Comments on: South Africa 6 — A Crash (or Stubborness) of Rhinoceros

By: Connie C

Connie C — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 00:23:38 +0000

Oops, a senior moment there re comment #1 and after Footloose’s # 2. Reviewing my safari diary, it should be hippo middens, not rhinos.

By: kurzhaar

kurzhaar — Sat, 07 Jun 2014 02:18:22 +0000

Those are white rhinos, and yes, the name comes from the Dutch (or Afrikaans) word for “wide”, referring to the animal’s lip. White rhinos are grazers, black rhinos are browsers–the lip shape is because they don’t have incisors. The black rhino has a pointed lip for pulling leaves off trees.
If you think these were big animals, imagine meeting a prehistoric Paraceratherium. Look up the BBC programme “Walking with Beasts”.

By: Connie C

Connie C — Fri, 06 Jun 2014 06:54:33 +0000

With adrenaline pumping from excitement and nervous anticipation, one needs to be prepared with nourishment for/on a 3 hour game drive.

By: Marketman

Marketman — Fri, 06 Jun 2014 05:41:56 +0000

Khew, tea and snack at 530am, 3 hour game drive with snacks during the drive, full breakfast at 900-10am, lunch at 1230-1pm, tea and snacks at 3pm, game drive 3-3.5 hours, cocktails and munchies at end of drive, dinner at 730pm — that was the drill. :)

By: Khew

Khew — Fri, 06 Jun 2014 05:31:21 +0000

Breakfast at such an ungodly hour. Perhaps relaxation and climate made it possible to stomach food so early in the day?

By: Marketman

Marketman — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 09:14:19 +0000

Footloose, as usual, I learned something from you today, had no idea what a rhyton was until your comment above!

By: Footloose

Footloose — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 09:05:24 +0000

Funny if a bit messy but that’s nature for you; unselfconscious and spontaneous. It comes as a shock only if you know them previously as dainty delicate dancers to Amilcare Ponchielli’s music in Disney’s Fantasia and as the protagonist in Flanders and Swann’s panegyric to mud.

But back to rhino horns, their effectiveness as potency prop is as dubious as that of any other vaunted aphrodisiac, result is sketchy and anecdotal but as with any venereal concern, one palliates what one cannot cure.

Not all of the harvested horns were ground down to horny powder though, a few were carved into intricate rhytons that were reputed to detect poison in beverage poured into them.

By: millet

millet — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 02:36:30 +0000

Footloose, hahahaha! that was quite a sound-and-sight (and I bet, smell) show!

By: joyyy

joyyy — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 02:22:23 +0000

Keep them coming, MM! I’m on a safari trip through your posts!

By: Marketman

Marketman — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 01:05:36 +0000

Betchay, Mrs. MM did ask, and in 8-9 years of our main guide, he said he never killed an animal, and only once was on the trigger to fire a warning shot, I believe it was for an elephant, but I could be mistaken on the animal. He did not relay what others had done… But I did get the impression that such extremes were a VERY RARE occurrence. For a first time guest like us, however, it took a drive or two to get really comfortable with the idea that we were quite safe on the vehicle, and should simply follow the guide’s wise counsel since we certainly didn’t know better.