Meet the new wild warrior volunteers, as they are introduced to Imire’s extended animal family and they get to understand how the conservation program works. We get a good understanding of our feature volunteer as she prepares herself for a 3 month stay. What makes her tick and why is she dedicated to helping these wonderful animals? Getting dirty is part of the job as the volunteers tackle the paddock cleaning tasks. One of the highlights in this episode is attempting to catch and relocate a massive python that tried to eat Judy’s dog and duiker!
In this episode we witness a desperate mission to save a spooked impala that got it’s leg caught in a fence. Luckily the volunteers reacted quickly and made a plan to help the impala. One of the highlights for any volunteer at Imire is to interact with the incredibly clever elephants. Daily training is done the elephants to hone their skills. It’s hard to believe but these gentle giants can actually track poachers. And, there is always time for fun tasks. It is vital for the volunteers to bond with each other so the Imire management team, devise amazing fun tasks, including this one, whereby 2 teams are challenged to build their own raft and race across the dam. After many laughs there is one clear winner.
In this episode the volunteers experience close up encounters with iconic creatures. It’s not often people can experience a walk with elephants and really appreciate the size of these beasts. Giraffe also happen to wonder close which makes the experience even more epic. The volunteers get to handle paint ball guns to get an understanding of how the anti poaching team operates and it seems like Kristina is a pretty good shot! And, nothing stands in the way of hard work, as it’s all hands on deck securing electric strands to a border fence. This will dramatically improve the security at Imire.
In this episode the volunteers discover the community’s role in conservation and give a hand with some of the building projects. Honey harvesting proves hair-raising for a number of volunteers, particularly Kristina, who has a bee sting phobia …. Who could blame her! A new addition bolsters the conservation efforts in the form of an amazing tracker dog called Merwe. This is a special Dutch Shepherd breed that has an incredible combination of a heightened sense of smell, speed and formidable teeth. It’s always a privilege to be able to get close to black rhino and it can often be quite an emotional moment for some of the volunteers, as is the case with Jane who can’t hold the tears back as she feeds Tafika for the last time.
In this engaging episode, Reilly shares his rhino release dream. And it looks like all his milestone targets are bang on time. Because this rhino blood line originated from the Zambezi valley, it will be hugely beneficial to return them to their perfect habitat. It’s time for Judy’s beloved duiker to return to the wild. Judy rescued this duiker as a baby orphan so her attachment has created an amazing bond. This will be a very emotional task for Judy. A routine nyala capture takes an unexpected turn as the capture team mistake the sex. However all is not lost as they always make a plan at imire.
In this episode a warthog retrieval mission goes awry. With a bad stench coming out of a warthog borough, it was concluded that this particular warthog was dead, however when they tried to retrieve it, it was very much ALIVE and kicking!!! Luckily no one was hurt as it hurtled out of it’s borough like a rocket. Judy allows Kristina to meet the matriarch of Imire, a wonderful elephant that has a unique story. This old elephant believes she is in charge of a buffalo herd and disciplines and guides them in her own special ways. This elephant also saved the life of the buffalo herdsman from a feisty buffalo mauling. It’s time to say farewell to the Imire family for Kristina, our feature volunteer. Kristina has been volunteering for 3 months, learnt a lot, made so many friends, and will take home so many incredible memories and lessons from these amazing animals and conservation initiative.