Looking For Friends For Two Lonely Rhinos

The Great Rhino

I'm violating every safari (blend into your surroundings) clothing norm as I traipse through a forest in sandals, a traditional red Maasai dress and "sticks-out-like-a-sore-thumb” white beaded cape toward a couple of the most dangerous animals on earth.

We do have a guide—the founder of the Mara Rhino Project within the Ol Choro Oiroua Conservancy. And though he asks curiously, “Are you coming from church?” he also explains that my accidental outfit (last minute schedule change on the way to a village event) isn't that odd here. The red of the Maasai, the trademark color of the shukas they wear while driving their livestock to pasture land, is a common sight for these rhinos and fortunately one for which they have a healthy respect.

And as we round a bend to catch sight of rhino matriarch Queen Elizabeth and her adopted son Kofi Anon, we also spot a cadre of armed rangers. This group of men and women guard these last two remaining southern white rhinos of the Mara 24 hours a day and are attentive to eery twitch, grunt and movement.

White rhinos, as it's quickly obvious, are not white. They are gray. They got their name, we learn, from early English speakers in South Africa who incorrectly translated wide—the shape of the face—as white, and the name stuck. The reason these two have so many body guards is less to protect tourists, more to protect animals who reached near extinction status for the poaching of their horns, trophy hunting and land encroachment.

Rhino Kofi Annan was born in 2008, the year the former United Nations Secretary General came to Kenya to help broker peace and end some post election violence. He was only four years old when his mother was killed by a poacher, explains Brian Ondialla, our day's guide and the project founder.

The youngest of the rhinos has since been guarded by rangers and so accustomed to his guard friends he's considered friendly and not much a risk to visitors. Queen Elizabeth, whom Ondialla calls pretty grumpy by nature, is a different story. Now 22, she was brought in from another conservation area, and when she even looks in our direction, the guides deftly put themselves between us and the cranky queen.

There was an initial hope that the two rhinos might breed, but that's looking less and less likely,

Ondialla says. Now, the rhino program is looking at a variety of ways to boost a population that now consists of two southern white rhinos within 3,000 square kilometers.

“The main goal is to increase the rhino population in the Maasai Mara,” he said. “And we cannot do that if we cannot incorporation everyone in the ecosystem, which includes the community.”

The program is looking at various reproduction efforts that including bringing more rhinos in. But it's getting innovative too. The project is developing a “Rhino Educate a Kid” curriculum to transfer endangered species knowledge to kids and ensure that as they grow up they understand the importance of conservation. Another is a Bees Beyond Boundaries program that will set up beehives along the Mara River. Those hives would be monitored by Maasai community members who would also benefit—as will the wildlife.

“It mainly is going to improve the livelihood of people living within the wildlife areas,” Ondialla says. “We have a problem whereby we have elephants, we have zebras and possibly rhinos, each crossing to the other side of the river where we have a community practicing farming. They don't benefit directly from wildlife. So what do they do? They spear them. They arrow them, and sometimes they do that with poison arrows, so the animal will eventually die if it's not detected early.

“But you know elephants. They don't like the buzz of the bees. So they won't go close. I think we are going to control the narrative of communities living across the river injuring the wildlife. They harvest the honey and they sell the honey. And we are going to help them market it. It will be BBB – Bees Beyond Boundaries.

“We will be giving updates as to where the projects are, and to our donors, we just encourage any help. It's not even a matter of money. We need people to give us any kind of support—including moral support.”

Most Uplift Travel itineraries include a visit to the Mara Rhino Project; the walk fee supports the

project, and guests are invited to go to the website for information on offering further support or

purchasing Bees Beyond Boundaries honey! https://mararhinoproject.org/