Letting Nature Be.
Natalie
Yesterday, we went on a long drive up the mountain! We stayed there for lunch, making it a solid 7-hour game drive (with a few stretching breaks outside the car). We got to see the rhino that live up at the top, whose horns are much longer than the rhino who live at the base of the mountain because they’re older. One of the cows has a very young calf who we watched for a bit. This calf is younger than the calf at the base, and a bit more playful. She play-fought with another, older calf, who seemed so patient and gentle with her. Kalie, our guide, explained that this play and interaction is vital to how the calf will grow up. It made me think about orphaned rhinos, and how there is no way to replace these interactions.
I find it funny that rhino calves nurse until they are 16 months old and quite large. We saw one of these larger calves nursing, and its mother had to lie down to give it access to her teats. This also means that calves need their mothers for a very long time—even though they are weaned at 16 months, they can stay with their mothers for years, until they have another calf.
On our way down the mountain, we spotted a Cycad plant (well, Kalie spotted it). Kalie explained that these plants, which only grow a centimeter per year, are poached to use as ornaments and very few are left.
I wish everyone had the opportunity to enjoy rhino living happily and with their horns, as nature intended, in their natural habitats. It would be so easy to save them if everyone was as touched by them as I am. Unfortunately, I can only share how I feel about these rhino, and hope that others will join me in helping them.