Wow … we had a close encounter with rhinos yesterday! This happens on a regular basis, of course, but these photos that Jonathan took are particularly beautiful.
You can see that their horns are quite short, and the rhinos will be dehorned soon again, to protect them from poachers. Recently we haven’t had too many problems with poachers, but at the moment rhinos are under massive pressure because of a wave of poaching. Somehow one hopes for an economic crisis in China so that demand drops off, because it is the silliest thing ever: rhino horn is chemically the same as a finger nail, and has NO medical benefits whatsoever. Still, rhino horn is worth more than gold these days, and gold isn’t cheap at the moment. Poor rhinos, why can’t humans just leave them be?
It is so rewarding though to see them do so well on our reserve, and the rhino mothers are very successful at raising rhino cubs here. Their numbers have been going up over recent years, and the introduction of the super rare black rhino will only add to the excitement.
These rhinos here are “white rhinos”, though they are of the same color as “black rhinos”. Here the link to my blog story that explains that conundrum:
http://www.vuyanilodge.com/safariblog/rhino-spotted-yesterday-near-the-vuyani-safari-lodge/
