New Baboon Camp

The 9th of April saw the unveiling of the new camp! Many of the volunteers and staff gathered to see the baby baboons try out their new home and helped take them from their old smaller camp and move them into their new camp. They were so excited, running round and exploring! Stretching out in their new camp they adventured into their new housing and enjoyed their new play area, running and jumping and climbing! They now have much more space to run around in and monkey bars and a tyre swing to play on. The baboons looked so happy and all the volunteers and staff, whose hard work had gone into building the camp, also looked delighted!

Lightning's Success Story

In December 2009, we released one of our young leopards, Lightning, on Wilderness Safari’s Little Kulala reserve.

On Saturday 23 April this year Rudie received a phone call from Johan Steyn of Tsauchab River Camp regarding a leopard with a radio collar which he and his guests have seen regularly at Tsauchab. Rudie knew immediately that it was Lightning. Her radio collar had stopped giving out signals in January this year so all of the N/a an ku sê team were very excited to hear that, after 15 months of freedom, Lightning had been seen and that she is in good health and there is no conflict with the farmers in that area.

It is fantastic to know that Lightning can add value to Johan Steyn’s tourism market. It is a very good example of how tourism and conservation can work together and we now send all information about Lightning to Johan so that he can share it with his guests.

Elvis has not left the building – he has just arrived!

Elvis was about 4 days old when he was found on the road side clinging to his mother who had sadly been shot. The family who found him had friends with a farm in the area so gave this tiny baboon bundle to them to look after. The family looked after Elvis very well for 3 months. As time went on they started to realise how big Elvis was growing and how boisterous he would become and that, unfortunately, baboons do not make good pets. They decided to bring Elvis to N/a’an ku se where he could be looked after at our sanctuary and bond with other baboons, learn baboon traits and become part of a troop.

Elvis came to us three months ago and has grown in size and personality ever since. When he first arrived at N/a'an ku se Elvis was very shy and wary of the other baboons. However over the last few months he has become far more confident and even stands up to Carola and Shauna, the alphas in the baby baboon camp! During the day Elvis spends his time with the four other baby baboons who have all just moved into a new camp. As he is only 6 months old and at the age where he would naturally still be with his mother, our volunteers still look after him over night, giving him his evening bottle feed and taking him to sleep with them so that he feels safe. Elvis is definitely the most tactile of the baboons and loves sleeping with the volunteers; however he has recently be given a new nickname – Smelvis – as he tends to have an extremely smelly nappy in the morning!

To adopt Elvis, or any of our other baboons please email donations@naankuse.com

A New Year on the farm

It's a new and exciting year and we can't wait to see what 2011 has in store for us! But for now, here's an update on the last few months of 2010... 


Flo the machine!

July saw the arrival of 14 Wild Dog pups and with only around 250 African Wild Dogs remaining in Namibia, we have a big responsibility to look after these precious animals. We needed funds to build them a safe camp here and so brave Flo took on the challenge of a sponsored "Wild Dog Walk". 

African Wild Dogs are known to move up to 70km per day in search of food - whilst Flo does like his food, he's not usually known to go to those lengths in search of it. So taking on the challenge to walk as much of 70km in one day was a huge feat for our Head Researcher.

The walk took place on 22nd November around N/a'an ku se reserve and Flo achieved a staggering 62km in one day!!! Well done and thank you Flo for sacrificing your legs and feet for our beautiful Wild Dogs and raising over N$15,200!

If you're as impressed as we are and would still like to sponsor him, please email donations@naankuse.com

Home sweet Home

Our two special leopard cubs, Shakira and Ombeli, finally moved into their new home in December 2010. A huge thanks to everyone who donated and contributed to help us build their camp. 

After a very comfortable few months living up at Marlice’s house, a new purpose built camp was made for them near the rest of the carnivores. The 3 hectare camp gives them all the space they need (as well as giving Shakira room to eat her food in peace without Ombeli stealing it off her!) and they’re having a wonderful time exploring their new territory. 

Shaun and the volunteers still take them out for their daily walks, although now each leopard is taken on their own as they’re not so little anymore and starting to become very playful!

Baby babies...

Our baby baboon troop has grown again with two new arrivals.

Rafiki, named after the baboon in the Lion King, is 3 months old and was found clinging to his mother’s body after she had been shot.

Night time cuddles

Rafiki sleeping tight

Similarly Rudi, who is 8 weeks old, was orphaned when his mother was shot. He is the youngest baboon we have ever had on the farm.

