OUT&ABOUT: A sanctuary for rhinos
Bella and her calf at the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. PHOTO| RUPI MANGAT
What you need to know:
- And so, driving out of Murchison Falls via Masindi, we opt to spend the night at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary about two hours away.
- It turns out to be a great decision; we discover that the sanctuary has more than just rhino in it.
- We can also find Shoebill storks in the swamp here.
In 2001 on a visit to Uganda, I saw a Shoebill stork that is now a rare bird of the wetlands. I thought I would never see it in the wild. This stork’s eggs and chicks are popular oi the illegal trade in wildlife business. They are smuggled to the Middle East and China where they are kept as pets.
In 2001, there were no rhino in Uganda either – and we’re talking about the now extinct northern white rhino. Uganda’s entire rhino population was slaughtered during Idi Amin’s brutal regime in the 1970s.
And so, driving out of Murchison Falls via Masindi, we opt to spend the night at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary about two hours away. It turns out to be a great decision; we discover that the sanctuary has more than just rhino in it. We can also find Shoebill storks in the swamp here.
“We do everything on foot here,” says Angie Genade of Rhino Fund Uganda. We’re chatting at Amuka Lodge – ‘amuka’ is the Acholi word for rhino – which fits perfect as the rhino population is on the rise here – from two to 20 and increasing. However these are Southern white rhino donated by Kenya, Disney World in Florida and South Africa. There are only three Northern white rhino in the world, found at Ol Pejeta in Kenya. One of them, Sudan, is even listed as the world’s most eligible bachelor.
“For 20 years there were no rhino in Uganda,” Genade continues. “The first rhino was born here in 2009. Since then we’ve had 14 births. The first females born in the sanctuary now have calves. This is way beyond anything we expected.”
At 6am a rhino ranger is at our doorstep to wake us up for a Shoebill viewing walk and river canoeing. We put on some pink gumboots and make our way into the swamp. The white morning mist lifting off the ground parts to reveal papyrus reeds. A man and his son fill their jerrycans with water. A pair of Grey-crowned cranes rise from their nest in the swamp, while Saddlebill storks search for snails to snap open from the shells. Our ranger, Opio Raymond, stops and points to a grey bird in the rising mist – it’s a Shoebill stork. It’s still as a statue.
We reach the river mouth flowing through the swamp. Local fishermen await us as we wear our lifejackets and step into the simple dugout boats. Soon we are adrift through a lush green swamp full of birds.
Later we meet the rhino. First up is Bella from Kenya and her calf Zawadi, born in June 2016. They watch us and lumber towards us; we step back. They browse, we watch. They walk away and though it seems like a slow pace, we can’t keep up.
The second pair is fast asleep under a bush with the rhino ranger watching over them from a distance. It’s Nandi from Disneyworld and her calf Sonic, born in September 2015.
It’s been a fascinating morning so far. Back at Amuka, it’s a hearty brunch before we hit the road again.
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Fact File
For more on Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary http://www.rhinofund.org/. It’s 170km on tarmac from Kampala to Murchison Falls. You can also visit Ziwa Sanctuary’s latest inhabitant, a calf called Apache, born to Disney, in July this year.
