Day 5 – In search of a rhino in Matobo Hills

This morning there is a special walk on the program. We can all sleep a little longer. Breakfast buffet is served at 8 am.

At 9 am, the ranger picks us up for a walking safari with the aim of finding rhinos.

Indeed ... a walking safari. That means only a short drive and then into the bush on foot. Now there is a reason why the rhin belongs tol the big five, so it is not without danger.  We must therefore first all sign a paper that we are doing this at our own risk. The rhino is threatened with extinction. It is believed that he will no longer be running around on the planet within 10 to 12 years. The biggest threat to these animals and their only enemy is man. Poachers kill these animals on their horn. In Asia, it is a widespread belief that rhinoceros horn increase  potency. Up to about 10,000 USD is paid for a kg of horn. And to think that the substance of  horn is found in our hair and our nails. Contrary  to an elephant tusk, the sawing of the horn is the same as clipping nails in humans. There are no nerves or blood vessels in it, so it can be done painlessly and the horn still grows back. To stop the traffic of horn, Zimbabwe  had planned have  the horns sawed of the animals by conservationists and bring it to market independently. In this way, horn would still be available and the animals would not be slaughtered. But this is contradiction to the convention of endangered species. In Zimbabwe alone, there is now tons of horn available in warehouses. In Zimbabwe the rhino is well protected by special conservation units.  The 50 rhinos of Matobo are protected by some 25 men. These have the right to shoot anyone that comes with a rifle near a rhinoceros. Notwithstanding these protections, the park lost last week a female rhino. She was shot by four bullets. One has to tried to save her, but in vain. Unfortunately she was the mom of a 15-month old calf. They try to save the calf now by putting her with another group of rhinos in the hope that they will be bring her up. We meet two of the conservationists who accompany us on our walking trip. They obviously have an idea of ​​where some of the rhinos are hiding. Before we go anyfurther on foot, we first get some instructions on who to keep it safe: walking in a single row, not making too much noise, keep quiet behind a bush as there is real danger. Now a rhinoceros may look cumbersome, but make no mistake. He can run at about 55 km in 3 seconds time. Running away from them will not work.

After a walk of about 10 minutes we see in the distance something what looks like a gray rock.

It turns out to be a rhino. Even better, a bit further a second one pops up. And when we are  admiring these two,  number three joins the group. A unique moment to watch these rhinos from about 10 to 15 m.

They lay down in the long grass for a well deserved nap. After this successful hike, we are  offered a well deserved drink. Delicious after an effort at temperatures of above thirty degrees celcius.

We drive to the grave of Cecil Rhodes, who as you might have guessed, gave his name to Rhodesia, as the country was known until its independence in 1980. Cecil Rhodes is obviously not an innocent man.

When in 1867 diamonds were found in southern Africa, this attrcte”d many European immigrants. Within a short time, diamond mining was transformed into a real industry. Large investments were made in mining, machinery and railway lines. Cecil Rhodes was one of them and made his fortune in the diamond industry as one of the founders of the De Beers Consolidated Mining Company, a company that owned as much as 90 percent of the diamond trade in the world. Rhodes who in the meantime set up  the British South Africa Company,  had worked hard on his dream of a railway from Cape Town to Cairo on British colonial area. He received permission from the UK to  bring the  area that was then called Zambezia  under British administration and under his leadership. Rhodesia became a British protectorate.

Cecil Rhodes was a pure settler who made his fortune with mining  the resources of the colony. At age 18, he had already earned millions of dollars. He becamea  member of parliament and even prime minister of the Cape Colony, and he made  a law that anyone who could put his signature (even if it was only an x) had the right to vote. Unfortunately this law was overturned years later.

Cecil Rhodes died at the age of 49 after having all his life bad health. He was never married and had no children. His family inherited nothing of his enormous fortune. He bequeathed his entire fortune to Rhodesia. It is to say scholarships were established, national parks were maintained by this money. Among others Bill Clinton attended univert-sity on a Rhodes scholarship. Many Zimbabweans today can go to school thanks to Rhodes.

He has taken a lot, but also gave everything back. There is always  two sides to every story.

It was his last wish to be buried on one of the hills of Matobo, which was the most beautiful place in the world in his eyes. This place is called World's View, an impressive view of the landscape of Matobo.

Between some huge round stones, lies his tomb and that of several other prominent settlers.

We return to the hotel for a buffet lunch.

In the afternoon we take a tour with our bus to take some photos of the rock formations. We also stop at the White Rino Shelter. The area of ​​Matobo was 40,000 years ago already inhabited by the indigenous people of southern Africa, the Bushmen.

They left several  petroglyphs in caves  including in White Rino Shelter. These specific drawings date from about 20,000 years ago. The drawings are traditionally made with colored ocher and blood and shows scenes for as they saw the world. They are mainly hunt scenes.

At sunset we go back to the lodge while enjoying the yellow color of  the acacia trees. The sunset creates a fantastic spectacle of colors on the rocks.

We eat one more time at the pool area where today there is impala on the menu. It tastes pretty much as beef, but slightly tougher.

We are preparing for the next leg of the trip, which hopefully will be one of the highlights ...