Rhino's!

Graham needed to go back to Maun to pack and ship his printer back to South Africa, so we decided best make a road trip out of the long drive and include Zimbabwe in the mix. It’s about 12-14 hours from Johannesburg to Maun give or take allowing time at boarders and rest stops/photo opportunities. Music playing, bad singing and lots of junk food we hit the road. On route we passed and stopped for a tacky tourist photo opportunity at the post for the Tropic of Capricorn.





This long drive isn’t ever boring, we pass herds and herds of cows and horse crossing our path, and wiz past old and current gold mine dumps. African children in school uniforms making the long trek under the hot african sun from their villages unseen from the road to their school. Family’s on an outing. And flocks of Ostrich. Yes Ostrich! all make for wonderful reasons to stop, stretch and take it all in.




















Because of the long haul we decided to break it up and spend the night at the Khama Rhino Sanctuary just outside of Serowe. This humble place was magnificent. A perfect half way mark. And having been in the city for a month I was relieved to be in the “bush” albeit small, and pale in comparison to Moremi, I was still hearing the song of birds and insects and wind in the trees providing a calmness and re-energizing my soul.

I hadn’t seen a Rhino yet. There were none in Moremi. Sadly they had all been poached out of Botswana and were on the verge of extinction. With three left in Moremi the Botswana government relocated them into the Rhino sanctuary to start breeding them and are slowing being reintroduced into the delta. And yes, poaching is illegal.


It was an amazing afternoon. In such a short span of time I managed to see four animals I hadn’t yet seen. The Eland, a beautiful antelope and the largest antelope in the world.

Spring Bucks, similar to an impala but with beautiful white markings.


















A Kori bustard bird, the largest flying bird.











And last but not least the magnificent white Rhino. As the hot sun was setting and the desert dust blowing a thin layer of dust onto our sweaty bodies we came across a magnificent scene. In a small pan of water were rhino, impala, and zebra all mingling around with each other. As they ran, and played they’re hooves disturbed what sand the wind hadn’t yet stirred and left a mystic trail behind. It was absolutely stunning and provided for an incredible opportunity for photos.