Had these baby baboons not been brought to N/a'an ku se we dread to think what might have happened to them. 

Rudie loves bathtime!

The Senior baboons absolutely LOVE Rudie and they all scramble to get hold of him on the daily senior and baby walks. Luckily Bloomie is there to keep them in check and quickly steps in when Lala, Sarafina and Kayla fight to steal Rudie off one another. Poor Rudie is swung from one baboon to the other as everyone wants to play the mother role. 

Gizmo, our little Cape fox (silvervos) joined us late 2010 and was found on the road to Windhoek. He was only about 2 weeks old and has grown a lot since he arrived on the farm. He loves to explore everything around him. His favorite toy is empty plastic bottles and his own tale. In the morning he takes a bath and soon the sink will be too small for him.

If you would like to adopt Rudie, Rafiki, Gizmo or any of your favourite animals for just N$620 per year (approx £50/€60), email donations@naankuse.com.

 

New arrivals at Naankuse

We’re very excited as the past couple of months has seen the big game on the farm increase to now include Zebra, Kudu, Waterbuck and Giraffe! Watch the video clips to see their arrival, the giraffe one is particularly stunning as the giraffe head out across the magnificent African sunset.

Giraffe Release video 

Zebra & Waterbuck arrival video

We also have new baboon babies, Shauna and Carolla named after... well obviously baboon lovers Shaun and Carol!!

8 month old Shauna arrived in July. She was brought to us by a family who found her mum shot in the stomach in December 2009 in the North West of Namibia. They saw movement and discovered the baby inside so they took her out and raised her for the next 8 months. They knew they couldn't continue to look after her and give her the space and life she needed so they brought her to us.

Carolla’s story is just as sad as her mother was also shot on a farm. We were contacted and went and collected her in Okahandja.

We also have a new addition to the caracal group although she does not stay with the other caracals. She was captured on a farm about 20km away from the sanctuary as she was catching young springbok. During the capture the gate to the capture cage fell on her foot and removed two toes in the process. We’re not sure if we can release her back into the wild, because she will struggle to catch her prey with her missing toes.

Please email donations@naankuse.com if you would like to adopt one of our new arrivals or one of the old favourites and help us to continue to provide a safe sanctuary for the orphaned and injured animals of Africa.

Wild Dog Pups Arrive at Naankuse

Our 14 stunning wild dog pups arrived at N/a’an ku sê in June; there’s Purdy, Lilly, Lilah, Alice, Utopia, Nesha, Mogwai, Cali, Magic, Kevala, Boris, Robert, Rudie and Wiko. Watch the wild dog pup video

  

• Wild Dogs are Namibia's most endangered mammal species and continue to be widely persecuted
• Only an estimated 250 wild dogs remain in the wild in Namibia
• Only 5% of their range is within protected areas in Namibia

Thankfully Rudie was contacted when the pups were taken out of a den in the Mangetti strip of farmland in Namibia. Rudie and Marlice flew up the following to rescue the pups as they were in danger of human persecution.

The pups were just a few weeks old and are now in the safety of our sanctuary, where they are kept in isolation to minimize the chances of disease transmission. The pups were originally fed three times on minced chicken mixed with calcium powder but have since moved onto game and are growing quickly!

This is a very exciting time for N/a’an ku sê as we hope that the pups will grow up to be a strong and healthy part of the Wild dog population in Namibia as part of a new Wild dog breeding and release programme to save this incredible species.

In order to care for, feed and ensure the safety of the 14 pups in our charge, we need to secure the funds to build a large enclosure for them to live in as they grow as well as cover the costs of their ever growing food bill. If you would like to adopt one of the pups and help contribute to the conservation of this highly endangered species please email donations@naankuse.com 

Ostriches on the loose

Our four dancing ostriches have been the centre of much entertainment over the last couple of months, running manically around the farm and showing off their best dance moves. They have become more and more confident and aren’t afraid of approaching people anymore. Therefore, we decided it was time for them to regain their independence and released them to roam freely in the wider reserve. 


Now we often see three of the ostriches walking up and down the border fence, looking for the way out. The silly ostriches think it’s a larger chicken pen where they used to spend their nights and are looking for the gate! One of the ostriches can’t quite tear himself away from us and keeps coming back to the farm to see us all.

Samira’s new camp

Our beautiful cheetah, Samira, has been on the move this week as she has had a new and very large enclosure built for her next to the volunteer’s area on the farm. She seems to be enjoying life in her new enclosure, exploring her new space and freedom. And she clearly seems to relish the constant company as she’s always near the fence ready and waiting for people to visit her. And now she’s right next to the volunteers’ rooms they can visit her as and when they like and give her all the fuss and attention she loves.

