We have been lucky in our two years here, to have seen black rhino 3 times in the wild.
On this Manuscript Monday, I’m revising a travel essay for publication, about what it was like to track a black rhino on foot, with a couple of guides. It was frighteningly easy to do, and makes you realize just how easy it is for poachers as well.
Last year, in South Africa alone, over 1,200 rhinos (white and black combined) were killed for their horns. Horns are made of keratin−the same substance in our hair and our fingernails−and have an active black market because some idiots still mistakenly believe those horns possess magic powers and healing properties.
Back to the final touches on this black rhino essay for me, but not before leaving you with a photo of one of the beautiful rhinos we were lucky enough to see…once upon a somewhere, in Africa.
Love, MarLa
What an incredible animal!
We’ve had some very close run-ins with the temperamental black rhino, tracking them on foot must’ve been thrilling!