All my Christmasses came at once

We have all heard that phrase and for me it really came true earlier this year, November the 6th to be precise, a day I will never forget.

My love of wildlife is well known and my passion for the rhino particularly. When I set out to Kenya on my last photographic safari it was to see rhino, both black and white, in their own world and I was rewarded with images capturing what I thought would be the closest I would ever get to these wonderful creatures. 'Your move' below sums it up and shows just how big and domineering they are close up. With only around 17,500 white rhino in the world they remain endangered and we must do what we can to support the work to protect them.

Your Move

As part of my contribution to preserving our wildlife I became a member of ZSL - Zoological Society London - London and Whipsnade Zoos as they are better known in 2009 and have continued to support their programmes ever since. 

Imagine my surprise and delight then when, in September,  I received an email telling me I had won a meet the keeper day with an animal / bird of my choice. Well, it had to be white Rhino and, after some tooing and frowing we set the date - November 6th at Whipsnade Zoo.

Elaine and I had a great day at the zoo prior to our 3.30 session and much to our delight captured this little fellow, unnamed at the time on his first day out in the paddock.

We spent ages watching him racing around, exploring the new space, smells and muddy pools. As 3.30 approached we headed over to meet the keeper expecting a nice chat and the opportunity to learn more about the species and the work to preserve them. Introductions done we chatted and found out more about the programmes Europe, Americas and Africa that were ongoing including the breeding programme that Whipsnade are involved in.

It was at the point that the day really took off. We were invited behind the scenes to meet the new youngster and his mom. I say youngster as he was only 5 weeks old yet he weighed 50kg at birth. With excellent, close supervision and direction from the keepers we were able to get close to him and his mother, a really unique moment for me. As everyone knows mothers are rightly extremely protective of new borns and Fahari, who weighs 1,800kg was no exception. 

Imagine our shock and delight then when the keeper was able to slowly entice them both to where we were crouched, behind the safety fencing, and were invited to actually stroke them behind their ears. Don't mistakenly think they are tame or domesticated. These are wild animals whose reputation is well known and it was only through the keepers extensive knowledge gained through 20+ years working with Rhino and following the safety advice to the letter that we got this close and were so privileged. In case you wondered the skin behind the ears is like a medium hard leather, warm and relatively supple.

With their welfare paramount we didn't stay too long but our final treat was to meet dad, Sizzle who  weighs 2,200kg (Males can go upto 2,500kg). What a day and what precious moments. There will only ever be a small handful of people who will ever get this close to these wonderful creatures and we were so privileged to be the first.

I hope you have found this blog interesting and welcome your comments or feedback. If you would like to join me on a workshop here, or any of my other days out just get in touch via the contact me page.

​Lindsey