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An unexpected encounter

on Jun 18, 2019

Before setting out on afternoon safari, my tracker Sydney, and I were discussing what our game plan would be for the drive and decided that we were going to try and find a White Rhino and her 2-month old calf. After a delicious high tea, my guests and I made our way to the vehicle where Sydney and I informed our guests of our plan and they were excited to try and find the little lady and her mom. We set off from Selati Camp and not long after, another vehicle had spotted them, so we made our way to the area. They were walking through some long grass, but their general direction was a waterhole not far away, so we kept our distance as we noticed the little one was a bit un-easy with the long grass, so we waited in the distance in an open clearing. The young calf settled down once they arrived in the clearing and became very playful, running around but never straying far from mom.

01Kevin Van Der Linde White Rhino And Calf 15062019 Sigma 70 200 F2.8 Final

They were making their way along a road that led to the waterhole when one of the guests shouted “lions”! I could feel my stomach drop as one of the young male lions stood up and kept an eye on the rhino calf. The mother sensed danger and she stood motionless, facing in the direction of the lions but she did not charge in their direction, so I wondered if she had even seen them at all or just heard some movement in the grass behind her. She turned around and they started moving again, but this time the calf stayed right in front of her, never straying more than a few centimetres from her mom. By now both lions had gotten up and were trailing the 2 rhino, so we headed down to the waterhole and waited on the opposite bank from where they were approaching.

Whilst sitting there waiting, I was constantly thinking about how I would feel or what I would do if the lions would try to catch the little one, for them it is just another meal but for us it is something much more especially being such a vulnerable animal in terms of their population. To take down a rhino would be very risky for the lions though as the mother would defend her calf with everything she has, and an angry mother is not something many would like to mess with. By now the rhino were busy having a drink when we saw the 2 lions approaching from the bushes, but to our relief the one lion decided rather to have a drink too and the scene was quite surreal. Rhino in one corner and a lion in the other.

After the drink, the rhino slowly moved off and the lions were not walking too far away but in a different direction, more in the direction of a herd of buffalo we could hear in the distance. It was a heart-stopping sighting at first, but a special one in the end as having predator and prey drinking from the same source at the same time is a sight that doesn’t come around too often.

  • Blog by Kevin van der Linde (Selati Camp Ranger)
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