January Diary : Warthog Piglets

The Christmas and New Year period at Nitani was a very happy and fun time.  The rains have come at last and the bush is looking wonderfully lush and green with kindergartens everywhere and fat animals hiding behind every bush. The dams are all full and the Majali river has flooded bank to bank a good couple of times.  All our babies dropped a month late but at a perfect time.

Arni, the little bushbuck we are rearing met with a mysterious accident one night in late December.  Some monster, perceived or otherwise must have got into his hut during the night, it could only have been something as small as a snake or monitor, and caused him to take such fright that he managed to break his foot.  Wild baby bushbuck hardly allow the human race to walk in and cast or bandage broken appendages so we had to appeal to a long standing friend and our vet for the last 30 years to come and help.  He generously flew all the way from Durban, turned the kitchen into an operating theatre, darted our friend Arni and proceeded to fix his foot up perfectly.  He was standing and hopping on it within a few days to our great relief.  While he was here we asked him to attend to Diesel (the daschund and lodge manager)  who has had a tooth troubling him for some time.  As most people that have visited us know, both my best friend Diesel and I avoid leaving the reserve at all costs so it was partly my fault that he had to have several teeth extracted but has also recovered perfectly.

Our three warthog ladies have all had babies and there are now a total of 10 piglets that come to visit every day.  It really is a case of warthogs, warthogs everywhere.  Impi, the serval kitten, was sitting under a bush a few days ago when they passed by and he shot out with every intention of having one for lunch which we thought was very optimistic of him.  We managed to restore peace in the pandemonium and persuade him to have a plate of his usual favourite food (no pork).