Get up close and personal tracking rhinos and Africa’s most threatened animal. After lizards, rhinos are probably the closest thing we have to dinosaurs. With their massive size, protruding horns and armour-like skin you can hardly blame previous visitors to the African continent for getting carried away with their descriptions of these prehistoric creatures. It also might explain why some cultures have attached magical properties to their horns, which are made out of keratin – the same substance as human hair and fingernails. The obsession with their horns is unfortunately what has caused a significant decline in their numbers as poachers become more and more bloodthirsty in Southern Africa, and these days it’s increasingly difficult to spot rhinoceros while on safari.
A great and almost guaranteed way to find these incredible creatures is to sign up for a Rhino Track and Trail excursion. Experienced guides are able to track the rhino in the wild and they will take you along and teach you their ways. While tracking the rhino in the bush you will also learn about the various other fauna and flora that surround you. It’s an incredibly informative and interactive experience, with fascinating information that you can take home to impress your friends.
Our Rhino Track and Trail Guide Dave Waddy had the following to say about the experience:
“There are few game species that attract as much attention these days as a rhino. Particularly when one looks at the statistics of just how many of these wonderful creatures are killed every year. It is, therefore, something terribly special for us in Matobo Hills to be able to offer our guests the opportunity of approaching these prehistoric animals on foot, in their natural surroundings. The white rhino population is in the Matobo National Park, and so our guides take guests by vehicle into the National Park. Once in the Park, we pay the walking fee, and then with the company of the National Parks game scouts, we then set about finding the rhino on foot! Nothing can be quite as exciting and exhilarating as approaching these huge animals on foot. To stop and see where they have rubbed themselves on a tree, which has been polished from years of use or to simply sit quietly and observe the dynamics within the family group. We normally spend anything up to an hour observing the rhino before slipping away leaving them in peace, often asleep by this stage in the shade of a large tree…”
Be sure to book this unique safari experience with Hideaways’ Rhino Track and Trail trip and spend 7 days exploring the diversity of the three most popular and spectacular areas – Matopos, Hwange and Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. See the exquisite beauty of the granite kopjes, the raw wilderness of Hwange National Park, the spectacular spray of the Victoria Falls and the imperilled rhinos.
