Bronze Beauty up for Auction

Ubizane is proud to announce that our generous owner, Mr. Alan Burke, has donated a very special artwork to Celebrate Life SA.  The artwork is a beautiful bronze statue of a White Rhino which was carefully crafted by the talented, Allen Hallett. 

White Rhino sculpture by Allen Hallett

 The Bronze artwork is on auction through Celebrate Life SA to raise funds for the rhino sanctuary at Thula Thula Game Reserve.  Bids are accepted until 30 October 2013 and the auction will be held during the Save the Rhino fund-raising gala dinner which will be hosted in London on 23 January 2014 (http://www.celebratelifesa.org/index.php/9-uncategorised/105-save-the-rhino-gala-dinner.html).

Saving the Rhino is a cause that lies closely to Mr. Burke’s heart, with two of our Rhino being poached at Ubizane (read The War Against Poaching for the full story http://www.ubizane.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-war-against-poaching.html) so it is no surprise that he would want to donate to this worthy cause! 

Our big boy, the only White Rhino left on our reserve

Together with Celebrate Life SA we would like to invite our guests who will be in the United Kingdom during the time, to attend the gala dinner and support the cause!  Don’t miss out on the exciting opportunity where you could own a beautiful artwork by Allen Hallett and in the process donate money to a great cause, to SAVE THE RHINO!

Go to http://www.celebratelifesa.org/index.php/news/85-rhino-bronze-statue-bidding-is-open.html for bidding details!

An Ubizane Moment

We recently ran a competition for all guests who've stayed at Ubizane before.  Guests were encouraged to send in their photographs that they took on their trip to the reserve.  We wanted guests to show their Ubizane moments! Today we chose winners! The votes were tied and because of the beautiful photo's that were sent in we decided that we need TWO winners! So in the nature category we have chosen Gary Roper for his beautiful photo of a sunbird on an Aloe flower. And for the portraits category we chose the stunning photo of Shirley Groenewald!  Thank you to all who participated! We cannot wait for the next competition!

Gary Roper and Shirley Groenewald each wins a
2 night stay for 2 people at  Zululand Safari Lodge!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!

A new beginning

We have recently set all plans in motion by beginning construction on our bird aviary! The aviary will serve as a home for our rescued Barn Owls and other birds of similar circumstances.  We decided to build an aviary in a central location at Tree Lodge not only for our owls to have more space to move around during the rehabilitating process but also so we can have an area that's more guest-friendly. Watch this space for updates on the progress of this exciting new venture!

The war against poaching

In 2010 Ubizane Wildlife Reserve lost one of the three White Rhinos, our male, on the reserve to Rhino poaching where this magnificent animal was hunted down and gruesomely killed for its horn.  In 2011 tragedy struck again when the second White Rhino, our female, was murdered by Rhino poachers.  Now all that we have left is the beautiful offspring of the female, which we suspect was by its mother’s side when she was killed.

Our male and female Rhino which were poached a year apart March 2010 and March 2011 respectively

All that we can do as humans is to try and protect and conserve our wildlife.  The sad thing is that the biggest threat we need to protect our animals from, is other humans! Our last remaining Rhino had to be dehorned in 2012 in an effort to save him from the poachers, but we knew back then that it would not be enough to stop the terrors in the shadows.  Since the dehorning we have been constructing a plan for better protection which will still set the animal free to roam the property but keep him safe.  It is a very delicate situation as the poachers could at any moment return and strike again for the last remaining piece of the horn.  We decided to find an anti-poaching task team and more security guards to help us protect our dear precious big boy.  After months of planning and searching for the perfect team, we are proud to have a whole anti-poaching unit and a new security head and team to help us fight poaching!

Our last remaining Rhino

Ubizane has also decided to publicly support anti-poaching organisations to encourage support from our guests and friends.  All our vehicles are now equipped with a RhiNose (http://rhinoseday.com/) to support the nationwide fund for anti-poaching of Rhino’s. 

