You Do Kudu

 Viki

In April, 2019 a very small kudu was reported as being found by the residents of a manyatta* just outside Loisaba Conservancy. The circumstances of her being found remained a mystery but on Good Friday she was collected by the Rangers from Loisaba and brought to the headquarters where Torrie, the Livestock Manager has his house. Torrie can appear very serious on the outside but on the inside he has a very soft heart and this little kudu curled up inside his soul and has remained there ever since.

Credit: Martin Lokoro Longorkit

“I estimated her age to be between ten and fifteen days old,” says Torrie, adding that she was very thin and had a large hole in one of her ears. “It was unlikely that she would live but I asked Tom and Jo for guidelines on a feeding formula for her and set to work. At first she required feeding every three to four hours and I settled into a routine which went through the day and night. After six weeks I was able to stop feeding her at night but I always checked on her before retiring for the night as young kudus need to know that their mum is still around." 

This kudu’s Mum was a deeply tanned, grey-haired man who lived in shorts.

“Tom and Jo suggested that I call her Viki after my older sister who had passed away before Easter. This seemed to suit her very well and she soon learned her name.” 

“Viki lived in a sheltered corner of the garden where she was protected by high stone walls but Tom encouraged me to take her out of her little enclosure each day so that she could enjoy the whole of the garden. Soon she got the hang of browsing and began to remain outside all day, coming up to greet me whenever I went out to feed her.”

Whenever she anticipated being bottle fed, Viki nudged Torrie’s legs as she would have done her mother’s udder - "In time this did become quite bruising," recalls Torrie. “The problem was that initially she would only accept milk when it was given to her by me or Tom but after we persuaded Kaptain the Cook here to wear shorts she was happy to be fed by him too and they became firm friends.”

Credit: Torrie MacCloud

The hope was that Viki would eventually join the group of Kudu that frequent the Tented Camp Lodge but although she will now venture out on her own, spending the day near the airstrip, she has never yet gone that far yet.

Temporary collar!

“She always brings herself back in the evening,” says Torrie, “and she still demands my attention if only to say ‘hello’ when I am around. If I have a nap on a Sunday afternoon Viki sticks her head in my bedroom window and bleats to wake me up - if I take no notice of her she pulls on the curtains! I have had to ban her from the house as her ability to eat just about anything is astonishing, however, if she can, she sneaks into the bedroom to eat my chocolate! She is a consummate busybody and where possible likes to be involved in everything, attending meetings on the verandah and greeting all the guests.”

Listening to him, one can’t help but feel that Torrie is perfectly content with this situation and that she may just be the love of his life. In time she is likely to meet up with the kudu bull who frequents the high ground around the headquarters and the lodge but, like the other kudu she will probably bring her offspring home to spend her time close to humans where she knows that she is safer from predators.

Proof that kudus are good for the soul.

Martin (who we will meet soon) and Viki
Credit: Martin Lokoro Longorkit  

* group of traditional huts within a boma