Rhino continued to be seen regularly, but still in reduced numbers, this surely a reflection of the widespread water and food allowing them to disperse. Most viewing has been of territorial bulls which tend to move quite regularly within and on the peripheries of their areas of residence. Territorial disputes can certainly happen and one which is currently taking place is in the immediate area of the Mala Mala airstrip. The male rhino which has established himself there for some years now and which successfully repulsed an invader several months ago, appears to again be 'under siege' by at least one other bull. These battles can last several weeks as the opponents test each other and advertise their respective powers. If neither is prepared to give ground to these threats, then physical battle can occur and death can result. Hopefully this will not be the case and whichever is the loser can give ground and simply move on, accepting the result.

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November 2000

Rhino viewing was superb this month, until approximately half-way through when many of these animals departed, probably to feast on the newer and more palatable grass of more recently burned areas within the Kruger National Park. So although Rhinos were seen on a daily basis during November, there were some days when much work had to be done to find them. With the growth of grass now very fast it is unlikely that this scenario will last much longer and it is perhaps to be expected that the incidence of rhino sightings will increase. At the beginning of the month some lions were found feeding off the carcass of an approximatley 3-4-year-old rhino. It is not certain what killed the rhino, but it is doubtful that the lions were responsible. A rhino of such an age may well have been recently abandoned by its mother and would be experiencing a fair amount of stress during its early stages of independence as it suddenly has to fend for itself; mortality at such a stage may well be relatively high. A rhino well known to Mala Mala, a large female with a prominent tear in its one ear, has also recently given birth. This rhino has been on Mala Mala for many years - at least a decade - and typically resides in the central parts of the reserve. When seen with this new calf, the youngster was very skitish and ran from vehicles. This caused the mother to follow. Hopefully cautious viewing will eventually relax the youngster down and good viewing will again result. This same rhino lost her last calf just over two years ago when the close-to day-old youngster was found dead in a sandy river-bed with the mother standing by. At the time it was speculated that her previous calf, a male of nearly three years old, may have contributed to the death of this youngster. The female had not chased this three-year-old away at the time of giving birth and his jealous behaviour may have contributed to the death of the baby. Anyway, it is good to see that this old female has another calf.

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October 2000

The burned areas on the reserve have continued to attract rhinos and viewing has been good this month. On one day towards the middle of October, there were 28 different rhinos sighted. Several of the rhinos seen have been nervous and simply run when approached by vehicles, indication that they have moved in from the Kruger National Park in response to the greenery offered by the new grass. The supply of mud-holes is also still good and all in all the rhino are experiencing good conditions.

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September 2000

The situation with rhino has not changed substantially from August, with great numbers of these animals being encountered, particularly on the burned areas. Since many of these animals have made their way in from the Kruger National Park in search of the green grass and are not familiar with landrovers, they run when approached by vehicles. One of the more interesting interactions observed over this last game report period occurred when another bull challenged the male rhino that has a territory, which includes the Mala Mala airstrip. The challenger was not particularly relaxed in the presence of vehicles and would run from their approach. However, the prize of this other male rhinos' territory was obviously what he was after and over a period of a few days the two squared up to one another. The result was the intruder losing and after what must have been only a brief physical clash, he was last seen running north on the opposite bank of the Sand River with a quite nasty looking puncture wound in his one flank. The original territory holder also suffered some scratches but these appeared superficial and he remained as master.

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August 2000

Rhino viewing continued to be good, but with little change from last month. The good supply of patches of green grass and water-holes has meant that this year there has been minimal movement of these large creatures from the Kruger National Park, this to drink from the Sand River. Now that several thousand hectares of Mala Mala's land have been burned in controlled management fires, it is anticipated that rhinos will start moving in in order to sample the flush of green grass expected on such areas. Few rhino were seen in the south of the reserve, but one sighting was of two males engaged in a physical battle over territory. Such encounters can last several days, but by all accounts this was of short duration, the contestants parting after only 15 minutes or so. It is not known how long they had been fighting prior to them being found. One of the rhino definitely received more than he dished out and retreated with some obvious wounds.

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July 2000

As with the buffalo, rhino are still finding good resources away from the Sand River and so are not wandering as much as can be expected during a regular dry season. Although the cold spells which have hit this area over the last month have contributed quite noticeably to the grass drying off, there are still many areas of green which the rhino are making full use of. As a consequence, viewing has once more been good due to the regular contacts with well known territorial animals. Some tragedy this month came with the discovery of an apparently stillborn rhino calf on the central parts of the reserve. Close to the area where the carcass was lying, was a gathering of five rhino, two females and three males, one of the latter clearly very dominant. Since these rhino spent several days in the area, it is quite likely that one of the females was the mother.

Rhino viewing this month produced no surprises and there was a continuation of good sightings of animals with established territories or home ranges. In many of the areas the rhino have been concentrating on small 'eyes' of exceptional greenery in some of the seeplines. These wet areas seem to be dominated by apple-green wetland grasses and sedges and, with other drier grasses still nutritious but probably not particularly pleasant to eat, such areas would certainly tempt the rhinos. Although there are still plenty of mudholes on the reserve, the cooler winter temperatures and lack of biting insects have not made them as necessary for the rhinos as would have been the case during the summer months.

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May 2000

Rhino viewing remained good during May with little change in the pattern of movement as seen last month. A good supply of waterholes in the area has meant that very little movement has taken place between home-ranges and viewing has continued to be provided by both the territorial bulls as well as those animals well settled in certain areas.

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February/ March/ April 2000

Rhino sightings have been good over the past few months with regular encounters with known territorial bulls and females and sub-adults within their home ranges. As with the buffalo, declining grass quality will force rhinos to move more rapidly within their areas in search of the rapidly declining green leaf material and force them to start eating from grazing areas which up until now they have been able to avoid. When grass grows rapidly as in mid-summer, rhino often rotate within their areas of residence, grazing from the same locations when regrowth has occurred. This of course provides them with a constant supply of succulent fresh material. Fortunately for the rhinos, water and mud-holes are still in abundance.

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January 2000

Perhaps the one complaint that the rhino would have at this stage is that the grass is growing too fast. The good rains have ensured that the supply of mudholes and watering points is as good as it could ever be. This and the rhinos eating behaviour where they return to already grazed areas to crop recent re-growth has meant that rhino viewing during January continued to be quite predictable with certain territorial bulls and female groups being encountered on a regular basis.