Endangered Giants
In addition to my love of southern Australia’s unique wildlife I am also drawn to the fascinating habitats and creatures of southern Africa; Botswana and Zambia in particular. Occasionally I will post a brief story about these regions.
Dear Reader:
White Rhinos are an endangered species and the opportunity to see them in a wild environment is one not to be missed. The rhino reserve outside Livingstone in Zambia offered us the unique experience of trekking through a bushland habitat while our guide explained many things about its plants and animals with a special emphasis on the behaviour of the small group of white rhinos that live in this area. After a couple of hours he located a solitary male feeding in a clearing.
White Rhino checking a scent
We were close but tactically downwind. Rhinos have a wonderful sense of smell, reasonable hearing but woefully bad eyesight. An irritated animal can be very dangerous and we approached the massive animal with great caution.
White Rhino grazing
The term white in the rhino’s name is thought to be an English misunderstanding of the Africaans word ‘wyd’ which means wide and refers to the rather wide square mouth of this grazing rhino as compared to the narrow, prehensile upper lip of its browsing black rhino cousin.
Guide, Gun and Guests
This rhino sanctuary is one of several places in Africa where these magnificent animals are protected and an armed guard accompanied us on our walk; not to protect us against the rhinos but to ensure that poachers do not further deplete the already dangerously low numbers.
Cheers
Baz
Additional notes
Please pass on this blog title and or contact information (URL) to any person or organisation with an interest in taking walks and enjoying wildlife in SA.
Click on these links and see more South Australian and African stories as well as my Weekend Notes articles. There is also a link to similar blogs on Feedspot’s top 20 Australian wildlife blogs
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