What could possibly go wrong?!

The bride, groom and a giraffe... Animal antics of the wild kind

My dear Readers,

This letter is a little early, but I thought I would share a brief bit of fun and lightness for the festive times ahead and express my gratitude and love for all for your support, encouragement and understanding about what we do. You are so valued!

Running a wildlife sanctuary is, frankly, an insane pursuit. Most especially this one. Someone once likened it to the Mad Hatters tea party, but without the drugs! Over the past decades, we have had some ridiculous situations with the public and some of our more colourful wild orphans.

Moyo visiting Chef Roddy on the veranda. Roddy and Moyo have been friends since Moyo could fit in the kitchen - urging Roddy for a “Moyo Biscuit”

In one of my finer (not) midnight musings, I thought that having a few small weddings on the property would be a great way to generate some much needed income. I felt that so long as the animals were not disturbed too much, nor made to perform like a circus (ugh!) then all would be well.

I could not, ever, have imagined the chaos that some of the animals have wrought on our “weddings”! I have since sworn off these functions, much to the relief of our Carers… and my insurance company.

I had the most beautiful giraffe named Mirabelle, whom I had raised in my back garden. She was one of my “soul” animals and very dearly loved. However, Mirabelle could be somewhat salty on occasion and was definitely not a fan of Brides, nor their guests. Something about the white dress would set her off and I could just see by the look in her eye, that mischief was about to occur.

Now, when dealing with a bunny behaving badly, that is one thing. But a ten foot giraffe, who weighs at least a ton and a half, is quite another story altogether. There is no management possible… no click, no shout, no tone of voice, no head collar … nada, to stop Mirabelle on a Mission.

There was no stopping Mirabelle when she was on a mission!

Photographs were being taken just inside the park perimeter, much to my deep anxiety. We had Carers with browse branches standing by, keeping Mirabelle fed and her mind off her anticipated antics. Nope, not even mulberry leaves could deter Mirabelle from strolling across the park to inspect the white dress. My heart sank. She drew closer, sniffing the air with total disdain, a mischievous gleam in her eye! We were all signalling wildly to the bridal party to climb the antheap and get into the tree … they had no idea what we were trying to say and blithely continued their photoshoot. (Well, I know… asking a Bride to climb a tree in her silk finery is not really ideal!)

Mirabelle then started her dance, as we call it. Leaping up into the air, almost with four legs windborne! Those limbs are powerful dance appendages, but they are also dangerous weapons. The photographer, a lovely lady called Nicole, glanced round to find Mirabelle almost upon her. She had seen this before. She stepped sideways, quickly, and Mirabelle continued her waltz towards the white dress. The best man, stumbled backwards, knocking the poor Bride to the ground… the Groom legged it to the antheap and Mirabelle silently chortled in amusement at the chaos she was creating. She clearly has a great sense of humour, as she never hurt anyone in her life, but she did cause quite some distress.

Once completed with the antics and disdain for the white gown, she raced back to the gawping crowd, scattering glasses of Prosecco and bite size nibbles. Shock and horror, as well as hysterical laughter. Despite there being some 150 people, she touched not a hair on anyone’s head. Once done with this mischief, she ambled off to eat those mulberry leaves.

I was red faced and mortified by the chaos. The Bride had an exceptional attitude and found it (relatively) amusing. The Groom looked shame faced and the Best Man was incandescent with rage. I couldn’t blame him really. The crowd soon got back to their prosecco and were happy to have a story to tell their grandchildren.

That was just one of the many incidents that happened during our wedding years.

Others included:

• Sweetpea the Kudu eating ALL the wedding flowers before the wedding began.

• Pickles the warthog located cooler boxes of roast fillet underneath the banquet table and upended all said boxes, then proceeded to drag the fillets onto the dance floor.

• Noodle the Wildebeest hooked a horn into a somewhat surprised guest’s trouser pocket and left the poor gentleman bare faced.

Noodle, always up for a visit or scratch

• Monkeys stormed the kitchen and made off with many beautifully laid out fruit desserts.

• Missy the giraffe held the entire kitchen hostage, inside the catering tent, during the ceremony. It was very hot that day!

Missy the giraffe never afraid to stick her neck out.

• Moyo, managed to escape her boma enclosure on the afternoon before the wedding as she was terribly excited by all the activity. The wedding rehearsal had begun. Once out, the escapee raced across the lawn, all 3 tonnes of her, straight to the kitchen where she greeted Roddy the cook, with glee, a huge smile on her face. She perched herself on my verandha, unable to duck underneath the eaves and make into the kitchen. Roddy was most obliging and bought out his special “Moyo biscuits” which he had fed her as a baby. The wedding rehearsal guests looked on in astonishment. Once back in her stable, after much encouragement by her Carers, the wedding rehearsal continued.

These are a few of our more colourful events. I will share more in the future, but I think you get the picture …. What could possibly go wrong?!

I hope these stories bring you a little chuckle over this festive season!

Wishing you all a Happy Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy Everything…

Love

Rox xxx