Sarah Carter
The Twala Trust
Bally Vaughan Sanctuary
Tel: 263 772592944 263
733436239
fb: The Twala Trust Animal
Sanctuary
Dear All
As most of
you are aware, we are awaiting judgement in a court case that will determine
whether or not we can move our family of rescued animals from Bally Vaughan to
the Twala Trust Animal Sanctuary.
There is a
new life awaiting our beloved rescue animals at Twala, and this time it is a
forever home. The sunlight breaks into a million incandescent sparkles on the
waters of the dam as the fish eagles swoop down and welcome us with their
haunting call. A giant kingfisher sits in sharp-beaked profile against the
golden glare of the summer sun and a flotilla of white-faced ducks drift on the
cool green surface of the water. There are hoopoes on the lawn, their crested
heads bobbing officiously as they march across the brilliant green grass in
search of a snack. A mongoose flashes across the dusty road and into the
sun-scorched grass and shoals of sun-silvered bream catch the predatory
attention of a solitary grey heron. A hornbill sails serenely from the dense
shade of one ancient, gnarled miombo tree to another. Twala is full of huge,
indigenous trees, their ancient trunks bristling with lichen and their
spreading branches a haven for a host of birds and other small creatures. We
see the neat round prints of a serval cat in the damp sand
by one of the crystal-clear streams and the sleek gleam of an otter in the dam
one evening as the sun sets in a carmine sky streaked with the smoky dark
shadows of the bush-fire season. Duikers and hares freeze and then bolt as we
walk through the bush with our family of rescue dogs, and a young impala ram
snorts an alarm call when we spot his
spiralling horns through the trees. In the cool blue twilight a magnificent
civet plods on his flat furry feet across the road, focused on a night of
foraging. A variety of owls add their shrieks and hoots to the night symphony
and frogs and crickets sing their vibrating songs into the darkness as the
spine-chilling scream of a bushbaby, resident in an acacia tree in the garden,
travels across the valley.
The yard at
Twala is full of enormous rolls of wire and tottering pyramids of gum poles,
stacks of steel and bags of cement. Trucks roar down our road with piles of
sand and stones and fencing wire and the air vibrates with the sound of
hammering and sawing and drilling as the predator enclosures go up. Every scrap
of wood, wire and steel is put to good use. Volunteers from Zimbabwe,
Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Canada and the UK are all helping out with the
building of Twala. New neighbours offer assistance too and we are so very grateful
to be a part of this community and to be made so welcome.
The homes
for the animals at Twala have all been built to give the rescued animals as
much space, privacy and comfort as possible. The huge lion enclosures are built
on the hill, overlooking the serene green and gold valley where a chain of dams
are pooled along the river like a silver necklace shining in the sun. These
will be the homes of our rescued lions – Wire and Kimberly, Joshua and Johanna
and Juno and Fluffy – all rescued by us in 2011 and 2012, darling Nduna who we
gave a home to in 2007 and who we nursed back to health after he was paralysed,
and our beautiful, most beloved lioness
Kadiki – entrusted into our care by Chooks and the late Jon Langerman. Their
new homes have been built with such love and care, for lions who deserve the
very best we can give them.
There is a
sprawling new home, complete with bath tub, for Kylie the hyena we rescued in
the chaos of 2008 and who revels in the bond she shares with Vin. He bathes her
every Saturday and she waits for the sound of his car, her eyes gleaming with
anticipation and her huge fluffy body tense with expectation. Once Vin is in
the enclosure, Kylie gives him a rapturous hyena welcome, grinning and licking
him and standing on tiptoe with her huge snout in the air demanding a kiss. The
trust and affection shown by this enormous predator reminds us time and again
why we do what we do.
There are
sunny spots at Twala for Meredith the meerkat and her little friends, Simba the
cat and Angus the genet. There is a play area for the baby monkeys and a quiet,
leafy owl hospital. Already we have rehabilitated and released four
rescued barn owls at Twala. There are grassy paddocks for the many farm animals
we have rescued over the past eight years – animals that had experienced
neglect and abuse and starvation and now expect breakfast and dinner and a
cuddle every day. The new serval enclosures incorporate the river and a
thousand rustling opportunities to stalk and pounce amongst the reed beds and trees.
These
animals are our family. They have joined us over the last eight years, through
our rescue and rehabilitation programme, and we love them all. They have been
healed and nurtured and sheltered and fed with the steadfast support of our
friends and sponsors. The veterinary treatment so many of them require is
provided unstintingly, and free of charge, by Dr Vin Ramlaul, the Twenty Four
Veterinary Surgery and other dedicated vets such as the Aware Trust. The
animals would not be alive if it were not for these people, and the staff and
volunteers who give so much to give the animals the life that they deserve.
This is why we are not giving up on these animals and we are fighting to bring
them to Twala, where they belong. Our only wish is to move OUR animals, rescued
while we were running our rescue and rehabilitation programme from 2005 to
date, to Twala. There are, sadly, some animals that must remain behind as they
were on the property prior to our tenancy. We accept this, and simply feel
great sadness that after so much love, effort and determination has gone into Bally Vaughan Sanctuary, that the animals are now
in limbo.
