DAKTARI Newsletter January – February 2013

By Katrien Vermeulen

Hello there, My name is Richard aka ‘Nthatha’ and I am the newest banded mongoose at DAKTARI. I was all alone and

didn’t know what to do so I found a house and thought I should stay there. Little did I know that the people living

there wouldn’t like me biting them. Luckily they knew

DAKTARI and brought me to this amazing place. It’s all very new for me but I think I’ll be

making friends with the other mongooses very soon.

Animal News:Richard, the new mongoose

Animal News:Free Willy & Wild Storm

Hello again, I’m Willy, the scrub hare that got saved by a former student and raised at DAKTARI. After 3 months at this amazing place it was time for me to go into the bush and be a ‘Free

Willy’!! Now I have all the room I need to hop around and be

happy. Don’t tell anybody but I like DAKTARI so much that I still

prefer being around camp.

Fly Fly.. Butterfly.. Spotted Eagle Owl fly!!

I’m Storm and yes I can fly. I grew some

more feathers, learned how to be

independent, and off I went into the wild

Animal News:Herbie’s new home.

Knorr Knorr… oh hello, didn’t see you there. I’m getting older now, almost 5 whole

months, so the people here didn’t expect I was going to be that big, haha Luckily

DAKTARI decided to build me a new home, which is

awesome, much bigger and leopard proof. Don’t really like leopards. Twice a day I walk with my friends to the dam, where I take my daily

bath. People tell me I eat and live like a pig, don’t

understand what is wrong with that?

Animal News:Shady at the vet

Iaaah iaaah… I’m Shady the youngest donkey at DAKTARI.

A while ago my leg was hurting so much because of a

wound that was very deep, luckily the people of Daktari brought me to this amazing

guy called Peter Rogers (Provet Wildlife Services) twice

a month. My leg is all better now I still love hanging around with my

mum Sunny, but don’t tell anyone.

Animal News:R.I.P. Otts

Very sadly for the team here at Daktari, our new mongoose Otts became ill and

passed away just after settling in. Confounded by her death, we took her to our wildlife vet Peter Rogers for an autopsy. He discovered a previously

unknown chronic liver condition. We miss her and her loving personality

greatly, only comforted by the fact that she was happily eating grasshoppers

and cuddling with us in her last hours.

A letter from a former studentHi Michele,My name is Mina, we met in 2005 while i was doing grade 9 at Rakgolokwana high school, my self and other students use to come to Daktari for educational purposes, i wanna thank you for the knowledge and experience you have assist me with concerning nature conservation, i am currently working as a data collator with the K2C based at Hoedspruits, i have graduated for my diploma in nature conservation and currently doing btech[degree]. i dont know how to thank you, because i started to acquire knowledge from Daktari, this place gave me a good background in terms of environmetal knowledge and i really appreciate your effort as well as uncle Ian. I hope to visit you one day.RegardsMina

Daktari Fundraising CompetitionExtended!!

We have decided to extend our fundraising

competition until the 31st of March! Last chance to win

this amazing prize!!!

Link for more information

Sponsors

A Special thanks to:

• Linda Dreher & Wait A LittleLinda & her daughter Lisa Kysela had a fabulous safari at Wait A Little (African Big Five Horse Safari) and while they were there they heard all about DAKTARI. They really appreciated the work we do here and decided to hold a fundraising raffle in the USA with the prize being a pair of safari tickets sponsored by Wait a Little. All the profits will be donated to DAKTARI.

Which of the other lodges would like

to help us?

SponsorsA special thanks to:• Brigitte Bardot Foundation for sponsoring the extension of the

Leopard camp. Here is the achievement

• Panda Security donated our anti-virus programs for the year!

We would also like to thank every individual person who has helped us, small or big, they are all important. Without your

support we could not keep our project going.

Tips for fundraisingWe know it’s not always possible for you to donate to Daktari. However, there are many things you can do to help which does not cost much and some are even free:

- contact us if you find an orphan or injured animal so we can take care of it. If can't be rehabilitated we will use it as an educational medium and give it a second chance in life. - Put envelopes or boxes for donations in your guest house or shop for any visitors you may have. We cannot assume that people will not donate but just make it available if they want to. (Contact us to get the envelopes) - If you know anybody in the corporate world who would be happy to donate to Daktari for tax or BEE purposes. Give us their details and we will contact them. It's always better to be recommended by somebody they know. - Share our social media with your friends and family. Our link to Facebook and Twitter. People like to hear stories about animals and children, specially if it's suggested by you. - Create an event to fundraise or connect us to special events (e.g.: golf day, book club) - Sign up for a monthly debit order from your bank account. (This will be set up very shortly) Any donation as little as R 50 a month helps us tremendously and it's heart warming to know you are with us. - We are now listed as beneficiary of My School (supported by Woolworth and many other shops). Please sign up for this card and use it when you buy in the linked shops. Follow this link to get your card and chose DAKTARI as a beneficiary. Encourage your friends to do the same. - Give us the email addresses of your friends and guests so we can send them our newsletters. - recommend our volunteer experience to your friends and family from overseas. It's not all about money -although we always need it- but it's also about having you on our side appreciating the important work we are doing.

