A Restaurant with a difference:

Here at Ubizane Wildlife Reserve, the well being of nature and its occupants is of high importance to us. A not so well known fact about Ubizane wildlife Reserve is our Vulture Restaurant.  

It was late afternoon when our General Manager Tiaan, dropped off an Impala at Our Vulture Restaurant, which he had come across during his many patrols of the bush.

Early the next morning we noticed Vultures thermalling above the restaurants location, and by early afternoon, when we went to investigate further we were quite astonished to discover +/- 80 Cape Vultures sitting on the road and in the bush. Clearly the Impala didn't touch sides for the hungry scavengers, as there was next to nothing left. 

Vultures are any medium to large sized scavenger birds, feeding on the carcasses of dead animals. Vultures do not generally kill their own prey. As scavengers, vultures play an important role in the ecosystem by contributing to the decomposition of dead animal matter, cleaning the environment and reducing the spread of diseases.   

A vulture restaurant is an open area, where vultures can easily land and take off from; where fresh and poison free meat and/or carcasses of domestic livestock or wild mammals are put out for vultures and other scavengers. Feeding vultures at vulture restaurants can contribute to the survival of these birds, especially during periods of food scarcity and when young birds fledge. Vultures, like many other large birds, are under pressure from many different causes in the modern world as the human population increases. 

Traditional beliefs and Medicine are also a contributing factor to the decline in Vulture numbers. Vultures are used in the traditional medicine industry for a range of purposes, but are believed to be most effective for providing mystic powers, foresight and increased intelligence. The main drivers of demand for these uses are betting and gambling, for improved business success, and intelligence in school children. Vulture is also prescribed by traditional healers for various ailments, including headaches.

So the next time you see vultures thermalling (Birds use temperature differences in neighboring air masses to glide in tight circles and using thermal uplift to gain altitude with very little wing flapping) do not see it as an omen of death, but rather as a contribution to the operation of the ecosystem.