Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre

Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre HESC focuses on the conservation of rare, vulnerable or endangered animals. https://hesc.co.za

Fresh photos of Tammy and the cubs!
09/10/2025

Fresh photos of Tammy and the cubs!

08/10/2025

The rhino version of water cooler talk - except with some leftover lucerne that Thaba, Bula and Mango are enjoying.

07/10/2025

Paulie discovered his reflection looking back at him through the sliding door glass but seemed wary about engaging with this “new bird” who had come to visit.

06/10/2025

More wild dog interactions at the fence – this time with fellow wild dogs from the adjoining reserve. Speech bubbles would certainly have come in useful here …

05/10/2025

ANGIE UPDATE: Our little girl is growing up fast and will be receiving her final milk feed in the middle of this month. In the meantime, she is drinking every last drop that she can. Watch this space …

Save our Animals, Save the Planet. 🦏🐆🦒🐘🦁🌍 This is the chosen theme for WORLD ANIMAL DAY 2025 - celebrated today and ever...
04/10/2025

Save our Animals, Save the Planet. 🦏🐆🦒🐘🦁🌍 This is the chosen theme for WORLD ANIMAL DAY 2025 - celebrated today and every year on the 4th of October to bring awareness to the plight of animals around the world. How can you make a difference? Support an animal welfare organisation and give a special treat to the animals in your life. They make our world a magical place!

03/10/2025

Here’s another feeding video showing Tammy and her cubs tucking into their meat. Each cub is currently taking in 500 grams of meat – but watch how their personalities are starting to show, with one of the cubs demonstrating its dominant side when the third cub wanted to join in and share. The fourth cub tried to join too - but then discovered it could have a bowl all to itself instead. Our curators are watching these interactions closely - but will only intervene when necessary.

“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, a...
02/10/2025

“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” - Jane Goodall

Farewell to an amazing woman, a famed primatologist and a conservation icon. Your presence will be missed - but your impact lives on forever.

Photo source: Jane Goodall Institute

01/10/2025

Musina relaxing in the shade under one of the trees in her enclosure. While leopards are known to hunt at night, they are opportunistic and if a potential prey makes an appearance during the day, they will make an attempt at a kill. 🐆

30/09/2025

Maintaining genetic diversity in cheetahs has proven to be a challenge over many years. In the past half century, the cheetah population experienced a decline to almost 50%, which is over and above the already huge decline since the existence of their ancestor, Acinonyx pardinensis.

This came from their survival through two waves of mass extinction events. In both events, small populations were dispersed in small habitats, where inbreeding started occurring, which resulted in a genetic bottleneck.

Now with a small genetic pool, the species has declined drastically. That's why at HESC we breed our cheetahs to create new, more diverse bloodlines. By releasing our cheetahs, we are slowly increasing the genetic pool which will contribute to an increase in the survival of the species.

29/09/2025

A hyena on the adjacent side of the reserve paid our wild dogs a visit at the fence. While one of our wild dogs seemed to want to show their dominance by chasing towards it, the hyena remained curious but not as bothered about them.

28/09/2025

When Paulie insists on helping Linri with her admin … 🤣

Address

R40 Between Hoedspruit And Klaserie
Hoedspruit
1380

Opening Hours

Monday 09:00 - 13:00
Tuesday 09:00 - 13:00
Wednesday 09:00 - 13:00
Thursday 09:00 - 13:00
Friday 09:00 - 13:00
Saturday 09:00 - 13:00
Sunday 09:00 - 13:00

Telephone

+27124602570

Website

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HESC - The Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre, South Africa

The Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre (HESC), is living proof that people can make a difference to the long-term survival of the planet and its animal inhabitants.

Our centre has been in operation for almost 30 years and is one of South Africa’s leading conservation and rehabilitation centres for endangered species. The centre is also well respected for its successful cheetah breeding and conservation programmes.

Our founder, Lente Roode originally built the centre specifically for cheetah conservation, however, through the years animals from all over the country were brought to us for rehabilitation and sanctuary. We work and will continue to work with some of South Africa’s top wildlife vets for treatment of the wildlife in our care.

HESC’s main objective is the conservation of rare, vulnerable and endangered animal species. We are actively involved in the research and breeding of endangered animal species, the release and establishment of captive-bred cheetahs in the wild, and the treatment and rehabilitation of wildlife (including victims of rhino poaching). We rely solely on donations to do the work we do