w e truly have one heart, one passion, one goal, to save these … · days glowering from her trees...

12/8/2016 www.emdonenilodge.com/newsletter/EmdoneniNewsletter1.html

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We truly have One Heart, One Passion, One Goal, to save these rare species. How privileged we are to takecare of these amazing animals. Once you have met them you will remember and keep them in your heartsforever! To all of you that support us and the project, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts! I think I could turn and live with the animals, they are so placid and selfcontained; I stand and look at them long and long. By Walt Whitman

A million times we've needed you, A million times we've cried. If love alone could have saved you, You never would have died. Author: unknown

KAYA is our resident chief of the African Wildcats. He likes to behandfed but that's as close as you can get. He is a beautiful guybut he‘s not really friends with anyone except Serenity; one of ournew girls. He fathered three kittens with Serenity that were born inMarch. He is currently living with Cinnamon and Rambo our othernew guy. Both these boys are much younger and kept in closecheck by Kaya.

CINNAMON is still a gentle boy, he loves to rub round our anklesbut not so keen on cuddles. His new best bud is Rambo, they arevery sweet together. Both these loveable boys regularly try to giveKaya kisses but it‘s not happening! If they go too far Kaya goes uphis tree and glares at the two youngsters.

http://www.emdonenilodge.com/

http://www.emdonenilodge.com/cat-rehabilitation/the-cats/african-wildcat/



RAMBO Everyone loves Rambo. He is without doubt thefriendliest of our boys. He runs to greet the guests at the gate andhe plays with Cinnamon. He runs around like crazy trying to getKaya to play, but as mentioned before this older cat is notamused, although he tolerates alot of Rambo‘s silliness. He isfriendly to all the cats and has a thing for the ladies, regularlyrubbing up against their camp.

GRUMPY is our matriarch. She sits in her tree watching the worldgo by. She only really comes down to feed and sniff around atnight time. She doesn‘t put up with anyone and is more thanhappy to be an old lady by herself. She was sharing with our newgirl Willow for a while but was deeply unimpressed with this younglady. We love her just as she is and she is welcome to spend herdays glowering from her trees if that makes her happy!

APPLE is a sweetheart and was a great mum to her kittens. Theyhave now been put in our new rewilding camp as they are oldenough to survive without her and in a few months we will find asuitable safe location to release them. She is now sharing a campwith Serenity and Willow and the three young girls get on so well.Apple is very happy to have two friendly young girls to chat andhang out with.

SERENITY is a lovely cat, she loves attention and cuddles and willjump so high just for you to touch her, constantly moaning for loveand attention. She became a mum in March to three kittens andwas also an amazing surrogate mum to our two rejected Servalbabies Hope and Brave. She took them on with her own brood andwas really incredible with them. We are so grateful to her for



helping us raise all those babies. She‘s now back with the othergirls as all the little ones are ready to face the world without her.

WILLOW is Serenity‘s sister and the two girls are very alike. Sheis another friendly girl and very loving. She is a beautiful cat andmakes friends with everyone...except Grumpy! She is alsoanother vocal cat and tells you when she wants attention, which ismost of the time! She and Apple are particularly good friends andshe loves Cinnamon.

Emdoneni Lodge also caters for bush weddings and kiddies activities

NOAH has been spending lots of time with the ladies recently andhas become a father. Noah has a very strong character and plays abit rough but the girls seem to like him! He is most definitely ourmost territorial and dominant male. He and Sheila get on well for themost part and are currently together chasing each other round thetrees. Noah has become friendlier and every now and then he willsurprise us all by rubbing himself against one of our lucky guests.

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http://www.emdonenilodge.com/cat-rehabilitation/the-cats/serval/



SHEILA Our beautiful Sheila is currently with Noah and she‘s beendetermined to stand up to his dominant side. Sheila spends a lot ofher time in the trees and when Spotty was in with them up untilrecently, they would spend hours hanging out in the trees togetherchatting about whatever lady servals like to talk about! Sheila hasbeen particularly friendly during our colder months and a rub alongsomeone‘s legs is serval speak for a quick snuggle.

SPOTTY Spotty was residing with Noah and Sheila up until recentlywhen she gave birth to a litter of kittens. We are so proud of her sheis an amazing, fearless, and slightly scary mum and the kittens arekept with her and growing by the day. A rewilding camp was built forher to keep her and her babies away from the public eye. They aredoing so well and will be put on solids in the next month. We areplanning a release for them and once they are ready to leave theirmum we can release her babies into the wild which we are veryexcited about.

MAFUTA Our lovely boy is doing great. He currently lives next door toCassidy and they chat regularly through the fence to each other.Mafuta is a real character, he loves his food and his naps under thetrees and is never shy to cry loudly and tell us when it‘s time for hisnext meal! Just the other day we watched him jump into the air andcatch an unsuspecting bird flying through the trees in his enclosure;he jumped over 2m to catch it which was so impressive to see.

