In May 2024, Grant & Jonty hosted a group of Australian travellers on an overland trip that took us from South Africa into Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The focus of the trip was to take the path least travelled and to put the spotlight on the conservation efforts in the various places that they travelled through. One of the stand out activities* for the whole trip was for the group to be part of a rhino horn trimming exercise.

Here’s the story of how that went:

“We arrived early in the morning to meet the vets and the ground team at the air strip of the local game reserve we would be working in.  

The group was given a brief by the lead vet on what the plan was and the basic outline of how and what we would be doing during the morning. We then loaded up into the vehicles and awaited further instructions from the vet and conservation team. At this moment in the day the excitement levels are through the roof, as we wait to hear the all-important words over the radio: “the dart's in”.

Everybody now holds on tight as the vehicles race into an area closer to where the rhinos will go down. The first rhino we got to was a large male white rhino, and the group got to see first-hand the power of the enormous creature as a lot of man power was required to assist the drugged rhino into a safe laying down position.  

Once the rhino was down and in a stable condition, the guests were allowed to climb out of the vehicle and come in and assist with various tasks that the vets assigned to them. These include breathing monitoring, note taking and taking various biometric samples.

It is always a overwhelming experience for people who join a horn trimming for the first time, as there are so many moving parts to a successful dehorning. There is so much dust, an airplane circling above, a helicopter whizzing around in the sky and then there is the sound of the chain saws that are used to trim the horn.  

But the guests took it all in their stride and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Some of the guests helped to put hoof oil on the trimmed horns of the first rhino bull. Then on the vet’s instruction everyone was told its time to go, we all loaded up on to the vehicles again and the vet administered the reversal drug into the rhino’s ear.  

We watched from a safe distance in silence as the rhino bull stood up and gathered himself before trotting off back into the bush as if nothing had happened. We then moved off to wait for the magic words again: “the dart’s in” and off we raced.  

This was certainly a highlight of the trip and I am sure a day the guests will never forget. We did four rhino horn trimmings on that morning. What an epic way to experience a safari by getting hands on and directly involved in the front line of rhino conservation and protection.”

Written by Jonty Bozas

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*NOTE: We only organise conservation experiences for safari guests when there is a real need for such operations. No conservation experiences will be organised if no interventions are required during your visit, or if dates and availability of vets, helicopter, fixed wing plane, municipal authority or reserve staff do not align - so as to not waste resources or cause unnecessary distress to wildlife. If you want to travel with us and include a conservation experience, please contact our travel team.

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