Take a Walk on the Wild Side this World Rhino Day

On the instructions from your Save the Rhino Trust Namibia (SRT) guide, you are walking slowly, but with purpose. Through the rugged landscape of otherworldly Namibian desert, step by step the anticipation builds, ducking behind rocks and shrubs. Getting low to the ground as you approach, trying to merge with your surroundings. And then it happens … your heart stops and you hold your breath to make as little noise as possible. Mere feet ahead of you, is the object of your affection. The prehistoric-looking wonder that in another age might have been a ‘rhinosaurus ’!

The Critically Endangered desert-adapted black rhino.

"When I first saw one of these beasts emerge out of a gully, its horns and pointed ears just visible above the white-gold grass, it seemed more like a dinosaur, a kind of triceratops, than a modern-day mammal. On the spot I renamed it Rhinosaurus biceratops". Author David Bristow

Rhinoceros:
/rʌɪˈnɒs(ə)rəs/
A large, heavily built herbivorous mammal, with one or two horns on the nose and thick folded skin, native to Africa and southern Asia. All sub-species have become endangered through hunting, and poaching for their horn.

Viewing black rhino in the wild is sadly a rare opportunity, but one we are thrilled to share with everyone who visits Wilderness Desert Rhino Camp. The experience of tracking rhino on foot is what makes this camp extra special. In the company of our expert guides you are driven into the astonishing, boulder-strewn Palmwag wilderness to meet up with the rhino “guardians” from SRT. A group of rangers dedicated to protecting these imperilled animals.

Driving through the otherworldly terrain to where a rhino was last spotted, once in its vicinity you are briefed on protocols. Off the vehicle you’re in for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Getting up-close and personal with these great creatures while respecting their space at the same time. Unobtrusive. Minimal disturbance is key. Rhinos have poor eyesight but their smell and hearing is almost unrivalled. As a result you’re led quietly around boulders and shrubs, downwind, so you can witness this marvel.

The camp serves as a base for one of SRT’s tracking and monitoring teams, with most of the operational costs covered by Wilderness. SRT is responsible for leading all rhino tracking and monitoring activities, while ensuring threat data is collected, processed, and secured. In addition to generating the largest, longest-running black rhino database in the world, the partnership has also enabled SRT to successfully increase its monitoring range by 20% – at zero extra cost to the organisation. Approximately 11% of the total Desert Rhino Camp revenue is shared between the camp’s neighbouring conservancies, SRT, and other rhino fundraising supporters.

2022 marks the tenth annual World Rhino Day. And we celebrate the 19th year of our Wilderness Desert Rhino Camp and Save the Rhino Trust partnership, protecting this precious species. Come and visit us and make a meaningful contribution to protecting this special animal.