CASSIDY What a character! Cassidy is probably our friendliestserval. He loves to meet guests and show off his tree climbing andball playing skills. He‘s another very vocal boy and if you are luckyenough to scratch his ears in the right spot his purr is very loud!Cassidy also loves his food and does a special wiggly dance for uswhen we feed him. He is yet to be successful with the ladies but hemore than makes up for it with his happy character and fun nature.

CENESSA We are sad to announce that we had to put Cenessa tosleep, recently, which we are broken hearted about. Cenessa gavebirth a few months ago and sadly rejected her two babies, afterhaving health complications and suffered liver failure. We will neverbe sure why but she was never the same again after she gave birthand we had to stop her from suffering. She leaves a legacy of two



beautiful kittens named Hope and Brave who will be raised by us.We will always miss our beautiful girl.

FELIX Felix is now nearly 6 months old and was the only survivingmember of Spotty‘s first litter earlier on in the year. We helped Spottyas she was struggling to care for him; sometimes a first litter for acat is not success fully raised by the mum due to inexperience.Spotty carried them in her favourite tree, unfortunately they both fellout the tree.... Unfortunately one died and we had to remove Felixfrom her. We didn‘t want to lose Felix so we have been taking goodcare of him. He is an amazing character, he loves to play and jumparound everywhere and we love him to bits.

BARONE is still our impressive head caracal male here. He hasbeen spending a lot of time with Ruby, one of our youngerfemales. He is a very dominant character and not always the mostgentle playmate but they coexisted well together until recentlywhen he became a father! He is now the proud father of Blaze amale who looks just like his Daddy. Unfortunately with BarOnesnatural dominant nature Ruby and the baby are away from Barone but he can still see them and is regularly found lying watchingover mum and son.

RUBY is a beautiful cat and has really held her own against BarOne, making them the perfect match. She is now doing a fantasticjob of raising Blaze her baby boy, who is huge and as said above,looks just like his father. Ruby has been amazing; letting us in tosee the baby and check on her and his health. She lets us touchhim and will take food gently from our hands.

http://www.emdonenilodge.com/cat-rehabilitation/the-cats/caracal-lynx/)



MAX Everyone loves Max, he‘s such a character. He lives withLulu now, they actually get on great together, as they are botholder cats and happy not to over disturb each other it‘s a greatpartnership. Max is a cool customer and still has two sides to him.The relaxed ‘happy to see you’ Max and then the moody ‘leave mealone Max’. He is always happy to allow guests to come in andsee him on tour if he‘s lying down relaxing. He does have a verysoft side, he just hides it well; he has a reputation to uphold!

LULU as said above now lives with Max and is happy to let himhave his space as long as she gets hers. She loves to sleep in thetrees during the day and watch us going about our business, butshe always comes down when it‘s getting close to mealtimes.Unlike our other females Lulu will sometimes challenge Max forfood rights, to get her piece first and although our oldest girl here,she's quick enough to beat Max for that first piece of meatsometimes. She is our matriarch of the Caracals here atEmdoneni.

CARLOS has become such a beautiful cat. He is a veryhandsome boy and loves hiding in the trees. He has developedquite a dominant character and regularly tries to tell Diego andMax off through the fence. He has also been caught making eyesat Lulu through the fence on occasion but she just staresimpassively back at him. He‘s happy for us to go in with him toclean and give him food but he doesn‘t want to be touched. He‘sso handsome, we are more than happy just to look at him!

DIEGO the coolest cat on the block! If he‘s in the mood he is yourbest friend, rubbing on you being so loving, but...then bad Diegocomes out and you will find yourself being hissed at for no reason.Diego just can‘t decide whether to give in to his loving side or hiswild side so we just love him for who he is. He enjoys guestscoming to admire him and he currently lives with the beautifulSavannah who he bosses around, but is actually very sweet withher when he thinks we are not looking.

SAVANNAH is a beautiful girl and now lives with our ‘bad boy’Diego. She lets him tell her off but she is never far from his side. Ifwe go in she will always go and lay by him for comfort andreassurance. Savannah is a very shy girl, she won‘t allow us totouch her but loves her food and always waits patiently for Diego



to get his first and then grabs her piece and rushes off into thebushes to eat hers in private.

MOYA is our independent boy. He continues to welcome guestsbut prefers being photographed by smaller groups of people. Thetwo things that Moya loves best in this world are his brother Jubaand food! He is a gentle giant and is far less fazed by ournewcomers Dew and Dusk and the antics of the other cheetahsaround him. He watches from afar, under a tree, passing silentcalm judgement on all that he sees. He is a hugely affectionate catwith a purr like a Harley Davidson but everything is always onMoya's terms.