 We also now sell Rhino Wine in support of Project Rhino KZN (http://www.projectrhinokzn.org/) with a part of the proceeds going to Project Rhino KZN to help fund the anti-poaching units.

To us poaching is also more than just rhino-poaching.  We also have bush meat poachers coming onto the farm on a weekly basis despite our efforts to try and prevent it. 

These poachers poach smaller animals such as Nyala and Impala and sometimes even Zebra.  In the past they use to poach for food, hence they were called “pot poachers”, but of late it has become a business and a means of income, with a single Impala being sold for about R400 to the local community.  Apart from meat, parts of certain animals are also sold to “traditional healers” for what is called, “muti”, making this a lucrative business, in turn increasing occurrences of poaching on a monthly basis.

We always try to employ from the community to provide the chance to make an honest living, where there is no need to poach but unfortunately this has not made a major difference in the attempts to poach.  Our newly appointed anti-poaching team has however made a remarkable change on the reserve with numbers of poaching and attempts of poaching decreasing.  The amount of snares found on the farm has also decreased showing us that our efforts are slowly but surely helping our fight against poaching.

Things are looking up for our anti-poaching efforts and your support helps motivate and inspire us to conserve our environment even better than ever before!

You can also help by buying our Rhino Wine from our bar or making a donation towards Project Rhino KZN (http://www.projectrhinokzn.org/?page_id=135).

Ubizane Ablaze

Fire season is upon us! During winter the grass dries out which makes it easier to catch alight in certain circumstances.  At Ubizane we try and prevent fires by creating fire breaks.  

The best way to kill a fire...is with fire itself!

On Wednesday 17 July, we decided to have a controlled fire to create a fire break.   With more than 10 men helping with the process, we were assured that the fire would be completely under our control and will not spread to the rest of Ubizane.  Fires are very unpredictable and could become out of control so easily that it took a lot of care and attention to ensure that we did not have a disastrous situation on our hands. 

The fire is started in a U- shape to ensure that there is always an escape route for any animals in the area.  This set our minds at ease as our foremost concern was for the well-being of our precious wildlife.  

Cane rats came running out of the fiery fields countless times.  These are enormous rodents are widely spread in Africa, South to the Sahara.  Their habitat is mostly the long grasslands of Savannahs and similar landscapes.  They have a mole-like appearance and can grow almost up to 10 kg in the wild!  Even though these strange rodents are found popularly in Africa, very few people from urban areas have seen these creatures. 

 Another animal that we saw during the burn was a Red Duiker escaping from the inflamed grass.  The Duiker was very confused at first and ran up and down the fence line trying to escape through our fence.  After a while when we realized the Duiker was a bit too confused to escape to the large open bush which was not burning, our general manager made his way towards the buck guiding him towards the open space.  After a while the Duiker found his way, with our help, to flame-less freedom.  After the incident we kept a close eye on any movements in the bush to ensure all animals find their way towards the escape route.  We were happy to report that no animals were found to be harmed!

Knowing that they were safe, our second concern was that the fire would spread to the lodge or to the community, putting other people’s lives in danger.  For this reason, the burning team had men at each point of the fire and men running from one point to the other ensuring that there were no runaway fires.  We were in good hands as the fire was completely under control and we safely burnt the areas along our fence line. The controlled burning took place near our western fence line, closest to the community.  This is the general area that is in the most danger for wildfire.  The fire was also in preparation for a larger controlled fire that we are planning for later this season.

 

Keep reading our blog to keep up to date about the latest Ubizane happenings!  We will be posting about the next controlled fire later this year so keep checking to stay informed! 
  

Talons of Power

Our fascination with Barn Owls have been evident these past couple of weeks after our discovery of little Barn Owl chicks abandoned by their mother, in a Tree Lodge Room.  We have been hand-raising these magical creatures in an effort to keep them alive and rehabilitate them to become the self-sufficient birds of prey they ought to be.  One of our goals of keeping these birds around is for educational purposes. We want to educate people on the instincts and habits of these birds and why they are so valuable in eco-systems.  One of the many interesting things that we have noticed about these beautiful birds is their powerful talons (claws).

