‘Dung acts as social media for rhinos’

Sue Watt goes on patrol with the rhino monitors of Botswana for a truly hands-on experience

Idipped my hand tentatively into a pile of pungent poo, its lumps the size of cricket balls. Cold and crusty on the outside, they were warm and wet when I broke them up. This wasn’t something I would normally do on safari, but it felt strangely exciting and perfectly normal when on patrol with rhino monitors tracking these behemoths of the bush, a vulnerable species which is very much in the news today – World Rhino Day.

“It’s about an hour old,” said

Michael (for security reasons, not his real name), deducing this from its temperature. Michael is a rhino monitor at the beautiful Sanctuary Chief ’s Camp in Botswana’s Moremi Game Reserve, which offers guests a morning with its rhino monitoring team, learning all about the animals.

Rhinos fascinate me. Perhaps it’s their gloriously grumpy personalities or their quirky prehistoric appearance, with armour-like hide and huge horns rising like sabres from their snouts. Those horns are the reason they are

‘This is our first safari. We loved the patrol and found it really interesting to learn so much about this amazing conservation project’