Get a MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet Card and help raise funds without costing you a cent!!!

It's FREE and every swipe counts! Daktari is now part of the MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet fundraising programme which helps raise funds for schools, charities and environmental concerns across South Africa. It is the easiest way to support us, without even costing you a cent...

Apply for a free MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet card and nominate DAKTARI as your beneficiary.

Present your card every time you purchase items from any of the participating partners (including Woolworths, Engen QuickShops, Kalahari.com, Waltons, Toys R Us, Reggie’s, Jack’s Paint and Altech Netstar outlets) throughout South Africa.

The retail partner then donates up to 5% of your purchase to your chosen beneficiary. Every swipe counts!

Click here to apply on-line for a card, or call 0860 100 445, or visit any Woolworths store.

Would anyone like to sponsor a Gazebo?

Hi Everybody!We are looking at getting a

promotional gazebo to expose Daktari in cities and communities,

creating awareness and fundraising. The company we found could make one at cost price for us for R 5500

which is still very expensive.Does any of you know a company

who could offer better ? or somebody who could sponsor it?

EmailIn advance thank you for your help.

Ian and Michele

Children at DAKTARI

LIFE AT DAKTARI

Eco-Club NewsBy Risette De Haas

Daktari Outreach becomes Daktari YEP!We have our eco-clubs and we guide, coach young ambitious people who finished high school, but are not sure about their next step in life. We thought outreach programme was a bit too vague, so we changed the name into YEP. YEP stands for Youth Empowerment Program. Thanks to the help of Tim Marriot for designing this great logo.

Grace got accepted to Southern Cross School. She started her new school on the 9th of January. She was extremely nervous on her first day, but she survived. Within the first week she made friends and now she never wants to leave. Grace wanted to say thank you to everybody who donated towards her cause and supports her. Please click on the link for the short thank you video of Grace.

Eco-Club News Kutullo did it!As we told you in our last newsletter, Kutullo had an interview at SA Wildlife college. He did really well and was accepted as a student on a fully paid bursary scheme by the college! As Grace he was very nervous on his first day, after three days he phoned me and told me he absolutely loved it! Thank you to everybody who supports him! We keep you posted on his news.

Great gift from UK!We can’t thank Mridula (Ex volunteer) enough for donating a laptop to Mbhaxeni. His biggest dream is to become an architect and now he is well on his way Even though he is still in high school, he is drawing houses by hand and even sold a few already. The next step for him was to start making his drawings on a computer and now he finally can!! He was so amazed and emotional, Thank You Mridula!

Eco-Club News

Some of Mbhaxeni amazing drawings:

Our latest video of DAKTARI(made by Risette De Haas)

Please click on the picture for the link

In loving memory of Bullet

Time has passed and we can’t forget our Bullet. We made an announcement of his death on Facebook but it was too painful at this time to write about it in our newsletter. For the one who didn’t get the news, Bullet left us before Christmas last year. It was just time for him to go and to

rest in peace. We miss him terribly. He is buried behind the house with his sister Topaze. We have put little solar lamps on their graves so they are kind of always with us.

We really need your help!!

Shiloweni still needs more sponsors of R200 per month, to fill his big appetite!

Tugela & Molopo need someone to sponsor them for just R200 each per month.

Caline and her baby Elfie, need a sponsor R300 each a month.

Please check our website for all the animals. Thank YOU!

Scotty our African hawk eagle needs a sponsor for R200 per month.

Herbie is also looking for a sponsor to satisfy his huge cravings for R300 per month.

Our new mongoose Richard needs a sponsor R200 per month.

In South AfricaBank: First National Bank, Hoedspruit, South AfricaSwift number: FIRN ZA JJ Branch Number: 270652Account Number: Cheque Account (Non-Profit) 62044965129Name: Daktari Wildlife Orphanage, South Africa

Donate by Pay Pal

Children ProjectEnvironmental Education for

over 300 underprivileged

children

Outreach Programme

Teach over 200 Eco Club kids in

rural villages

In Germany Bank: Sparkasse Münsterland-OstBankleitzahl: 40050150 Konto-Nummer: 1350 88 888. Name: Spendensammelverein Münster e.V.Reference: DAKTARI-Südafrika – Busch-Schule & Wildwaisen - Station

UK(Tax

Deductible in UK)

US(Tax

Deductible in US)

In The Netherlands Stichting Daktari Bush School NederlandKvK 53826736ANBI StichtingING 5254438 te Rosmalen

Click on required Global Giving icon to donate

How to donate…

Thank you to all our friends, donors, sponsors and volunteers, we couldn’t do this without you!!