Capturing Rhino!

Bonamanzi is looking to have more animals on there reserve and another reserve is looking to get ride of it’s rhino and buffalo so Wednesday Suzie and I got to go help capture rhino and relocate them to Bonamanzie

There were three rhino’s that need to be relocated 2 female adults and 1 calf. We arrived at the reserve at 4:00am and split into 2 groups me and Ewerd, a guide at Bonamanzi, and Suzie went with Rebecca, the other guide at Bonamanzi, We drove around the reserve trying to see any sign of rhino or rhino tracks while a helicopter also flew around looking.

The guys in the helicopter spotted it first and darted it with a tranquilizer. We headed over to where they landed to make sure it was laying correctly and had not fallen in a bad position. This rhino had fallen to one side and we needed to turn it over. The tranquilizer does not put them to sleep but just makes them very groggy so the rhino can still walk and hear but doesn’t have the energy to charge us. Four of us gathered round the rhino pushing it onto its feet as they tied a rope around its mouth and blind folded it so it would be less dangerous and more relaxed. We then had to steer it into the trailer by pushing against it when it stepped too far left or right. A few times the rhino backed up and almost stepped on us but we were quick enough to get out of the way and with in 10 min she was loaded into the trailer and we were off to find the next one. All of this has to be done quickly because if they leave the tranquilizer in the rhino too long it will die.

About an hour later we spotted the calf with its mother. They darted the calf and then used sirens to scare off the mother. The trailer was not big enough for them both so they had to take one at a time. This time we had to be even quicker as the mother was around and she was extremely angry so it was a very dangerous situation. They also had to implant a transmitter in the calf to monitor where it was so they could drop the mother off near it when they captured her. This is done by drilling a hole in the horn and implanting it there. This does not hurt the calf as the horn is made up of the same thing as our fingernails are. It all went smoothly with the calf but we ran out of daylight so unfortunately had to leave the mother and they will capture her tomorrow.

It was amazing to touch the rhino’s they have incredibly soft ears but the skin on their bodies is like super tough leather. Both of them were also covered in mud, as rhino’s like to wallow, and hundreds of ticks. The ticks were all grouped in clusters, one cluster on the but was about the size of my hand. It was gross and I had to watch where I put my hands when pushing the rhino.

After all this amazing stuff we got to ride back to the lodge in the helicopter that they used to dart the rhino’s. That was the cherry on top.
Only downside I never had my camera with.