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On Foot in the African Bush: Adventures of Safari Guides by Jeff Williams
CHUI SAFARIS
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Black Rhino!
Owen Booysen • Aug 19, 2022
This could have so nearly gone wrong....
Black Rhino! Over 1000Kg of angry, bad tempered muscle (oh, and sharp horn)! Just what you don’t need to have charging towards you.
“Get in behind me and stand still!”
I’m screaming: “Hey! Hey! Hey!” and hitting the back part of the rifle to make a loud noise.
“Stand still and stay behind me!”
The previous evening, we all sat around the boma fire and discussed the walking safari for the next morning.
My guest and I decided to depart from the lodge at 4h00 and enjoy the sunrise at the walking area.
The drive to the walking area is about 45 min and during the drive we will be looking out for some eyes with the spotlight.
We found a chameleon (guides secret) on the way..
We arrived at the walking area, and we sat in the vehicle and talked about the beautiful quietness of the surroundings and how relaxed everything is.
We got off the vehicle once we could see the surroundings and we had a look at some tracks in the road but nothing particularly “WOW” at this stage.
I said to the guest, “let’s just walk to that bush, I know there is a game path, and we can wait there for 10 min and then start”.
We stood there and took some photos of the sunlight approaching over the mountains.
We started the walk and we walked over an erosion area, looking back at the area we walked the previous day, and spoke about the beautiful walk we had had.
We continued the walk, to discover something totally unexpected, 5 minutes from where we had just been talking …
I looked to my right, in my peripheral view, in an angle behind us, I saw movement, it was a small brown bush that became large, had 4 legs, and was blowing like a dragon.
The bush came alive…
“Black Rhino!”, I said to my guest.
With my right arm extended I indicated to my guest where he should go.
“Get in behind me, stand still!”
Before you know it, the Black Rhino (Hooked Lip Rhinoceros) started advancing forward towards us with aggressive, snorting behaviour.
“Get in behind me and stand still!”
I’m screaming: “Hey! Hey! Hey!” and hitting the back part of the rifle to make a loud noise.
“Stand still and stay behind me!”
“Hey! Hey! Hey! Go! Go! Go!”
The Black Rhino closed the distance very quickly.
I know my guest well and knew he would trust me to handle this, and he would stay behind me and not run.
Running is the worst thing to do and would draw attention to my guest and away from me.
At least I knew I could focus on the Rhino and the guest would have my back.
The Rhino stopped and smashed a small shrub in front of me and turned to our left and ran off snorting.
I turned to the guest, only to see two legs and two arms up in the air. My guest had become a Tortoise on his back, I moved over to him quickly to give assistance and asked if he was okay and look up to see where the rhino went and asked him again if he was okay. He said yes and asked, “where did the Rhino go?”.
We looked on the ground and saw a small rock, maybe 10 cm x 10 cm, that was out of place and kicked a fair distance. This was the culprit for the fall. If the adrenaline is at a high, lots can happen, and you can land on your **s before you know it. A situation can go pear shaped very quickly.
Very close I said!
The Rhino stopped running but usually a Black Rhino will come back to have a look again, so it is not advisable to just walk off and leave the Rhino to track you.
I saw the Rhino walking towards us with his head up and pointed it out to the guest.
“Hey, come on move on Mr Rhino!” I shouted to the Rhino, and he turned and jogged off.
We stood still for a while and absorbed the adrenaline.
We looked at where the Rhino was sleeping before we continued on the walk. No matter what, we would have never seen the Rhino sleeping in that spot.
When we first saw the Rhino it was just 10m away, and this just shows how well large animals can be hidden.
The Rhino had advanced to about 3m before turning away.
Less than 2 seconds but enough adrenaline to last the entire day.
This was a once in a lifetime experience and thank you to my guest for making it such an amazing experience.
Look at how he is digging out the dry grass to get to the roots. Grass will store some nutrients in the roots and as the day length increases the grass will use these nutrients for the first flowering of the season. Elephants however know this and will dig out the roots. Elephants need to consume a large amount of vegetation in the drier season to maintain their health. It has been months since I did my last safari, before the lockdown started in SA. It has been 146 days of lockdown now with Inter- provincial travel to re-open, hopefully soon. It has been a long and hard few months. When I drove to the reserve I was as excited as I was when I just started to guide 11 years ago. Every safari my excitement is almost the same as a young boy before his birthday who can't wait to open his birthday presents. Now, I am back on game drive and what a shock to the system, it's so dry and very little grass and leaves left for the animals to eat. This is one of the realities of the dry season. The dry season ( June, July, August) is not a birders favourite time of year because the migration birds are yet to arrive but for a Cat lover it is a very good time of the year. With the foliage minimum, grass short and not a lot of hiding space, the cats do tend to be more visible to a human’s eyes. Believe it or not, in the dry season with everything being so dull brown and grey, African Elephants weighing average 6 tons can disappear so easily. This is why safari is amazing, every day is a new day, every drive you see something different, every walk you smell something else.
A piece reflecting the effects of Covid-19 on tourism both in South Africa and around the world. Please click the link to read.
“Isn't walking in the bush dangerous?”
That's one of the ways to experience wildlife here at Chui Safaris. We have several walking areas where we can walk in the Pilanesburg National Park. Three of these areas are situated in the untouched wilderness area of the Park. You never know what will be waiting for you around the next corner, for instance this morning... We were walking along a deep drainage line when all of sudden a big Buffalo bull appeared. We spotted him before he noticed us, this gave us time to take cover which enable us to view him from a safe distance. After a while he noticed something unusual in his surroundings and based on his body language I decided to leave the dugga boy. Buffalo can be unpredictable so we did not want to over-stay our welcome. After we left the Buffalo we continued on our journey to see what other excitement nature has to offer.
Getting Ready