A Princely Home For Jack And Jenny

To some, donkeys are an ugly pack animal suited only to their tasks, but others go beyond the call of duty to save these creatures from misery.

- Robert Clunie

PRINCE ALBERT is wreathed and guarded by the very imposing, but stunning Swartberge. Here, on an average day you’d see fruit by the thousands laid out on wooden trays to dry. you’d see goats expertly traverse the crags in the rock face and springbokkies pronking about over the flatter plains. thank goodness a potential gold mining boom never took off – it would have ruined this picturesque haven. there are tonnes of attractions to suck you in; you’d never want to leave. But there is something even more noteworthy at work on the outskirts. 

A mere two-kilometre drive out South toward the winding Gamkaskloof pass lies a beautiful, colourful, semiarid pasture that a few interesting characters call home. Within the vastness that is the Great Karoo, settled quaintly beyond a right shoulder, is the Karoo Donkey Sanctuary. It is a refuge that many equine animals owe their lives to. one man in particular, the founder/owner Jonno Sherwin, deserves a rather loud applause for his perseverance in saving so many animals bound for the slaughter. Their mission statement reads concisely as one of a goal-oriented non-profit organisation (NPo): “our mission is to relieve the suffering of overworked and abused Western Cape and Karoo cart-horse donkeys by providing them with a forever home on our beautiful farm.” This is a Shangri-La of sorts for those animals that have not had their health seen as a priority. However, all of this changed in July of 2013.

The cart-horse donkey’s history stretches back aeons as an animal formidable in strength and stamina within the Western and Northern Cape. It is in the vastness of the Karoo that they are particularly relied upon. They are cheaper to run than a car some might say.