Black Rhino in the Wild

 We got up early and Nick decided he needed a break from the bumpy roads. So after a 6:30 am breakfast, Charles, Esther and I set out. Just outside camp we saw a herd of 15 Hartmans Mountain Zebra galloping along. They looked like wild stallions in an old Western. Charles said they have a white belly and are endemic to Namibia. He kept exclaiming oh my so we knew this was special. 

A short time later we picked up Zuma the tracker from the Save the Rhino Trust and Sargent Sam from the police. They rode with us to try to find the black rhinos who are very difficult to spot in the wild. Within a few minutes, Zuma spotted a giraffe. It was far away in the distance on a hill. Then we found some elephants. Apparently these are more aggressive than the ones in the riverbed we saw yesterday. 

After a bit more driving, Zumba spotted a rhino. It was over a mile away. It looked like a speck of dust to me, but he was able to spot it with his naked eye. We drove closer and met up with another safari vehicle. Zuma led everyone but me up a steep rocky hill to get a closer look. Charles drove me around the side of the hill where we actually got closer to her than Zuma’s  group. I regretted not taking the binoculars but could get a pretty good look by enlarging my camera lens. We rejoined the group and Zuma described how this was Twende, a 9-year old female. He had recorded information about her in a small book. He said there are 6 rhinos he has recorded, but they know there are more than that but don’t make the number public. Twende was dehorned, and Zuma said they dehorn all the rhinos every five years to discourage poaching. Meanwhile, Sam sat with his rifle at the ready the whole time. We stopped and looked at some fresh rhino dung and tracks, but we didn’t see any more rhinos. 

We did see a kudo, some steenbock who were very well camouflaged, and an oryx. We dropped off Zuma and Sam and thanked them for sharing this experience and their knowledge with us. We returned in time for lunch and will meet Charles for sundowners later.