Celebrating Heritage Day

Posted on Thu September 25, 2025.

Heritage Day, celebrated annually on 24 September in South Africa, is a public holiday dedicated to honoring our nation’s diverse cultures, traditions, and shared history. It encourages South Africans to reflect on their roots and celebrate what makes the country unique. Over time, it has also become popularly known as “Braai Day,” with the braai (barbecue) seen as a unifying tradition across all communities. While people may have distinct ways of preparing food or celebrating, the act of gathering around a fire to share a meal embodies togetherness, inclusivity, and national pride, making Braai Day a symbolic extension of Heritage Day’s spirit of unity. It’s more than ‘just food’… it’s a celebration of culture, family, and togetherness.

This Heritage Day, our team decided to share that same spirit with our animals in a creative and enriching way. Armed with paper-maché, paint, and cardboard boxes, our volunteers crafted a “braai” set-up complete with fiery flames, a braai grid, and oversized tongs. Instead of steaks and boerewors, the grid was loaded with colourful fruit kebabs, and scattered with little bits of mince - deliciously tasty treats for our curious residents.

Ayla, our Red-Rumped Agouti, and Skye, our ever-watchful Slender-Tailed Meerkat, were the first to investigate this unusual new feature in their enclosure. Their cautious curiosity quickly turned into excitement as they sampled the feasts - straight from the grid!

Our troop of Squirrel Monkeys brought their typical mischievous energy, eager to snatch a skewer or two. Meanwhile, both our Ring-Tailed and Brown Lemurs enjoyed their own turn with the braai, nibbling happily while showing off their expressive personalities and amateur braai-skills.

 

Enrichment activities like these are more than playful experiments - they are essential for stimulating natural behaviours, providing variety in daily routines, and encouraging problem-solving. By giving our animals opportunities to explore and engage with novel objects, we promote both their mental and physical well-being.

While South Africans celebrated around real braai’s across the country, our wildlife family at the Ranch joined in with their own fruit-filled version - proving that whether human or animal, sharing food brings us all a little closer together!

 

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