A couple of days ago, I was given the opportunity to join in on a rhino horn infusion on 6 of our rhinos from our reserve in an attempt to curb the rampant rhino poaching that is currently going on. Basically what the procedure entails is an ectoparasticide is infused into the horn of the rhino using patented and specialized equipment, this making it useless for both ornamental and medicinal purposes. The horns are also treated with a red dye that can be picked up in security scans should the horn "travel". The whole procedure has absolutely no negative impact on the rhino itself and is 100% safe for them.
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| Darting rhinos using a helicopter. |
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| Waiting for the dart to take effect. |
One of the most awesome parts of the day was being able to get up close to these prehistoric looking giants.
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| Drilling into the horn in order to infuse the poison. |
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| The actual infusion in progress. (the red is not blood but the red dye) |
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| Birds eye view of the action. |
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| A close up of the horn infusion . |
In between darting of rhinos we managed to have a few nice sightings, making it even more special.
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| Lions resting right down the road from where one of the rhino was darted. |
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| Elephants on the way to the darting in the morning. |
The day ended on an extreme high, when whilst we were busy on our last rhino another rhino came charging in to interrupt proceedings, there was absolute chaos as people scattered in all different directions. Some of us were braver than others and managed to chase off the bull but he hadn't finished with us and returned a short while later eventually one of the vehicles managed to drive him off and he left us to finish up. The adrenaline rush was quite welcoming after a long hot day.
The whole day was truly an experience that will stay with me forever. Its sad that it has come to us having to do this but we are proud to say that we are playing our part in protecting our rhinos.
Photography and written by: Greg McCall-Peat
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