JUBA Our big boy Juba is much more playful and light heartedthan his brother Moya. He is fascinated by the other animalsaround him and is more than happy to entertain many guests ashe is a bit of a showman. That said Juba adores his brother Moya,Moya is definitely the ‘sensible’ big brother and should he move toa different place in their enclosure then Juba is always to follownot long afterwards. He likes and needs to be close to his brotherand the loving relationship our two boys share is a thing of beautyfor us.

RAINE Our sassy Raine is fighting fit and never more active andhealthy. She is a very dominant character and is very particularabout who she loves and likes her own space. She has beensharing her enclosure with another male visiting from anotherbreeding project and our little ice princess seems to havedeveloped a crush. We love her fighting spirit and independentnature.

http://www.emdonenilodge.com/cat-rehabilitation/the-cats/cheetah/



STORM Our snuggle bear Storm is growing up. He is over a yearold now and really filling out. He is currently going through his‘teenage’ phase which means he can be a little aloof sometimesbut he can’t keep away from love and attention for long and dailycuddles are always required. He has been living with his sister fora little while who is just here on a holiday and they have a lovelybond and spend hours running around together causing havoc.

AUTUMN is really doing well and having a good break from thehard work of being a mom! She will still stay at CheetahExperience for the next months to come. Her two new little boysare home with us already stealing our hearts and we’ve justcompleted a beautiful new enclosure for our girl to come back to.We miss her and we can't wait for her to be back with us.

ZERA We have very exciting news as our independent girl, Zera,is getting prepared to be released! Permits have been approvedfor Gondwana Game Reserve and soon she will be arriving at hernew home. She will be first kept in a boma for a few months,collared and then released. We will keep you posted, so watchthis space!

SKYE AND SHADOW Our boys went to Bloemfontein as part of abreeding loan. They are doing well and still love being together.We are hoping they too will return to us before the end of the yearafter their breeding holiday with the girls. We think they will needtheir calm relaxed home here after their busy time away from us!

DEW AND DUSK Our newcomers! These two little boys were born back in January to our Autumn at theproject where she is on a breeding loan. Dew is an active little guy but needs the comfort of us if anythingis unfamiliar. Meanwhile Dusk loves a cuddle but is fiercely independent and currently obsessed withclimbing trees. We have had our hearts stolen by these two little boys already and look forward to seeingtheir characters develop. They will be used for breeding purposes when they are mature enough. Webelieve in releasing all off spring back to the wild where they belong.



Dew Dusk

Emma joined us in early March. She has been working with bigcats and predators for the last 20 years. She is in charge of all thecats food and welfare, working alongside our guides to keep ourcats and guests safe and happy on a daily basis. She has a hugepassion for animals and is devoted to looking after all our cats,she is never happier than when she is with one of the cats.

Jonty is one of our guides. He gave up a corporate life to comeand help us at the project after falling in love with the cats. His bigpassion is the cheetahs and he has also discovered a love fordoing tours and educating people about the project.

Max has been with the project for a while and is one of our guidesand loves educating our guests on all the animals and wildlife, hisbiggest passion. He helps with the cleaning and feeding of thecats and regular tours and game drives which he loves the most.His favourite animals here at the project are the Servals; for Maxthey are the most beautiful cats.



VESA VOLUNTEERS During the winter months we have volunteers from VESA (Volunteer EcoStudents Abroad) coming to help us during the day, they are hosted in St Lucia and makes themselvesavailable to assist. They have been doing a fantastic job helping us with enclosure improvements andlabour intensive jobs that require extra pairs of hands, and these hands also left with a many blisters.They also donate considerable funds to helping our project financially. The team this year have beenworking very hard and their reward at the end of each day is some cuddles with our cheetahs, the leastthese young people deserve after all their hard work. It’s been lovely to watch these young students fromabroad experience their first cheetah purr, sitting in the grass relaxing with our lovely cats; we’ve hadsome magical moments with them and our cats. Thank you VESA Team 2016 you have been working sohard to help our project, we are truly grateful.

Did You Know?Serval Fun facts:

1. Servals are the only wild cats with spots and stripes.2. Servals eat not only small mammals but snakes, insects and vegetation sometimes too?!3. Servals love water and will always make their home close by a water source.



February 2016 June 2016Date

Adopted Adopted by Cat Species Period

Feb 16 Gerhard & Maritza Badenhorst Dusk & Dew Cheetah Lifetime

Mar 16 Abby Coles Laura Davis ChristyLee Pollock Storm Cheetah One

Year

Apr 16 Saudi Aramco School Juba Cheetah Oneyear

May 16 Carin O´Neill Cinnamon &Apple

African WildCat

OneYear

Graham & Karen Lomer Dusk & Dew Cheetah Lifetime

Jun 16 Erin Limbert ( Tusca Elmes ) Ruby Caracal OneYear

We appreciate your contributions Thank you!

w e truly have one heart, one passion, one goal, to save these … · days glowering from her trees...

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