Express Donkey Cart

Our Donkey cart, the ‘Sarah Stapleton Express’ is now up and running! Built by the Bushmen and painted by volunteers, our cart is all ready to go, thanks to our sponsor Sarah Stapleton. We have brought in a group of donkeys who we are training to lead the cart, which will carry our volunteers, supervised by Bushman worker Soloman, around the border fence each day.

It is important that the border fence is checked for holes or any damage that may have been caused by animals overnight and that repairs are made immediately. So we’ve introduced the Donkey cart as an economical and environmentally friendly way of circulating the border to carry out this work.

Wild Horses

Marlice has brought her wild horses onto the farm and they now reside in the kraal near the big baboon camp. The horses are steadily being trained so that people can ride them and we hope one day that volunteers will be able to ride the horses regularly as part of a daily activity. Caramella, Dominantis and Rubain are taken out most days and gradually becoming used to people and seem to enjoy their walks around the felt.

Shakira and Ombeli

Our gorgeous little leopard cubs are growing so quickly we won’t be able to call them little for long. They’re starting to be just bit of a handful at feeding time, especially the male, Ombeli.  He gobbles down his portion and then tries to take Shakira’s too.

Both are becoming very proficient tree-climbers, though Ombeli is not always a good judge of whether or not a branch will hold his weight. As the bigger of the two cubs, he falls, shakes himself, and races up the tree again. To keep these young cubs entertained and to encourage their development of climbing skills, we have built them two climbing frames and platforms in their camp which they seem to love – every day there are seen sitting on top of one of the platforms or using them to shade from the hot African sun.


 

We’re currently fundraising to build them a permanent camp here at N/a’an ku sê, as it’s unlikely they’ll be able to be released back into the wild after their poor start in life. If you or anyone you know would like to donate towards the camp, please email donationsnaankuse@iway.na.

Sheep will be sheep

After much deliberation and painful separation (well for Dara anyway), we decided that it was about time Mini, Toto, Mavis and Benjie followed their true sheep (and goat) instincts and joined the rest of the sheep and goats on the other side of the farm. They have now left the comforts of their nightly chicken pen and are experiencing life as a real farm animal. At least the volunteers can now eat their lunch in peace without having to fend off intruding noses!

The farm wouldn’t be the same without some kind of sheep or goat to look after though, and just last month, little Eddie the lamb joined us. Born to one of our flock, he was rejected by his mother, so Dara, our resident mother to all lost lambs and goats, has taken him under her wings. He spends his days with Lilly and the bunnies in the rabbit pen and each evening he’s wrapped up warm in Dara’s house.

Meerkats on the move
The best-laid plans ... when you’re dealing with meerkats - it’s wise to be flexible! The move to their new quarters took place successfully and they were happy about being big meerkats and FREE. But then they decided to be really free and Stein and George have gone off to do their own thing! They are still sighted regularly as the new colony is quite near the waterhole where the leopard cubs go for their daily walk, and food is taken to them every couple of days.
  

Frank and Violet often return to the farm though. One day recently Frank decided that the grass outside the kitchen is his, and tail held straight up, he took a fast run at the geese who were peacefully sleeping there. With a great squawking, they fled. Half an hour later, he did the same to the four peacocks.   

 

In loving Memory

The farm at N/a’an ku sê has experienced some sadness over recent months as a few of our favourite furry friends have passed away.
 

Schoonie, our one-eyed mouse-hunting Jack Russell, adored by each and every volunteer who met her, sadly died a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, Schoonie was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Stood behind Donkey, she was accidently hit as Donkey stepped back. Schoonie, one of the most beloved animals at N/a’an ku sê, will be sorely missed by us all here.

Our unique, crazy little springhare, JJ, couldn't survive a fierce hailstorm that descended upon us and sadly died of hypothermia the following day.

Whitetail, one of the cheetah cubs living with Lucky who joined us last year, tragically passed away last month. Whitetail had the unusual habit of licking the sand in his camp, which we have deduced become poisoned after the rain washed the soil and sand down from another area where insect repellent had been laid. We had been assured it was harmless to humans and animals so are devastated at this tragedy.

Our three month old baby Kudu was taken to the vets after she suffered debilitating symptoms from a head injury, and unfortunately died on the journey.

We are devastated at the loss of these special animals and know how much they meant to the people who loved them. They will forever remain in all of our hearts.