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Jabulani has been instrumental in the support and preservation of the rhinoceros population since its successful introduction to the Kapama Game Reserve in 1989. A game relocation programme was introduced, and as a result the Kapama Game Reserve today supports a wide variety of wildlife including elephant, buffalo, rhinoceros, and large populations of giraffe, impala, blue wildebeest and kudu. Predators include lion, leopard, cheetah, spotted hyena and many smaller species.
Jabulani Owner and MD, Adine Roode was also instrumental in the rewilding of several rhinos whose lives were affected by poaching, either as victims themselves or being orphaned as a result of it. Adine’s work at the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre (HESC) saw to treating, rehabilitating and releasing injured and orphaned rhinos due to poaching incidents. The team were able to successfully rehabilitate and reintegrate several rhinos, including Philippa and Ike, Gertjie and Matimba.
We believe it’s important to show the work of rhino conservation at play and count all the successes, since rhinos are plagued by so many challenges today. It’s vital to show their beauty and resilience and why the species needs to be protected and loved.
A new miracle graced our wilderness when a little rhino calf was born to a very special rhino named Philippa… Philippa is a rhino dear to Adine’s heart. Theirs is a bond that began while Adine managed rhino rehabilitation at HESC. Philippa was rescued on 18th January, 2016 after being attacked by poachers.
Sadly her mother was also attacked and died, while pregnant, causing two generations of rhinos to be pointlessly murdered. Philippa had endured the trauma and pain of her own attack, and witnessed the violent killing of her mother too. The poachers used a drug to sedate the pair, called Etorphine, commonly known as M99, whilst they sawed off their horns. Philippa’s entire sinus cavity was left open and exposed. Our hearts broke when we first caught sight of her, on her arrival at HESC.
The team decided to name the rhino Philippa, after two women who were important to them. The first was Adine’s grandmother, Philippina, who was an extremely hard working nurse, and was instrumental to HESC. The second was a lady named Philippa Kort, who was a representative for Jabulani in the USA. Sadly, both passed away due to cancer. For us it was a very special name. And this brave rhino certainly deserves it.
Adine and the team at HESC started on Philippa’s first treatment. With their previous experience of treating Lions Den and Dingle Dell, they were equipped to assess and treat her. A series of treatments took place over the months following her arrival. By April, the wound had started to close, and to show excellent progress. But the hardest part of the treatments was finding Philippa. She had a knack for knowing when we would be coming for treatment, and she would bolt into the bush. The team would literally take a few hours just to complete the process of finding her, and sedating her.
They had placed her with other rhino rescues, Lion’s Den and Dingle Dell at first, though they were a bit bigger and older than her. They took some time to settle in with one another, but they eventually got on well. In August 2016 Philippa had her final treatment, as the wound had healed well, seven months after the time of her attack.
September 2016 saw the arrival of another rhino bull, which made us relook at all of the rhinos’ living arrangements. It was decided that Philippa and Ike were better suited to share their land together, as both were particularly wary of humans, and avoided contact as much as possible.
Jabulani and the HERD elephant orphanage are situated in the Kapama Private Game Reserve, in the Greater Kruger Area and are guarded by a dedicated anti-poaching unit that works with the police as well as the CIS in the Kruger National Park, and several other anti-poaching units. The Kapama APU patrols in the high-risk areas of the reserve and conducts daily foot patrols on the reserve looking for traps and poachers. It also conducts occupational safety inspections on a regular basis.
In an effort to combat poaching, the Kapama APU has been using tracking dogs as part of its anti-poaching initiative. The canine unit includes Bloodhounds and Belgian Malinois dog breeds, who have been trained to track potential poachers.
We believe that looking after our planet has many sides to it, including managing our human consumption and production. That’s why we believe in using fresh seasonal ingredients in our kitchen as much as possible to limit our dependence on external fresh produce suppliers. We do this by growing our own produce onsite with our innovative aquaponics system that combines aquaculture and hydroponics.
Everything we do and build is centred around leaving a light ecological footprint and making a difference. This includes our eco-friendly lodge design, bana grass plantation project, elephant dung eco-projects, water conservation, recycling, and wildlife conservation.
