Khama Rhino Sanctuary, Central District, Botswana
Kharma Rhino Sanctuary is actually in the Kalahari Desert (but not the super hot bit) and is a community based wildlife project, established in 1992 to assist in saving the vanishing rhinos. The sanctuary provides a safe home (the area is patrolled by the Army) for white and black rhino and also provides employment support to the local community.
Getting around Kharma Rhino Sanctuary is a challenge as the sand roads have long
stretches of 2 foot ruts and quite a few areas of super soft sand. It was excellent sand driver refresher training
for M, on several occasions we were temporarily stuck but 4 wheel low ratio seemed to
do the trick.
We did a several self-drive tours of the park and saw more rhinos than people. Spotting them is quite easy as they tend to
hang around the waterholes and also, they are huge. As with elephants, when the rhino's approach your vehicle, you turn the engine off and sit quietly while they pass, but it is extremely nerve racking when they walk within a few feet of your vehicle.
Kharma is more in the bush with less facilities than Kruger, no power and primitive cooking. We cooked using an open fire and our trusty MSR Whisperlite, a cooker we never go anywhere without. Yes there are camp facilities to eat a few Km away, but who wants to eat in there when you can cook under magnificent stars and be in the bush with 50 plus rhinos.
Our bush skills were lacking one night when we left the lid off the dustbin and 3 Kudu's emptied our bin at 3 am - we woke to the sound of clunking empty beer cans and the munching of butternut squash skins. In 2 camps time the scroungers are hyenas and elephants, so we only have one more safe camp to hone our bush skills.
Lynn
2019-10-19
Your wild life encounters are just amazing although I’m not sure about your cooking facilities. Defo only 1 coconut
Scroater
2019-10-19
Double and then triple-check the bin lid in future!!!
Mum
2019-10-19
Was this your old family recipe for sautéd rhino Testicals. David Attenborough would never lower himself to this level.Am enjoying your trip from Spain xxx
Mum
2019-10-19
Forgot to say that the new camera is very good Mark.lovely shots
judy
2019-10-20
all amazing love the buurrds
Boo
2019-10-21
Ahah Buuurds. Love it judy. Some great photos here. NOt sure about the animals eating out of the bin. Its a good lesson for the next camp site.