The elusive Rhino

But the third day...Oh my...the third day in the Madusadona.....

Gavin was unhappy!
I mean, he was truly unhappy.
"I am embarrassed" he said. "And I don't like to be embarrassed"!
"Why would you be embarrassed?" I asked, although I knew well what he was talking about.
Gavin said: " We have been looking for a Rhino for two and a half days now. I promised you that you would  photograph a black Rhino. We have seen Rhino tracks and Rhino spoor."
"But, unfortunately, no Rhino," I added.
Gavin seemed truly upset: "the worst of it, though, is that I have to leave now, since I have another party which I must guide tomorrow through Chizarira. And Chizarira is inland at the other end of the Lake."
I tried to make him feel less 'embarrassed'. I told him: "It's not the last time I'll be in Africa. There will be other times for me to photograph a black Rhino".
We were about 25 to 30 minutes from the beach where our house boat was at anchor.
There were a number of good sized trees, I think they were Maponi trees, and some dense bushes. They will make a nice blind and on the other side we have seen many Rhino tracks, some not as old as the first ones we saw.
I told Gavin: "I'll stay here behind these trees until about 5 o'clock and then I'll make my way to the house boat. Just tell Kelvin to pick me up at the beach at exactly 6".
At first, Gavin protested vigorously. But when I told him, that his responsibility for me had come to an end at 12 noon today and that with the rest of the day I could do as I please, he again told me not to stay alone here, but finally he left. He left a bottle of water for me and looked back three times before I lost sight of him.

I got busy building and improving this natural blind behind which I planned to stay until 5.30PM, come hell or high water. I dragged some loose branches from the area around me and wedged them between two sturdy trees.

My F3 with the 400 mm lens on the tripod got camouflaged with twigs and grass. The F2A with a 500 mm I fastened with a clamp on a sturdy branch just about the right height and the F400 with the 80 to 135m zoom lens I hung around my neck. Then I sat down on a log behind my blind.

and I waited...
and I waited...

Two adult male Impalas came past. I had taken so many pictures of Impala but there is always one more which might become the best of the lot. So I clicked away. There was no worry about running low on film. I had brought plenty of rolls.
A troop of African Painted dogs trotted past my blind and didn't give me a glance. The wind was in my favour and I was well hidden... and as quiet as a mouse.
It got to be 2PM....2.30PM....3PM.
I thought that I could fill  Noah's Arch with all the animals ambling by, except for a Rhino...
4PM and still no Rhino.
A whole army of carpenter ants moved within inches of the log on which I sat and I took some close-up shots of them. then I worried that if the Rhino came now, I might miss it, because I was photographing a bunch of ants.

I kept scanning the bushes opposite my blind. The fresher tracks we had found came right out from there.
I new that in 30 minutes I had to leave to get to the house boat by 6PM
It gets dark very quickly.
I fumbled around with my camera equipment. Once more I cleaned an already spotless lens...
Do something... keep busy... don't just sit there getting nervous....

It was just after 5PM...
Once more I scanned the bushes across from me.
There was a gray shape among those bushes.
Slowly, cautiously this gray shape became more and more identifiable as a black Rhino.
I could not believe my eyes. My heart was pounding, so I could feel it in my throat.
I had to will my hands to stop shaking.
The Rhino now had cleared the bushes and stood free and clear in front of a termite mound.
I started clicking with the F3 and the 400mm lens.
The animal looks around... I think it's looking right at me... I switch to the 135mm and force myself to use my cameras with great attention to detailed exposure, shutter speed, balanced levelling...
Seeing the bulk of this animal, I began to wonder If I could find refuge behind the thickest of the maponi trees in case the Rhino decided to attack me. But he, and it is a "he" paid me absolutely no attention.
He walked away from the termite mound, half way across the clearing, turned around, seemed to look in my direction and then directly at me. He snorted and lowered his head. He came a little closer. The sharp horn on top of his nose pointed directly at me. The Rhino was about 10 meters from my blind and from me.

Let me tell you: I felt no fear. I was totally calm and just bent on taking the best images I could.
It occurred to me that I have some of the best equipment money can buy and if I blow it, it will have been my fault.
I had to change film. I was glad my hands were steady and I threaded the new rolls without a hitch.
I took more pictures of this wonderful animal, which is threatened with extinction.
It is killed for the imagined  medicinal benefits of its powdered horn. Hundreds, maybe thousands were killed because of the greed of white hunters and the destitution of the native population.

This Black Rhino slowly ambled across the clearing and disappeared in the bush.
I sat there and shook with excitement and emotion. Now my hands too started to shake as I loosened the clamp from the branch, removed the other camera from the tripod, and carefully stashed everything in my all-accommodating Low-Pro bag.
I finished the bottle of water which Gavin had left for me and made my way toward the shore of Lake Kariba. In 20m minutes I was there and Kelvin was already waiting for me with the canoe.

Back at the house boat I tell them of my good luck. They can hardly believe me. After all the effort put in by Gavin Ford, then Zimbabwe's premier guide,I get to be this lucky when all alone?

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Such things happen, when you are travelling with

Bertstravels

(excerpt from my book: Safari Africa, 2011