Victoria Falls resort is saving scavengers

As they do in movies, vultures circle the hot African sky making shadows below as though something is on the horizon.

It’s lunchtime and the scavenging birds seem to have an internal clock that tells them they are about to be fed.

The Culture Vulture Experience at the Victoria Falls Safari Club in Zimbabwe is a lesson in nature conservation and the direction of where animal extinction could be headed if we don’t pay attention to the signs from mother nature.

Part of the experience of travelling to other countries is indulging in what the locals take for granted; in Victoria Falls it’s experiencing nature with a difference.

When visiting another country for a traditional safari, it’s hard to have experiences out of the norm.

What to expect

To be expected is the Big 5 (lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant and African buffalo) which many countries pride themselves on having, although it may vary from country to country.

A huge standout experience was the outdoor restaurant at the Safari Club where vultures feed freely. Ranger Moses Garira said: “Vultures don’t attack, they don’t have the killer instinct.

“That’s why they have chickenlike feet, their biggest weapon is their sharp beak. These are not birds of prey.”

Garira explained to guests the reason for the vulture experience. He said vultures clean up areas as they pick off the remaining flesh on carcasses leaving nothing to rot.

Garira added that the experience came about to educate guests about some of the causes taken on by the Africa Albida Tourism group and that the community is encouraged to help feed the birds through the proper channels.

He joined the Safari Club in 2014 and has been working with animals for 10 years. Putting meat calmly into a clearing designated for feeding, he slowly allows the large birds to surround him as they devour their lunch.

I see no fear in his eyes and it seems as though he’s at home. He’s a native of the area and animals are his natural habitat.

“I grew up around this park. As a child we (my father, who was a game warden, and I ) would walk without weapons because we were accustomed to the behaviour of animals and as unpredictable as they are, we can pre-empt anything before it happens.”

He is the fifth family member to join a national park and work with animals. “I started working for national parks in 1994, and the lodge recruited me from there.

“At that time, animals were drinking from the watering hole, but one day an elephant ingested plastic and died and the vultures came and fed on its carcass.

“One of the other rangers started getting leftovers from the kitchens and we decided to feed the vultures regularly. “The birds kept returning and we kept feeding them.”

They came up with the idea of having a shed where people could watch the feeding and gain knowledge about the birds.

537 is number of vultures that died in three weeks

Vultures are on the endangered species list and they are dwindling in numbers on the African continent, which is a worry. Africans often poison the birds to use their internal parts for muti.

Cultural African practices also often impact the behaviour people exhibit towards the birds.

“Illegal hunting also results in poisoning the carcasses of other animals and the number of vultures dying in three weeks has gone up to 537 – so far the biggest loss.”

Part of the reason for this is that vultures clean up predators’ leftovers. Movies have done a good job of deceiving the public into believing that vultures loom over situations where people are about to die, but this is far from the truth.

At the Victoria Falls Safari Club the vulture experience is curated for guests. A guide takes guests through to a side part of the main dining area with a cooler box filled with raw meat from the kitchens. Nothing goes to waste at the Safari Club.

They ensure that meals not eaten in the restaurants go towards sustaining the animals and birds around the property.

It is a fully functional business ecosystem that not only benefits the guests but promotes the betterment of the environment.

We head down to an area with trees and a side shelter where the birds start circulating just after noon. Vultures seem to have a memory and once they’ve fed in a certain spot, they’ll be back regularly.

Even vultures have a restaurant here

About 100 birds are circling us with some swooping down to wait in the trees. Garira comes down with the coolerbox and the birds get closer to him, but they don’t bite.

They wait patiently until he opens the box. His love was originally for the bigger animals, the wild cats, but he’s come to love the large birds which he now sees as his children.

“Vultures have a bad reputation. They are not hunters. “They feed off other animals’ kills until that area is clean and they are the vacuum cleaners of the wild.

“There is also the African misconception that vultures can cure diseases and that particular parts of their bodies fix human ailments.

“It’s simply untrue and I need people to understand that a vulture is an animal that helps the ecosystem. “What people don’t realise is that vultures can protect us from disease.

 “They eat and recycle carcasses. For thousands of years of the birds have helped to naturally recycle animals.”

Garira encouraged guests to use their video footage to make short documentaries to upload on social media channels to spread the word about the importance of vultures.

“By doing this you’ll help us in this vulture awareness campaign so that people come to understand the importance of working with nature to preserve wildlife for future generations,” he said.

Or you could take a short vacation to the Victoria Falls Safari Club in Zimbabwe and experience this life-changing lesson in person.

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