My mother told me that this would be a special outing. And that was true but it is a pity that I only remember it by photographs.
Probably becuase I was just 8, and it was 31 years ago.
In 1992 the Khama Rhino Sanctuary was started. This was 1 hour outside of Serowe in Botswana and 2 hours from where I lived in Palapye. My dad was the principal and my mom was a teacher at the local school.
The sanctuary is a community-based wildlife project is primarily a rhino breeding program. The Sanctuary’s website (which badly needs to be redone) reports that its long-term goal is to “create an environment in which Black and White Rhino(s) can breed safely.
The Rhino’s at the sanctuary are protected by anti-poaching patrols and up untill two years ago, no Rhinos were poached. Sadly in 2022 two white rhino’s were shot and earlier this year four were shot. This is alarming and I hope that this trend does not continue.
Earlier this month I returned with my mom, husband and two daughters aged 8 and 5 to visit the Khama Rhino Sanctuary. At the front gate they told us that there are now 62 Rhino’s at the sanctuary.
With so much joy we saw Rhino’s, watched the African sun go down over the dusty horizon and was able to peacefully look over the planes and smile. For once, we can celebrate a wildlife success story with the long term hope that Rhino’s will not be something we have to tell our children about in books only.