The scary thing is that in my lifetime, 95 per cent of the world's rhinos have been killed."
- Mark Carwardine
Wednesday evening , February 12th - It’s a 6 hour drive from the North end of the reserve to the South gate. We are in Berg-En-Dal Camp near the South entrance. We wanted to preposition ourselves for the travel day on Thursday to Johannesburg. The city lies another 5-6 hour drive south.
We anticipated a pleasant drive, a last Safari before leaving the reserve. It has been 12 days in the bush and we are ready for the next portion of the trek. Hopefully this one will involve clean clothes, better bathrooms, and relatively free of wandering Baboons.
The weather has cleared. For the drive it was mostly cloudy and cool. Good animal viewing weather. Colleen has been a little under the weather, but the drives always makes her feel better and she served as a spotter.
(No, she was not on the hood of the car, but I did ask her to try it)
We were treated to a number of great encounters including a large ‘memory’ (Another great collective noun) of Elephants and two leopards.
We were nearing the end of the long drive when on the right in an open field I saw them. Two beautiful male White Rhinos. The rain had washed them clean of dust and mud. Their grey sides looked shiny. They were really close to the side of the road so we pulled over to watch alone in our enjoyment.
Gradually the two of them grazed toward the road. They got so close I could have reached out of the car and touched it’s long graceful horn.
I did not do that.
Here is a brief film of the encounter.
After the elephant tagged us a number of days ago we were a little nervous as they got close. But they just snorted a little and turned away.
I was deliriously happy with the encounter. Due to the poaching, Rhino encounters are increasingly rare. especially like this when they cross the road right beside our vehicle.
It was a privilege to be there and I thought how tragic it will be when these beautiful animals are no more.
How tragic indeed.
Epilogue -
Then this happened!
And we 'walked' with him for along the road for almost 30 minutes!
In the morning, we drive to Johannesburg. From there, we will take a plane to Port Elizabeth on the coast.
Yes, I realized that after I posted it. But it does show the shape of the park and some impression of the dimensions. It was a leopard, not a cheetah. We did see a cheetah in “The Rhino and the Kill” post. Thanks for commenting !
Fascinating videos ... and so close to the rhinos and cheetah (or jaguar?). Wow. Another great post. I’m sure I would have immersed myself in the map of the reserve for who knows how long (at least 15 minutes, I bet), but sadly, it was too blurry (at least on my phone), to make out any of the text.