Honoured to meet Thandi (the African word for Love)

by Delia Thompson 24 April 2012.

It was a crisp morning on the 23rd April as the group gathered at the gates of Kariega Game reserve. Men and woman with one goal in mind – to successfully perform...

I have spent the past week away from Kariega looking after other things. With me I have carried another amazing rhino experience which I shared with Jason in the dusk of the evening before I left. After several unsuccessful attempts during the...

For a month or more the plight of the Kariega Park rhinos has been much on my mind. They even cropped up in my thoughts during an early morning walk amongst the rock-pools at the beach.

Some years ago this coastline was plagued by as ruthless a...

Understandably, monitoring Thandi since the last procedure has been more difficult as they have retreated into the thickets again and remain elusive. The reports and photos from Jason show the presence of extensive scabbing and some area of dried...

In honour of Thandi, the courageous rhino who survived poaching. In memory of Themba and the unnamed rhino who fought but didn’t make it. In recognition of what they are teaching us, in admiration of her fight against indescribable odds, in...

Today is day 33. The last time we worked on Thandi was 23 days ago and I was very apprehensive at what we might find under the gruesome exterior of her facial injuries. The Kariega team for today’s procedure consisted of 25 individuals on-site but...

The small tidal wave I suggested over the weekend appears to be pretty well established. Des from Tweeters reports an incredible amount of support for the wider campaign for rhino at the KKNK music festival taking place at Oudtshoorn. The story of...

Today I spent a wonderful hour “walking with dinosaurs”, well crawling actually. I needed to confirm for myself the status of Thandi’s face and in particular her exposed sinuses, which the monitoring team have been reporting on so diligently. Mike...

Even though our hands-on rhino time on Kariega has been dramatically reduced since the passing of Themba, the level of intensity that this whole operation generates is as high as ever. With only one living survivor left, Thandi’s future well-being...

As we direct all our energy into the care of Thandi, the tributes to Themba and the wonderful Kariega team just pour in. We are completely overwhelmed by the comments we have received and I must hasten to add here how important it is to realise...