Final Farewell to Tiban…

For those of you, who have been following our Social Pages, you might have seen that our beloved rescued Warthog, Tiban was recently released into the great big world of Ubizane; where 1200 hectares of wide open space awaited him.

But, Tiban being his usual lovable attention seeking self had other plans...  

Tiaan dropping Tiban off in the Bush 

The Pienaar family had to face the inevitable heart breaking goodbye, as they bid their final good bye to Tiban, who had since day 1 become part of the Ubizane family. Tiaan then took Tiban up to one of the dams on the reserve, and dropped him off. Overjoyed by the over-sized puddle of water, Tiban was soon wallowing in the mud, and hardly noticed Tiaan driving off. 

  

Tiban enjoying the mud at the dam

But, yet again Tiban was one step ahead of everyone else and shortly after Tiaan’s return to the Lodge; Tiban came trotting down the parking area towards the Reception area. After his usual friendly but boisterous greeting to the staff, Tiban then bee lined for the General Managers office desk, where he lay down.  After much convincing and a lot of patience, Tiaan managed to coax Tiban out from the desk and away from the lodge.  

Tiban making his way to the lodge, after he was released

Tiban on a one way mission through the lodge

In his happy place, Tiban revisited one of his favorite places, under the GM's desk

 A week later a second attempt to set Tiban free, was more successful. Whether it is because he was dropped off on the far side of the reserve, or because this time he finally realized that there is a whole wide world waiting for him.

It has been over a week since we released Tiban, and even though we miss his cheerful face and bubbly personality, and the fact that our hearts stop for a little while when we see a warthog close to the lodge. We realize that he is where he belongs, and our ultimate goal of releasing an orphan warthog back into the bush has been achieved! 

Rehabilitating Tiban:

If you have been following Ubizane Wildlife Reserve’s Blog, Facebook and Twitter accounts, you will be somewhat familiar with the story of Tiban, our rescued Warthog. For those of you who are new to the Ubizane family, Tiban was found along our fence line when he was just a few weeks old and weighing less than a kilogram, abandoned by his mother he was a bundle of nerves and  very wary of humans. Tiaan, one of our General Managers managed to rescue him and bring him back to the lodge, where the hand rearing process begun. 

At 11 months old Tiban is now maturing into a healthy, boisterous male warthog, and we have decided to begin a rehabilitation process, so that he can eventually be released back into the wild where he belongs. 

Due to warthog’s extreme sensitivity to poor grazing conditions he is being kept in a large enclosure until the rainy season starts again. 

Tiban is constantly taken for walks in the bush to give him as much exposure as possible to the outside conditions, as well as opportunities to graze in his natural environment. As soon as Tiban seems comfortable enough in his natural environment, he will be taken to a central area of the reserve, away from buildings and people and released to fend for himself. 

 Tiban has become part of the family in more ways than one, with his friendly grunts and mischievous games; and as much as we would like to keep him forever it was always our intention to release him back into the wild; where he belongs! His cheerful little face, and trail of muddy hoof print will forever be missed here at Ubizane, but he will never be forgotten, as he touched each and everyone’s heart in his own special way.