Memorable Interactions

Pretty much for as long as I could remember I have been absolutely fascinated by the Honey Badger, and a few days ago I had the opportunity to visit a wildlife sanctuary where Awie, an orphaned honey badger found a loving home. Awie was brought in to the sanctuary as a young pup after he was found abandoned on the side of the road. it is uncertain what happened to Awie's mother but it is more than likely that she was killed, because as a rule young honey badger pups are never left alone and rarely very far away from their mothers.

Awie was then hand reared at the sanctuary and has become a resident celebrity in his own rights, not only because he is adorably playful and intelligent, but also because of his abilities as an escape artist. From very young Awie has managed to keep the rangers and the staff of the sanctuary on their toes by finding new ways to escape whatever enclosure he was left in, but Awie would never go too far, he would only escape to go wake up the rangers for some extra rations of love and food, or to investigate new guests arriving at the lodge situated on the sanctuary.

Interacting with Awie and getting to know a little bit more about these mysterious creatures was absolutely magical, however trying to get him to stay still for long enough to get a decent picture of him was definitely another thing, Awie was constantly moving around and finding new ways to make sure that he got my undivided attention, even if that meant that he needed do chomp down on my boots!

While I was busy playing, I asked my friend Justin to try and capture some shots with my camera but to no avail, Awie was simply too busy, and after changing the settings on the camera so that we could try to get some action shots Awie decided that he would simply hide his face every time we tried, so these were the best captures that we could manage, but the picture that Awie left in my heart is certainly flawless!