Log in
Join travelers community
Your Profile
Logout
Blondie and I are up at six for the "Rhino Walk" in Mosi-oa-Tunja zoological park. Spotters are already out looking for the three White Rhino (actually they are not white, the name is a corruption of "wide", referring to the shape of the mouth, White rhino are the same colour as black rhino, but have wide mouths for grazing, while black rhino, which are browsers, have pointed mouths), and are in radio contact with our guide Tony, an Australian.
Day 4. Tue 20th April Victoria - Falls.
DaveMidgley2005-10-22 10:07:29
Displayed times (last time: )
Blondie and I are up at six for the "Rhino Walk" in Mosi-oa-Tunja zoological park. Spotters are already out looking for the three White Rhino (actually they are not white, the name is a corruption of "wide", referring to the shape of the mouth, White rhino are the same colour as black rhino, but have wide mouths for grazing, while black rhino, which are browsers, have pointed mouths), and are in radio contact with our guide Tony, an Australian.
We join a group of about ten others doing the walk, and set off in a safari bus. Eventually we find Mollie and her son George dozing under a bush. The third rhino, Fwanya, is not around. White rhino are not indigenous to Zambia, and these three are the only ones in the country, having been imported, as far as we can tell, pretty much as a tourist attraction. There were originally five, but they have recently lost two within a month of each other. One fell in the river and drowned (Rhino cannot swim a stroke) and the other succumbed to disease. Unfortunately George is now reaching sexual maturity and looking for a mate, and as Mollie, his mother, is the only female around, they are expecting problems. (I suggest they rechristen him Oedipus!).
We take a walk through the park and see a good selection of wildlife - impala, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, buffalo, vervet monkey, warthog, saddle-billed stork and batleur eagle. (Because of the three vertical black marks on the rump, and the fact that they are fast food for predators, impala are known as the Macdonald's of the bush).
The excursion has cost $50, which frankly seems a bit steep, but at least they provide a picnic brunch for the group at the end.
George the White Rhino. Mosi-oa-Tunja zoological parkImpala. Mosi-oa-Tunja zoological parkPicnic on Rhino walk. Mosi-oa-Tunja zoological park
The walk is suppose to finish at 10:30, and my flight of the falls has been tentatively booked for 12:00.However, at 12:00 we are only just leaving the park,
...
_1.JPG "Day 4. Tue 20th April Victoria - Falls.")
See photographs from:
Zambia Gallery
