Tracking rhinos in Matopos

In Matopos National Park, set off in open 4x4s to go rhino tracking.  The rare white rhino is still killed by poachers for its horn, sold to the Chinese as an aphrodisiac.  This doesn’t make much sense since their horns are made of keratin, like our fingernails, and can be cut off without having to kill the animal, they grow back quite quickly.  This is different than the elephant, whose ivory tusks are attached to the skull and don’t grow back.  Rhinos in this part have had their horns trimmed off to deter poaching and save their lives.

We followed some signs, like big piles of poop and scratching, but had no luck after tramping around in the heat for a couple of hours.  So we gave up for the time being.  On to the burial site of Cecil Rhodes, for whom Rhodesia was named.  South Rhodesia is now Zimbabwe.  Cecil died in Cape Town at the end of the 1800s, but wanted to be buried at this site thousands of miles away, called the View of the World, amazing views of the valleys below and rock formations.  Here there is also a monument to 36 British soldiers killed by the natives due to misinformation.  They fought so bravely that they were not disembowelled as they normally would have been, to release their spirits, but were left intact.  The monument incorporates some relics left from the battle, like stirrups on the horses.

From there climbed to a rock cave with paintings by the San bushmen tribe, that may be up to 60,000 years old, showing the wildlife in the area at the time, giraffes, antelopes and leopards.  Along the bumpy winding roads on the way, we switched off riding in a jumpseat on the bonnet of the truck just for an extra thrill.  A seatbelt would have been nice, I was in fear of a sudden stop and being pitched forward and run over.

Then back to rhino tracking as the day cooled off.  As we drove along a river bank, we spotted a huge mama running into the bush.  We jumped out of the truck to follow silently on foot through the underbrush.  As we approached, our guide made baby rhino noises to calm the crush of rhinos, a mom and two adolescents, total weight maybe 5 tons.  These huge beasts can charge at speeds of up to 40 km per hour, and I was hoping they couldn’t hear my heart racing from a distance of about only 10 meters.  I didn’t want to have to try to stand my ground as they charged, which it seemed like they were going to do several times.  They have terrible eyesight, so we were told not to wear bright colours so they wouldn’t see us, but our guide wanted them to know he was around as they are a little used to him.  White rhinos are actually gray, the same colour as the smaller black rhino, and were misnamed as they were meant to be called Wide rhinos.  One of the differences between the two types is that baby black rhinos follow in back, like black babies carried by their moms, while white rhinos push babies in front like varangus (white people).  We finally left the poor little things alone and retreated to our truck.  On the way the guide and our tour leader stuck a finger in a pile of rhino poop, then sucked on their finger, stating Yum, female rhino, tastes sweet.  The Irish guy in our group followed suit, only to find out that they had stuck in one finger and licked another.   Too funny.  But no harm done, they are vegetarians so eating their poop isn’t dangerous, just kind of disgusting.

After that long day and an hour back to camp in the open 4x4s with the cold wind in our faces, we had a campfire, then early to bed for another early morning and another heart pounding adventure in another park.