The extremely low levels of Lake St Lucia have revealed mud-covered military
hardware that fell into the shallow water when the Ndlozi peninsula was
used for missile testing.
A local man who found one of these pieces reportedly tried to sell it to
a Richards Bay scrap metal dealer who, recognising it, alerted the military.
From the late 1960s until the mid 1980s the SA military ran the fired air-to-ground
missiles and artillery across the northern parts of the lake into the wilderness
area. Some fell into the lake and those not recovered have remained hidden
- until now.
The SAAF has recently been engaged in training flights in the area and has
given assistance to Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife by dropping field rangers into
the wilderness area for an anti-poaching sweep and to assess the drought.
It was during this that much of the “lost” military ordinance
was spotted. The military intends sweeping the area to remove or detonate
these. As this area has always been closed to the public there has never
been any danger.
The unique low water levels in Lake St Lucia, although affecting aquatic
life severely, has provided conservation managers with an opportunity to
accurately map the lake bottom for the first time and to collect data not
normally accessible during times of normal water levels.
*Two tourist concessions have been awarded for the Ndlozi peninsula and
the date for the relocation of the military camp, now used for training,
is under negotiation.
Park and SAFCOL staff join hands for the rescue
Heave Ho as the calf is pulled to safety
Stuck fast in the mud of Lake St Lucia the young rhino calf was tranquillised
for the rescue operation
WHITE RHINO CALF RESCUE
Park staffer
The recent move of 22 white rhino from Mkhuze to the Park has been a conservation
and tourism success story. But free-ranging animals have minds of their
own.
On December 11, a three-year-old female calf accompanying its mother on
the Eastern Shores became, we suspect, the subject of some ‘bullying’
from a male interested in the mother who had come into oestrus. The weaned
calf decided to leave its mother and go west towards the lake.
She managed to cross opposite Charters Creek where there is now a major
mudflat connecting the shores. But she sank into the mud and was unable
to go on. She thrashed about for many hours thrashing until conservation
manager for the Western Shores, Donovan Sykes, saw her and alerted the Game
Capture Unit and the vet. A large crew from SAFCOL volunteered to help.
The distressed rhino was immobilised with a very light dose of M99 so physical
contact could be made, and her condition assessed. Once vet Dave Cooper
was satisfied, she was dragged out. A partial antidote was administered,
and the rhino rose shakingly to her feet when she was guided towards the
shoreline, more antidote being given on the way.
On reaching the shore the exhausted rhino was given dextrose to rehydrate
her, and antibiotics and vitamins to prevent infection.
The calf was transported to Ndlozi Penisula on the Western Shores and offloaded
near a pan on an open plain in the vicinity of the four resident white rhino
relocated last year. A happy ending and a new home for a traumatized rhino
starting out on her first day without her mother.