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This Rhino was seen not 500 metres outside Skukuza camp gates on Tuesday the 20th Feb this year.
It seemed fairly nervous and didn't hang around long.
Please excuse the green tinge on the one but it was shot through the back window of the car as I was not sure at that stage if he was going to come out onto the road or retreat back into the bush.

Hi guys,

Just a quick question. Why are there no Black Rhinos in Kgalagadi ? Are there any plans to introduce them in the near future ? I asked Jannie this question when we were there in May, and he could not answer me either. He agreed that the Kgalagadi was perfect for black rhinos, but did not know if there were plans to indroduce them.

Any comments will be appreciated.

Is there enough food in drought years to support them?

When we were there in May we asked one of the rangers the same question. His answer was that they did not think Rhino were naturally occuring in that area and thus there were no plans to introduce them.
I would think they would do well there - after all, look at etosha, they have both black and white rhino, so it is surely a bit odd that they are not naturally occuring in Kgalagadi.

During my time here I've realized that not all the historically or naturally occurring animals in the arid region make sense. For example I've wondered why elephants are not a historical inhabitant of the Augrabies area even though the desert elephant in Namibia can survive in worse conditions?

Also hippos apparently occurred in this section of the Orange river, even though I've not seen much suitable grass for them to eat. There's even an area nearby called Zeekoeisteek for crying out loud...but no hippos to be seen. (zeekoei is hippo in Afrikaans)

And even though this was a Kgalagadi question, I'll just say that there are definite plans to reintroduce black rhinos at Augrabies - our original population was moved out a few years ago. A habitat study is currently underway in a different section of the park from where they were before to determine suitability.

I have to agree with you there. I'm pretty sure Black Rhino must have occured naturally many moons ago.

I thought Black Rhino had been reintroduced to Augrabies recently too. Now at least I know why I could not find them in May.....

In my humble opinion I think it would add a lot to the park to introduce rhino. But hey - what the hell do I know ?!!!??!?

I suppose the crucial question is whether or not the animal occurred historically in a certain area. If the criteria would be: is it a suitable ecosystem or can the animal survive, than many more animals could be introduced in any number of parks. With the prominent river (and sidestreams) of the Orange flowing through Augrabies it would not be a stretch to introduce nyala or waterbuck, but no way did they occur here originally.

I think SANParks is aiming to create an as historically accurate environment in their parks, only keeping or introducing those animals and plants which originally inhabited that given area. I must say I would agree with such a policy.

When I visited in 2000 a ranger at TR told us about a sighting of a lone elephant bull north of Nossob! Apparently when the rangers told the visitor who reported the sighting that he probably saw something else he responded: I know the difference between an elephant and a gemsbok: this was an elephant . They tracked him again by plane and found his body in Botswana, north of the park. They reckoned this ellie ventured down from the Moremi area down south during the wet season surviving on the little water he found on his route. As soon as the dry season arrived, the disorientated animal was bound to die.

Sorry to interupt this discussion!
I was wandering in which of the following parks (If I missed any please add) would be best for spotting Black Rhino in South Africa?

Kruger National park
Karoo National Park
Augrabies National Park
Vaalbos National Park
Marakele National Park
Madikwe Game Reserve
Pilanesberg Game Reserve
Addo Elephant Park
Mountain Zebra National Park

Thanks

Kruger National park - never seen one in 20 visits
Karoo National Park - are seen on the 4x4 trail
Augrabies National Park - they are on the northern bank of the park and the tourist area is the southern bank
Vaalbos National Park - does not exist any more - try Mokale NP
Marakele National Park - ?
Madikwe Game Reserve -?
Pilanesberg Game Reserve - not a SANPark
Addo Elephant Park - was at Addo 4 weeks ago and went to the floodlit waterhole in the main camp on the nights that the black rhino did not, and vice versa
Mountain Zebra National Park - My dad saw one there about 6 weeks ago in the evening, near the road, near reception.

Hi RRC-Admin,

Had 3 desperate sightings of Black Rhino in KNP a couple of weeks ago, so I guess your chances are good of finding them there.



3rd one was a bit far for pics.

Hope this helps

Me and my SO were very fortunate to have come across these 2 on the S137 about 50m from the road:

Addo Black Rhino incident this is probably not how one would like to view a Black Rhino. a little too close for comfort.

You mean :



Courtesy of SANParks

I have tried to find out more on the "injury" on its side to post some facts here but I can't .

As far as I know, and I have witnessed this on most of my black rhino sightings(About 20, most in Umfolozi, and some in Pilansberg) they mostly tend to have this sore on them.
In fact if I see this I use it as one of the best ways to check if it is indeed a black rhino.
I was told that it is a parasitic infection that is common to them and they cause the sore by rubbing it.
You will often find it on both sides of the rhino also.

It would be great if somebody who knows more about it could enlighten us.