Travels and Birds: Ol Pejeta - Northern White Rhinos

The next morning we headed for the Northern White Rhino Sanctuary. Ol Pejeta is home to the last two Northern White Rhinos left in the world -- ANYWHERE. On the way we made a stop at the Rhino Graveyard where each of local rhinoceros that have been killed or died of natural causes recently is buried. This moving memorial with about 20 gravestones includes one for Sudan, the last remaining male Northern White Rhino who was euthanized just last year. At 45 years old, he was too old and the ladies too weak in the hind legs for him to have impregnated either of them. The plan now is to take the sperm they have saved from Sudan and eggs harvested from the ladies to impregnate 15 Southern White Rhinos they will use as surrogates.

We were taken into the pen with the two ladies where we could approach closely in safety. Their warder did leave the land rover to work with the rhinos and get them to come closer. After spending some time with them, we left that corral to visit Baraka, a blind northern black rhino. We called him by beating on the fence. After a short time, he finally decided to visit us so we could offer him some food.

As we left the Rhino Sanctuary, we also saw a couple of Oryx. The white underbelly helps reflect the heat to the sand in Namibia where we also saw these animals.

On our way back to camp we stopped to take a lengthy look at a Whistling Thorn Acacia. The plant has a symbiotic relationship with some ants who live quietly among the thorns. The ants stay out of sight until the tree is disturbed or they smell giraffes. If the giraffes try to eat the tree, the ants will attack them, especially around the eyes. Some giraffes have learned that if they stay downwind, they can eat the tree without being bothered. Of additional interest, the whistling comes as the wind blows over the holes the ants bore into the tree’s fruit.