Picture of a White Rhinoceros taken Sep 1998 in Zambia with a Disposable Kodak Camera ( Piece of advice: never go wild life photography with a Disposable Camera. That is my one regret of my 1998 Africa Tour.)
Rhinos are my favourite animals. l love to start arguments with my son, whose favourite is the elephant, by telling him that ‘rhinos are better than elephants’, which everyone knows is true. He makes a riled up face that so adorable.
What’s not to love? They are very unique. Nothing looks like a rhino. They are the 2nd largest land animal, which make then so powerful yet, due to poaching, they are also so vulnerable. (I will come back to that in part 2.) They are cranky and don’t take any guff from anyone. (That is why a group of rhinos is called a crash.) They are a ‘keystone’ species for their environment. They can survive on low quality plants because they their guts are so big. This allows a rhino’s stomach the time it needs to absorb more nutrients. Then the rhino’s dung fertilizes the growth of higher quality grass that the other animals need to survive. It’s all connected. You see, it’s amazing!
There are 5 species of rhinos; the White, Black, Indian, Javenese and Sumatran. I have seen the Black during my 2nd African trip, and then only from a distance. I couldn’t get a close up photo of it to my disappointment. However, during my 1st African trip, after a long canoe trip on the Zambezi river, there was a a White rhino staring at us from 50 meters away where our canoes came out of the water. We were then taken on a game drive and saw five more Whites. This time we got within 3 or 4 meters. It was probably the best wildlife picture I took on that trip with my disposable camera. Did you know that each of those White rhinos had a bodyguard with a AK45!?! Rhinos are so cool that they have their own possy!
One of the main reasons that I had my honeymoon in Borneo was that I hoped to see and get a picture of the Sumatran Rhino. To my great disappointment, I did not see any as they are now so rare. I still want to go back to Borneo and marvel at one. I just hope the poachers will allow me the chance to be amazed by the Sumatrans and their 4 cousins.
What is your favourite wild animal? Let me know in the comments below.
Thanks! And, until next time, remember to ‘Go Wild!’