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Walking with Rhinos
It is rather like walking with Dinosaurs
Rhinoceros are very much like scaled down dinosaurs, scaly armoured tanks on legs. They are members of the perissodactyl species, odd-toed ungulates. Rhinocaros means nose-horned, very dinosaur like in name also. Two species of Rhino exist in Africa, with subspecies arising in local communities, so-called black and white Rhino.
I have never seen then in the wild before and I am on a return trip to south east Africa, overlanding as it is called, through four countries, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania into Zanzibar. Early morning we drive into Matobo National Park aboard a large overland vehicle driven by Andy, our guide for the day. He informs us very early on to do exactly as he says and that he is carrying (a gun) so we will not be harmed, but not to put the animals in danger by behaving badly in the first place. It makes complete sense. We want to see wild living animals and not be the reason they must be shot. He talks of how he had to recently shoot a number of male baboons that had been fed by tourists, all blatantly ignoring warning signs. It made the animals too brave and demanding and they were becoming a risk to some tourists. Shooting the older more risky males saved the rest of the troop, but he asked that the signs of ‘please do not feed the animals’ be replaced by ‘if you feed the animals they will be shot’.