Already
Twala is bustling with life. Our rescued horses, darling old Uno with her
twisted ear and long, bony face wanders through the Sanctuary with Griffin, an
enormous and startlingly handsome white horse with feet the size of dinner
plats and a head as noble and pale and proud as a storybook unicorn. Cedric, a
rescued vervet monkey, lolls in his hammock munching on a selection of treats,
and Trinepon, a hinge-backed tortoise with a glued-together shell is
recuperating in the hospital. Evelyn, a little orphaned duiker, is curled up in
the nursery surrounded by solicitous furred and feathered companions, whose
devotion may also have something to do with the stack of hot water bottles
tucked into Evelyn’s bed. Shadow and Hissy, the glossy black kittens sprawl
beside Rex and Terra, two plump white chickens. Evelyn needs night feeds and
dedicated care as she is only a few weeks old. Her luminous brown eyes and cute
little top-knot of fur between her huge ears give her the look of an innocent,
but beneath the beguiling exterior lurks a heart of steel. Meals must be served
on time, at the correct temperature and in one particular bottle only. Any
deviation results in swift and startling violence – to date our injuries
include a black eye and a blood nose. Each day the entire nursery heads out to
play in the garden – duiker, cats and chickens are monitored by the volunteers
as they gambol about on the lawn, watched with narrow-eyed concentration and
ill-disguised resentment by the excluded dogs who try to rush the gate at every
opportunity.
We are
still taking care of all of the animals at Bally Vaughan so please visit us
there to support the animals. We would love to see you! The Twala Trust Golf
Day is being held at Wingate Golf Club on 13 September 2013 and we would be
very grateful for your support. We are also delighted to announce that Fraser
Mackay and friends are holding a gig at Old Georgians Sports Club on 28
September 2013 to raise funds for the Twala Trust. ALL the artists are donating
their time, as are the organisers, and the sound equipment has also been
donated, so all funds raised on the night will benefit the animals. We are so
very grateful to all these wonderful people for taking this to heart and making
such a hugely generous gesture to support us. Thank you Fraser Mackay, Kevin
and Adele Barton, Di Fynn, Ashely-Kate Davidson, Old Georgians, Footloose,
Finding Burt, Christina Jenkins, Middle-Aged Spread, Gemma Griffiths, Tina
Musawi, Peter van Deventer, Andre and Lou Vermaak, Reuben Chisale and Volsec
Security.
Our thanks
also go to the Save Foundation (Australia), Cool Galah (Australia), Laura
Simpson of the Harmony Fund and The Great Animal Rescue
for taking up our cause, Photographers for the Preservation of Nature,
Cedric Jacquet and Elyane van Coillie, The Cleft, Zimbabwe, Chipo Muranda and
friends, Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force and the Rodrigues family, Tikki
Hywood Trust, Jenni Ferguson and Move-It, Joanne Lamb, Mark Lubbe and family,
the Holtzhausens, constant friends Kim and
Campbell MacMillan and all at 9a Drew Road, Karl Klein and Moldon Marketing,
Sue Roberts, Steve Watt, Anton Newall and Lion and Cheetah Park, Fence Africa,
Curverid Tobacco, Stacey Cilliers, TBK, Wendy Care, the Potgieter family and
especially Annie-Rose Potgieter who held a toy sale to raise funds for the
animals, the International School of Luxembourg who we are proud to say have
chosen Twala as a fund-raising project, Lynette Dackner, the Khumalo family,
Belinda Knapp, Trinity Ncube, Wendy Robinson, Kate Eames, Ashley Davies, Kim
Meaden-Kendrick, Karen Paolillo and Hippo Haven, Mr Mutsvairo, Sherrol D’Elia
and her family and friends, Lucy Morton-Smith,
Milena Gallana, Veronica Neethling, Duncan
Dollar, B.S.I, Golfing and Giving, Westridge High School, Belinda Badenhorst,
Peter’s Signs, Signs of the Times, Harare
Show Society, Alexa Volker, Waste-Away, Joe Leese, Sarah Jackson and
Derek Selby, the Middleton family, Debs Sly and her lunch group, Trek Petroleum
for a very generous donation of fuel, Viv van Lindert, Sharon Nicholls, Garth
and Yvonne Nicholls, Nicole Havell, Gareth Howell, Jackie Silva, Pauline Visser
and Atlas Earth-Movers, Sheena Povall, Nora Hudgestone, Conan Stockill and
Waylon Lewis, Montana Meats and the Duncan family, Dr Mark Lombard, Douglyn
Farm, Lin McLeod, Dianne Twiggs, Sally Dennis, Roselyn Wipf, Beverly Bridger,
Derek Cotterill, Enid Graver, Carole Graham, Chris and Maimie Noon, Lorraine
Thomas and Mike Wedlock, John Davidson, Chooks Langerman, Sarah Kenchington,
Catherine Carter, Sylvia Carter, Natalie Joyce, Ralph and Greg Stead and
Sawpower for such generous support, Kath Gau, Andrew Sarsfield-Hall,
the Cartwright family, Ant Fynn, Gerry Jackson, Chris Wade and family, Jill and
Warren Barton, the Friend Foundation, VAWS, Alro Shipping and Transport who are
always there to help, our friend Karen Bean and the Book Borrowers, Gina
Everson, Anita Gossman, Ann Horstman, Rob Stewart, Appliance Warehouse and the
Colliers, Telford Mica, Karen and Stacy Gent and Orobianco, the Carlisle
family, Amanda Mileson, Mrs Loveridge, Gladys Little, Lyn Cloete, Kevin Stead
Linda Turnbull Shane Zangel, Andrew Revolta, Craig
Sly, Kit Madsen, Luke Bullous, Amy Randle, Justine Carter, Katelyn Wood
and Evangeline McElwain.
Over the
past eight years our rescue and rehabilitation programme has given so many
animals a second chance. Thank you for being with us on this journey, and for
giving us the chance to build the Twala Trust
Animal Sanctuary for them.
You can follow and share our jouney on facebook- The Twala Trust Animal
Sanctuary.
With love
and thanks
Sarah, Vin
and all the animals
Sarah Carter
The Twala Trust
Bally Vaughan Sanctuary
Tel: 263 772592944 263 733436239
fb: The Twala Trust Animal Sanctuary
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