Recently I wrote about Ariel the bushbuck (Living with the wild in the wild). She was one of many orphaned animals, and unfortunately she did not make it… But not all projects to raise abandoned wildlife ends like that. There are also success stories.
And one of them is living with us right here at the lodge.
Meet Sarikoki….
The common eland - Tragelapus Taurotragus oryx - is the largest African bovid. The bulky males can reach a weight close up to a ton! With a shoulder height up to 183 cm and long spiraled sharp horns up to 67 cm long they can most definitely fend for themselves. But first they have to grow up…
A Maasai shepherd out with his cows on the Plains found him abandoned the day he was born. He brought him back to the village where his wife fed it with cow’s milk, and as soon as he had regained strength and had grown up a bit he took him with him on his daily walks with his herd of cows, goats and sheep to search for fresh pasture and water.
He grew fast, and being a wild animal, and a male, he was soon engaged in competitive behavior with the other animals, trying to assess his status in the herd. That, obviously, was not a very easy situation to deal with for the sheperd, so one day he came to us asking if we would like to have him at the camp.
Sarikoki aged abt 7 months in may 2005
We said of course yes to that request! He was feeding by himself by then, but he was still small so he needed protection. With Kenya Wildlife service duly and all oks given informed we built a stable for him to spend the nights so to be safe from predators….
Sarikoki at a year and a half in our garden
After a few years he was fully grown and it was not so easy any longer to lure him into his boma. We were also worried that he would not get enough food as they spend most of the night grazing and when the temperatures are lower than in the heat of the day.
More than five years later he is still with us… Having survived several attacks from lions – running away from them – he spend his time around camp, seeking out company with people as well as the zebras nearby and he seems to have a jolly good time…
Sarikoki at two and a half looking for attention
He comes around for cuddles every day and of course he believe that everything I put into the ground is for his personal culinary pleasure and entertainment…
sarikoki at 3 years interfering in my gardening…
of which I have a slightly different opinion…
So the staff has become really good at building fences… and I compensate by giving him access to the compost heap as well as feeding him the leftover fruitpeels from breakfast…
Sarikoki a few months back REALLY looking for attention (and getting it) playing with the waterhose and getting entangled on purpose outside my studio
…and of course, being a male, where else to hang out for some quality time than in the Workshop…!
Needless to say he is the source of endless entertainment and sometimes frustrations, but it would be impossible to imagine not having him around! and the guests LOVE him!
The latest news is that we have been asked to take in yet another two elands… a male and a female… lets see how that goes… we will certainly give it a try!
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