A New Little Charge

After being off the property for a period of time each of us likes to go on a short drive, as soon as possible, to reacquaint ourselves with this wild world. This usually takes the form of having a sundowner on the Banyini or at one of the nearby pans. I did exactly that and was delighting in the company of a couple of white rhinos that had come to drink. In the distance another rhino was making her way to the water, but then I noticed a little smudge of grey behind her.

The smudge was her newborn calf, still sporting a little stump of umbilical cord. The mother was extremely protective of her little boy and warded off the other rhinos that tried to inspect the newcomer. With ears flattened and aggressive displays she made sure the overbearing relatives were kept at bay. She directed her baby safely to the water’s edge, and there she drank for a long time.

After the baby settled amid this exciting new environment it began to suckle, and he too enjoyed a long drink. She ushers her son to safety, and drinks thirstily while he suckles.

But then it was time for the little one to explore his surroundings… It was adorable to see how he tried to copy his mom and echo her moves. Of course he was far too young to drink water but he tottered over to the water’s edge and wet his lips. But then his feet, that looked way too big for his body, got wet for the first time and he didn’t know what to do about this dilemma. He stood there waving one foreleg about in the air not daring to put it down in the wet stuff again. It was absolutely adorable and endearing.

A heart stopping moment (for me) was when the calf scrambled up from the edge of the water and tottered over to an adult rhino that had been inching over all the while. The mom was caught off guard for a moment as the adult sniffed the baby and laid the lethal weapon of its horn on the baby’s forehead. But in a flash mom swung round and charged at the intruder, sending it and the other rhinos scattering in a cloud of dust.