The secret is out!! Visit to Modisa Wildlife Project

So those two Saturdays we couldn't tell you about had half of our students each time visiting Modisa Wildlife Project, located a very chilly two hours away (try an open-air vehicle at 8am in the winter!). Modisa trains volunteers to work in the various components of wildlife reclamation and preservation. In conjunction with Grassland Safaris, they have taken "trouble" [read: livestock-eating] lions to reduce wildlife-human conflicts and leverage them into an educational opportunity that ultimately will help protect and maintain a viable and wild predator population.

Here, co-owner and manager Val Gruener engages the students in debating potential conflicts and solutions when wildlife and cattle ranching (the third largest industry in Botswana) clash. If it sounds similar to US- and Texas-based issues... it is!

A barely 2kg female cub was rescued and hand-fed by Modisa staff; she is by necessity now partially habituated to humans, having been hand-raised. She is shown here on a supervised walk with a small group of students.

Each student had the change to sit - supervised and very still - with Val and the lion cub; here, Jaclyn and Val watch the wanderings of this small but soon-to-be large lioness.

Lions are great climbers, but it doesn't come naturally; here "Dad" shows her the ropes.

Here Emily gently touches the cub's still soft coat while Val distracts her with a favorite toy: a Grewia flava branchlet! 

Modisa's princess: Sirga stretches out in the sun

Don't try this at home!!! Val raised Sirga from a very young age, providing 24-hour a day care. He has worked with big cats for many years, and those of us dropping in should never forget a big cat is never really tame, and always a wild force with which to be reckoned (especially as they mature and grow in size). 

Cats aren't the only predator at Modisa... leopard and cheetah are also found on the property and, here, the second group of students walks into the wild dog enclosure.

Wild dog, also known as a "painted wolf" are incredibly social creatures and some of the most effective predators in the region. Their small size is offset by highly coordinated group hunting and incredible stamina. They are extremely rare, and the chance to see them (with four pups- rare for captivity) was a real treat -- it is estimated fewer than 200 exist in all of Botswana, which has the largest, connected population in southern Africa.

On the way out of Modisa, students went past the Big Boys- the beautiful black-maned male Kalahari lions. Prides are kept intact with one dominant male and other males kept in separate enclosures to control genetic crossings and social structure upheavals.