Thandi

On Friday the 2nd of March 2012 one cow and two bull rhinos were poached at Kariega Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. One bull was fatally wounded and died during the course of the night while the remaining two were severely injured. Dr. William Fowlds, the renowned wildlife veterinarian who leads the Vets Go Wild program at nearby Amankhala Game Reserve tended to the second bull Themba and the young cow named Thandi. He performed emergency reconstructive surgery to repair the gaping wounds where the horns had once been. Unfortunately a few weeks later Themba succumbed to complications from additional wounds to his leg caused by the poaching. Thandi, the young cow, survived and although emotionally as well as physically scarred, she  began to recover over the next few months.

Tragedy struck again almost a year later when Thandi was discovered with her wound reopened. The local media ran with a story that she had been attacked by an aggressive black rhino bull in the reserve, but the local rangers and Dr. Fowlds believe that more likely a deep bone infection had caused Thandi so much pain that she may have inflicted the wound herself. Once again Dr. Fowlds performed an emergency bone graft and skin transplant to repair the wound. After her second surgery, Thandi had been seen from time to time in the reserve and seemed to be healing both outside and in.

Thandi's story really struck a chord with me. I found her miraculous recovery inspirational and she began to represent the fight against rhino poaching in Africa for me. If she could survive, I began to believe the rhinoceros itself would survive this scourge. And she is most definitely the reason I chose to go to Kariega to do my volunteer work.

When I arrived in Kariega I only had one real goal for the time I would spend there. I wanted to see Thandi. I knew that this might not be possible because she is naturally very skittish around people, automobiles, and rescue helicopters. But I had hope anyway.

Monday is traditionally transition time for volunteers at Kariega. Volunteers come in and volunteers go out on Monday. When I arrived on the first Monday morning of my two week commitment, I was picked up at the Kariega Main Lodge by the Volunteer Coordinator Azel Crous. On the drive over to the volunteer lodging to drop off my suitcases, we talked casually about the program, what exactly we were going to be doing over the next couple of weeks, what was expected of me and what my expectations were. I told Azel my main interest in coming to Kariega was to do rhino monitoring and I confided in her my hope to see Thandi while I was here. She said we would try, but there was no guarantee. No one had seen Thandi for a couple of weeks and that she seemed to be keeping a low profile lately.

No sooner had the words come out of her mouth when she saw in the distance beyond a group of grazing zebra and wildebeest what appeared to be a white rhino grazing as well. On further inspection, she exclaimed that it was Thandi herself! I had not even unpacked my cameras yet! I quickly scrambled into my carry-on bag and fumbled together my camera and zoom lens to try to get some telephoto pictures of Thandi in the distance. What happened next was truly amazing. Thandi slowly walked straight towards us and came within several feet of the land cruiser and looked right at me. It was almost as if she knew I had come especially to see her and that she wanted to show me that she was alright. I was absolutely awestruck.

I never saw her again during the next two weeks but I didn't need to. I will never forget the generosity of this noble animal who came out to welcome me on my first morning in Kariega.