February 3, 2019

We were looking for fun/interesting things to do on the weekend relatively close by. Robin found a Rhinoceros Sanctuary about 2.5 hours North of Nakaseke. We decided that would be the perfect day trip activity for the weekend.

On Sunday we left at the crack of dawn, got a ride to Wobulenzi and grabbed a taxi headed north. The ride was about 3 hours as the taxi van stopped multiple times to pick up people in various towns and along the road. When we arrived at the road leading to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, we got out of the taxi and jumped on bodas that took us into the park. When we got there was a warthog hanging out by a picnic table, monkeys playing in trees and kudos grazing nearby. After eating a quick snack, we began our Rhino Trek.

We joined a small group consisting of 2 guys from Finland and an American couple. We walked a short time before reaching the first rhinos. There was a mother and her 6 month old baby laying in the shade of some low trees and shrubs. We hung around the shrubs, keeping quiet and gazing at these huge animals.

Shortly after we walked for a little longer and saw 3 more rhinos; a mom, her baby and another young one. We learned that the mothers keep their kiddos around for up to 2 years, or until they have another baby, whichever comes first. This mother adopted this other young rhino, as she was pregnant and knew that she would soon have to kick her young one out on his own. This way when she had her baby, the two young ones would head off together. Additionally when mothers have babies, they typically take them around to the other rhinos to introduce them and socialize them. I thought those facts were really sweet. These animals are very smart and seem to be very family/group oriented.

Towards the end of our trek, we ran into a group of small monkeys. They ran directly in front of us, checking us out as they ran past. The guide was explaining a local tree when we were interrupted by the monkeys making a raucous, playfully fighting.

We learned a ton of fun facts along the way…

• Rhinos were declared extinct in Uganda in the 1980’s; last one was seen in 1983.
• Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary only has white rhinos. White rhinos are less aggressive thank black rhinos. However, white rhinos will still charge you if they feel threatened but often stop short, just to scare you.
• The names white and black rhino has nothing to do with their coloring. White rhinos have wider mouths. There was a translation error between the Dutch (who originally named them WIDE rhinos) and other English speakers (who thought they were saying WHITE). So when it came to naming the other type of rhino, they decided to call them black as their lips are more puckered and therefore opposite of white.
• Ziwa has rhinos for Kenya, South Africa and Disney World. They originally started off with a few in the 90’s. They began mating in the early 2000’s. One of the first babies was of a Kenyan father and American mother, they named the baby Obama 🙂
• They currently have 25 rhinos, 5 of which are pregnant. Their goal is to get to 40. Once they hit 40, they will give half of the rhinos to one of the national parks!
• These rhinos are guarded 24/7 to protect them from poachers. To date, they have not had any situations with poachers. They had one incident which was stopped during early planning, thanks to the community’s help.
• Their skin is about 1” thick. They typically move at night. This is because during the day they collect too much heat and it takes them a long time to cool down.
• A rhino’s lifespan is 40-45 years.
• Gestation period is 16 months and they can have up to 12 babies in their lifetime.
• They weigh up to 3 tons.
• If you want to “adopt” a rhino, you can! Who would have thought?! This is one way they help maintain funding for this park. You can do this on their website.
• Another way they receive funding is to auction off naming baby rhinos. Recently a German university won the auction and named the baby Augusto.

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However, the trip back to Nakaseke was less than enjoyable. The majority of taxis and buses were full due to kids going back to school. It took us about 5-6 hours to get home. Overall it was still an awesome way to spend a Sunday. We learned a ton and were able to contribute to a great cause!