Rhinos galore!!

I was very excited as we drove up to the mountains since around here you don't really know what to expect. All I knew was that there were going to be some hikes and possibilities of seeing white rhino,(Ceratotherium simum), but me being me, I knew there was a slim chance of that. After passing through a few cow gates and seeing a Shummy (Pete's lovely dog), stunt double we made it to the Lesheba gates. Whilst driving up we discussed all the rhino sightings here, and not even five minutes of being inside the reserve I saw a large pointy horn off in the distance. We backed up and sure enough there were two white rhino, and I was smiling like a five year old at Christmas. As we drove closer we saw that in actual fact there were six white rhino grazing in an open area, and to top it off, we witnessed a baby rhino suckle its' mother within spitting distance of us!

When we got to our accommodation it was well fashioned with little huts and multiple fire pits, and these cute clay people who turned into scary clay people during the night when you forget they're clay people!
During our working hours we helped maintain trail paths and pulled out very lovely, but invasive plants until we had to move because the same mother and baby rhino came along.

To finish off our trip we took a hike up to these amazing view points to overlook mountains that stretched out for miles and miles. And if that wasn't enough, our very own Grace was able to get uncomfortably close to quite a large puff adder (Bitis arietans), sizing up to maybe 1.5 metres. All in all we had a fantastic time!

Michael Quinlan, volunteer, USA

Rhinos galore!!