Princess is a very territorial monkey and fought with Delighlah a lot. Brenda goes in with the Monkeys during feeding time and mimics their grooming habits. There are a lot of things you don't do when interacting with Monkeys, like making direct eye contact, showing your teeth, crossing your arms, picking up their food, or their 'babies' (which are tiny stuffed animals).
The next morning, after collecting a bucket of indigenous weeds, we went up to visit the tortoises that were all rescued. They have 15 females and 14 males, and the oldest turtle is almost 70 years old! Some of the tortoises are sassy and will hiss at you even though you're just feeding them. We went around placing grass, indigenous weeds, a couple of carrots, and one piece of prickly pear in front of every tortoise, and all of them went crazy for the prickly pear. Some of the tortoises will let you pet their heads, and others you can just pet their shells. It was as therapeutic as petting a dog. I liked feeling the bumps and curves; a turtle's shell is actually very sensitive, just like a human spine, so they can feel it when you pet them. I loved seeing the tortoises, and I wanted to take all of them home with me, but they have an amazing life at the rescue and are very happy in their home environment. The tortoises are a very protected species in South Africa, and the conservation center does an amazing job keeping them safe with full tummies!
Being at the Wildlife Rescue was very therapeutic. Overall, there were only three other people on the site, and they were all women. At the end of the day, we sat down and had a candlelit dinner with Pesto pasta and a pudding dessert. Gill, the head of the rescue, loves to bake just as much as I do, and she made the most delicious plum muffins that I could not stop eating! At the home base, there are two cats that are part Siamese, and both are the cutest things ever. They didn't interact with me a lot, but I got to give them a little love. The place I slept was so cozy, and everything was so beautiful. You could also see the stars really well at night. Even the morning fog didn't stop the views from being magical. Being in the wilderness gives off different vibes, and it lets all your muscles go to mush even after pulling weeds all afternoon.
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