November 15th, 2023
Around 3 o’clock
I went to the reception area for the rhino trekking, which was included in the
$50 USD entrance fee to the sanctuary. I
kinda felt like I’d already been spoiled by my near trampling when I first arrived
and then having the rhino family sleep outside my room. But hey, let’s see what else they can offer.
I met the ranger
named Jackson and two British women in the 60s named Deborah and Robin who were
cousins. All of us were kitted out with
some rubber boots. Deborah has lived in
Africa for over 20 years and is involved with a cocoa export company whereas
Robin is from Kent in England. They had
Deborah’s vehicle and driver and that’s what the five of us drove in to get to
a more remote area of the sanctuary.
Jackson
explained that the sanctuary started back around 2006 with only 6 rhinos and
now they had 41. Once they reached 50,
they planned on shipping 15 of them back into the wild, I can’t remember
exactly where he said. But that’s
awesome that they are trying to help repopulate the species.
Jackson led
us into a marshy area, and we seemed to wander around slightly aimlessly for a
while until he pointed out a rhino trail.
It turns out that rhinos tend to walk in a single file and looking at
the way that the grass was bent, you could deduce the direction that they were
heading. There was about six to twelve
inches of water mixed in with the foot long grass, so I was glad to have the rubber
boots. I questioned when the rhinos had passed
by this area and wondered if they could be miles ahead of us.
But there
was a little trick up Jackson’s sleeve.
He cupped his hands around his mouth and made a bird-like call. He explained that this was how the rangers
communicated with each other without alarming the rhinos, as they would think
it was just birds singing. We heard an
answer back, that was a bit different to Jackson’s call, and this was confirmation
that the other ranger knew where the rhinos were. Jackson heard another ranger behind us and
attempted to relay the information with a slightly different bird call.
Sure
enough, we saw a few rhinos in the distance amongst the spread-out trees in the
swampy area. It turns out that it wasn’t
by luck that we found the rhinos. Every
day one ranger is tasked with following a family of rhinos for the duration of
the day. He’s the one that communicates
with other rangers to let them know the general vicinity of where they should
be heading.
Yes, I had
seen them up close and personal the night before and outside my room in the
morning, but this was pretty cool to see them in their environment, with
nothing protecting us. Sure, we could jump
behind a tree if they charged, but most of the trees in this area would have likely
succumbed to rhino charge. We followed
the group of six for about half an hour and after becoming used to being
relatively close to them, my biggest worry was stepping in a hole in the water
and getting a boot full of swamp water.
Near the
end of our visit with the rhinos, a herd of cows were passing nearby. Jackson explained that the sanctuary allowed
local ranchers to bring their cattle in as they helped to keep the grass short. Rhinos have big, heavy heads and don’t like
to lift them if they have to, plus their eyes are close to their mouths so long
grass will increase the chance of them getting poked in the eye with long grass. An interesting fact that Jackson mentioned is
that an adult rhino needs to eat 60-80 kilograms of grass a day! That’s a full time job plus some of eating.
It was fun
rhino trek, but yes, my experience the night before with the close encounter of
the galloping pair of rhinos and the fact that a family slept outside of my
room kind of took the cake. But still,
what a cool place.
Keep up the
good work Ziwa!
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