Still searching for 186

  After a lot of searching for our missing rhino, number 186, we still have no certain news of her but we are feeling a little more optimistic.

   Our searches have taken us to all parts of the Sinamatella Intensive Protection Zone. One of the first places we tried was the highest hill in the area, Domboshuro. From the very top of the hill there is a 360 degree view. To the east the Smiths Mine Hills stretch away into the heat haze…..

 And to the north, the bare hills of the Matetsi Safari Area are visible in the far distance……

   At this time of year almost everything is brown. Anything even slightly green is likely to be poisonous or highly unpalatable like this Euphorbia cooperi growing on the slopes of Domboshuro…

    The latex of Euphorbia cooperi is so irritating that it can cause a burning sensation in the throat if you simply stand too close to a damaged plant and breathe in the scent. Nothing, as far as I know, ever eats it.

    In spite of being high above most of the IPZ, we could get no signal for number 186’s transmitter from Domboshuro so we tried elsewhere.

    Much lower down and looking towards Domboshuro in the far distance we tried for signal from a low hill…..

 

   Nothing.

   We tried from close to Mandavu Dam with the same result…….

We moved away to the east and tried searching along some of the rivers. As on the slopes of Domboshuro, only the unpalatable plants are green here. In this case it is the Woolly Caper Bush Capparis tomentosa that remains green in the otherwise dry and eroded landscape…….

   Woolly Caper Bush seems to be doubly protected. Is leaves and fruits are said to be poisonous and it also has sharp, hooked thorns that scratch and irritate, seeming to stop blood clotting so that a small scratch sometimes  looks like a wound from an attack by a predator. Sue and I call it the Leopard Bush. The one in the picture is growing close to the heavily eroded bank of the Mbala River. Rhino sometimes browse the Leopard Bush but we found no sign of number 186 or any others here.

  On another day we tried to the South. From another of the high hills we could see far into the distance but could get no signal….

   We searched various springs in all parts of the IPZ, such as Tshakabika Hot Spring. A lot of animals had been in the area – the grass cover has gone, replaced by elephant dung……….

 But along the line of the spring itself there is a little grass and good water…..

We saw elephants at the spring but no sign of rhino…..

However, as I said at the start of this, we are feeling a little more optimistic about number 186. One reason is that we got a close look at her son, number 345, sleeping under a Leadwood tree in otherwise open country. There was so little cover it was very hard to approach so the photos were not too great……..

  Through binoculars it was possible to see that his head wound has nearly healed and was almost certainly caused by fighting. It was also possible for the rangers to see the size and condition of the rhino and they are certain that he is big and strong enough to have left his mother to become independent. Usually when rhino first leave their mothers they visit her from time to time and often they are driven away by a male mating with her (hence the head wound?) The best news we had was from a road mending gang in this area who had seen two rhino, one adult and one younger, crossing the road one evening a few weeks ago. We think this must have been 186 and 345 and the time they saw them was long after we lost touch with 186. We are hoping that her transmitter has failed or was damaged, sparring with a male perhaps, and that she is not too far from where 345 was seen. A big search party is planned for next week.