 The talons have an immense strength, and it is used to crush the skull of their prey.  We have definitively seen the evidence of this in our Barn Owls.  They grab the food out of our hands with their talons sometimes instead of their beaks.  Then they start bashing the food onto the ground continuously.  They stomp their feet and start hissing revealing their aggressive nature when there is food involved.

 They also use these talons to fight off enemies. When noticing a threat, they start stomping their feet and hiss to try and intimidate the enemy. They also stand up straight and ‘puff’ out their feathers to appear larger in size for intimidation purposes. It is a captivating process to witness. When finally eating their prey, they tear off chunks by clasping to the prey with their talons while the beak pulls and tears.  These pieces then gets swallowed whole because of their lack of teeth. The food is broken down by powerful stomach fluids.  They later regurgitate the indigestible pieces such as bone and fur in a similar way as a cat would get rid of ‘hair/fur balls’.

 It is interesting to know that prey is believed to be killed by mostly the bashing against the floor as well as suffocation from the strong clench of the talons rather than the peck of the beak.

 On your next visit to Ubizane, be sure to ask our Lodge Managers to view these magnificent birds!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Our competition has ended and here is the lucky 10 who were chosen at random as the winners!!!

CONGRATULATIONS YOU GET A 25% off VOUCHER FOR UBIZANE!!! Email social@ubizane.co.za to claim your prize and receive more information!

Taste of Africa

If you visit Ubizane Wildlife Reserve you will be enchanted by the flavours of the delicious Pan-African cuisine that we serve.  For dinner we serve a variety of mouth watering dishes while the fireplace lights up the restaurant with a warm romantic glow.  

This is the scene guests will be welcomed on when stepping into our dining area.  But what goes on behind the buffet table? Take a sneak peek into our kitchen...

The sound of pots boiling, knives chopping and the oven pulsing as it heats savoury and sweet treats.  The smell of freshly baked bread and aromas of spices and herbs fill the air while friendly faces welcome you into their hearty work space.

 Under the leadership of our Food & Beverage Manager, Martin Beyleveld, the chefs create appetizing Pan-African dishes with fresh products from the African soil.  At Ubizane we employ from our area in an effort to uplift the surrounding community.

In the kitchen the first face you will see behind our stove is our big strong, Elias Thusi. He has been at Ubizane for about 18 years which has not stopped him from losing his passion for this reserve.  With his wit it is hard not to walk away with a smile after speaking to Mr. Thusi.

 Sibongile  Msimango, or also fondly known as ‘Sponge’ by the staff, has been baking the most delicious treats for over three years, sharing her wealthy knowledge about cooking homemade African dishes with the newer staff.  Thandi Zungu introduced her skills to our flamboyant team almost two years ago and has never disappointed at Ubizane, making scrumptious food, grabbing guest’s attention.  Another kind hearted chef that you will have the pleasure of meeting is Zandile Myeni.  Zandile has been cooking up a storm for two years with flavours bursting from the pots and pans on the stove.  These three ladies are the sweethearts behind the kitchen doors that will make you feel like you have stepped into your mother’s kitchen.

After walking through the kitchen meeting everyone, you hear a man singing and suddenly Martin says “Someone switched on Goody FM again!”  Then you realize the singing is coming from a smiling man, always happy, Goodman “Goody” Thabethe. Staff members at Ubizane know Goody for his humoristic personality and smiling face while singing his favourite gospel song when cooking or cleaning the kitchen.

It is never a dull moment in our kitchen with the bubbly personalities of our kitchen staff that we love so dear!And as a tribute to all of them we have decided to add a page to our blog where you can find stories from the kitchen and recipes that we would like to share with you! Read the latest ‘What’s Cooking’ stories/recipes on this link: http://www.ubizane.blogspot.com/p/whats-cooking.html