World Rhino Day is in September every year, September 22 to be exact. Initiated in 2010 by the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) South Africa, World Rhino Day was meant to be away of drawing attention to the plight of South Africa’s rhinos as poaching levels began increasing exponentially, in this country as well as throughout the rest of Africa.
Although the numbers of poached rhinos continued to rise over the following years, particularly in South Africa itself, there is light at the end of the tunnel, in that 2015 saw the first decrease in the number of poached rhinos since the crisis first began in 2007. The number of animals lost was still unacceptably high, but given the number of deaths over the preceding few years, it did seem that things had turned in the right direction.
A white rhino bull marks his territory on one of his many middens. Photograph by James Tyrrell
A white rhino calf lunges for high ground to avoid being squashed by its mother in a wallow. Photograph by James Tyrrell
Currently, men and women all over Africa are risking their lives to protect the remaining black and white rhinoceroses, and indeed in the Kruger Park and surrounds, anti-poaching teams are on a 24hr vigil. Hear hear – we salute them!
Rich Laburn is filmmaker, photographer and writer who is based at Londolozi Game Reserve in South Africa. Spending his time capturing scenes of the wild and communicating the beauty of the African bushveld, he runs the Londolozi Blog as a way to entertain and engage people wishing to visit these wild lands.
