Tracking Rhinos and Pythons

Anytime someone visits Africa they always have a favorite animal they want to see.  Many prefer the felines, which tend to be a challenge as there are few cheetahs and leopards anywhere on the continent, and lions can very elusive.  Others, such as my friends, really like the elephants.  But rhinos are one of the most endangered species in Africa.  In fact, it is impossible to find up to date statistics on rhinos because most countries keep those figures a secret due to poaching.

Most people only think of elephants when they hear the word: poaching.  But the truth is that rhino poaching is as much, if not more, of a problem.  In 1900 there were more than half a million black rhinos in Africa.  By 1970 that number had fallen to 70,000 and in 1993 there were only 5,000.  No one is confident of rhino numbers today, but the numbers are likely even lower due to poaching.  Rhino horn can grow up to 8kg and each kilo sells for $50,000.  If someone is suspected of poaching in Africa they can be shot on site, no questions asked.  And this does happen from time to time.  But the poachers are willing to take the risk since the payoff is so high (up to $400,000 in profit from one rhino).  Unfortunately, while technology does allow some parks to keep track of rhinos with microchips, technology can also work against conservation efforts.  Poachers are now using the Internet to track rhinos as GPS information is often available when someone posts a picture online.  In other words, “Look at the rhino I saw today!” translates into a map providing poachers with directions to find that rhino later that same night.

In Botswana we have fewer than 100 rhino and more than half of these are located in one place: the Khama Rhino Sanctuary (KRS).  The Khama Rhino was established in 1992 to protect and breed rhinos.  Since I haven’t had the chance to visit the Rhino Sanctuary previously, I decided to use Ashleigh and Amanda’s visit as an excuse to do so.  The trip proved to be a huge success.  We got to see about a dozen rhino during a game drive, along with plenty of other animals.  There are 47 white rhino and 5 black rhino at KRS:

Thankfully, we also saw zebra at KRS because for whatever reason we did not see them anywhere else during Amanda and Ashleigh’s visit.  I would have felt terrible if they hadn’t seen zebra, especially since it is Botswana’s national animal.  The zebra were right in the middle of the road, so we had a fantastic view:

We also had an up close and personal encounter with a python.  Our guide told us that a python had eaten a goat two days prior to our visit and therefore, “He isn’t hungry, so it is safe for you to get very close to him.  We are going to track him today!”  And track him we did.  Normally, the rule is hard and fast: NEVER get out of your vehicle in a national park with wild animals.  But our guide told us to, so we did.  He saw the marks which indicated the python had been on the move, so we got out of the vehicle and tracked it.  In case you are curious how far away the safari truck was, here is a point of comparison (the game drive vehicle is the little white dot in the distance):

And here is the python, peacefully sleeping after his meal.  Sorry, this is a tough picture, you have to look through the grass and you will see it curled up:

My Visit to Etosha National Park (continued)

Yesterday I mentioned that I visited Etosha National Park in northern Namibia during my camping trip and was fortunate enough to see lions, leopards and cheetahs.  Since I took several great pictures while I was in Etosha I wanted to follow up on my visit a little more.

Anyone who has done a safari has almost certainly seen a giraffe.  I have TONS of shots of giraffes.  BUT, I have never gotten a picture of a giraffe drinking.  And as you can see here, it is a bit of a process as the giraffe must bend its back legs while straddling on his front legs.  This is actually a very dangerous position for the giraffe to be in as he has no peripheral vision, so this stance leaves him vulnerable to predators:

We also saw two impala fighting:

And then there was an elephant taking a bath in some rainwater which was sitting in the middle of the road:

One of the best spots of the day was a black rhino.  We only saw two rhinoceros in the park because they are THAT rare.  There are only about 4,000 rhinos in Africa, but that is a figure from 2008.  Most countries won’t publish their actual rhino numbers because that encourages poachers.  Most people think that elephant poaching in Africa is the problem, but in reality, rhino poaching is much worse.  Poachers hunt the rhino because of their horns.  The typical rhino horn goes for about $50,000 for 1 kilo, with most horns averaging about 8 kilos in total.  Some countries have begun de-horning their rhinos in order to make them less attractive to poachers.  But the horns grow back at a rate of about 8 centimeters a year, and the de-horning process is quite expensive.  Namibia has no plans to de-horn its rhinos for now, but that may change in the future.  Here was the rhino I spotted: