Black Rhino

My only encounter with black rhinos was when I was hunting white rhinos in the North Cape of South Africa. I also had Capes, Lions, and a cheetah on that Safari.

HH
 
I only saw white rhinos. The landowner told me that corrupt government officials sell information about the rhinos' locations to poachers. As a result, he lost his entire herd of four rhinos. When he discovered their bodies, he was so devastated that he said he would have shot the poachers on sight.

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One of the most awful things I've seen was the aftermath of a rhino cow poached for its horn. Its calf was crying and trying to nurse with its dead mother. Ugly, ugly.
 
So many great experiences here! It makes me even more excited about my safari even though I had to postpone
I had a good call with my PH and during the call he just about guaranteed that I’ll see all of the Big 5! He said the Lion, Elephant, and Buff are going to be seen every day and we’ll probably bump a Black Rhino or two. The most difficult he said would be Leopard.
He then asked if I could come up four or five days before the hunt and he said we would just BS around the camp fire but could go game spotting during the day and do Sundowners at night over water where he recently took a client on and 92 Elephant, 40 Buffalo, 3 Black Rhino, and 2 leopard hit the water!!!
He said we would go track a Black Rhino which he said is crazy fun as they have incredible hearing and sense of smell but poor eye sight. He said they are in the thickest nasty brush so when you are tracking them you will eventually come up on them at 10 yards or so!
The stories here and his make me so much more disappointed that I had to push the hunt due to this damn ankle!
Oh well it will be even sweeter when I get there in 26!
 
I first went to Africa in 2000 for two and a half years. I think my last count I’ve been to 27 national parks and conservancy’s. So I’ve seen the big five. Of all those sightings the best was not a big five but wild dog in Hwange Nat park.
Any wild animal seen out side of a Nat park is great but getting rarer. Of those I’ve seen cheetah in Kenya and one night heard lions way up Maralal while camping off the road. That was really neat.
In my opinion any rhino seen these days is very special.

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White ones in SA
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I saw a lot of tracks of black rhinos, but I have never been able to see one in real.

The first time, it was in a big private farm along the Nyae-Nyae conservancy in Namibia where rhinos were placed by the government. I don't remember how many black rhinos there was in that farm but tracks were everywhere. That farm also had the biggest population of leopards I have never seen. We also saw tracks everywhere and everyday. It was in that farm where I was able to see my first leopard, a female, in the daylight. That place was a true heaven with a great management. When we stalked plains game, my PH told me if there was a rhino charge, run ! He told me, it happenned to him a couple of times.

The second time, it happenned in a farm along Etosha. A black rhino escaped from the park, because elephants broke the fence few days before my arrival, and the black rhino arrived on the farm where I was hunting. People from the park spent a lot of time patroling on the farm to locate the animal, and bothered us. Despite a lot of walk and glassing from hills, we never spotted the rhino with my PH despie we crossed its tracks several times a day. But when rangers located it, they called the helicopter to dart the animal and to transfert it into the park. I saw the helicopter very far away, but not the animal. I heard Pohamba Chifeta was there.

I saw a lot of white rhinos but they were not wild at all.
 
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Interesting book. Unfortunately, the international trade in illegal wildlife is a multi-billion dollar industry.

In China and Vietnam, rhino horn sells for more than $40,000 per kilo, which is greater than the price of heroine. Rhino horn is allegedly an aphrodisiac in many oriental cultures but actually its nothing more than hair that is very similar to our fingernails. Similar beliefs for tiger bones and bear gall bladders.

Another tragedy of these poaching operation like the illegal drug trade is that the actual local impoverished poacher receives almost nothing for the stolen animal and trophy. The people at the top profit.

Please read this book or similar literature if you get a chance - Eye-opening and very interesting. Happy hunting to all, TheGrayRider a/k/a Tom.
 

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That's a wrap, on our first hunt of this years season.

Hunting conditions are a bit tougher in South Africa during the month of February, but can be just as rewarding if done right.
James Friedrichs wrote on Dangerous Dave's profile.
can you send some pics of the 2.5-10 zeiss. I can't click on the pics to see the details. You noted some scratches. thx.
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9-25 June
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Remember I will be in the USA for the next 16 days , will post my USA phone number when I can get one in Atlanta this afternoon!
I am on my way to the USA! will be in Atlanta tonight! loving the Wifi On the Delta flights!
 
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