The next day was also our last full day at Kruger National Park and we took it slow. We had seen so much in the past five days, experienced so many encounters with animals we had never seen before in wildlife that we needed time to process it all. We slept in and worked on our website before we took off to look out for more rhinos.
And as we were driving right next to a little river we saw her. She was walking close to the water holding up her impressive horn with a clear focus. It wasn’t until she reached a sandy area when we figured out what that focus was – a warm sandy area where she could lie down and relax. As it seems rhinos like warm sandy beaches as well.
After some bird watching we got lucky again. This time it wasn’t just one rhino, it was a mother and her baby. How can something that big and heavy appear so cute – we were amazed. They were walking in front of our car, the mother leading the way and the baby following with its little horn. And as if she knew that we were admiring her, the baby rhino turned its head and looked into our direction, presenting herself in all her beauty and cuteness, before she followed her mother into the bushes. Almost all animal babies are simply cute, they are designed that way. Their heads are too big for their bodies, their shapes are round and their eyes huge. They are designed that way to activate the adult’s protective instinct making sure they are taken care off. And it worked on us, we would have protected that baby rhino with our life. Carried it around, fed it and played with it, but as its mother possesses an even stronger protective instinct for her baby, she would have probably killed us for that.
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