Probably one of my most lucky visuals. Diceros bicornis or the Black Rhino is considered critically endangered by IUCN. This one was a female and I was about 30m away from her. It was impossible to get closer and Frank my Ranger was very happy about that (they are naturally aggressive). You see the triangle shaped mouth that helps them to browse trees compared to the grass eating White Rhinos.
Unfortunately the dead animal (or its horns) is more valuable than gold, diamonds or cocaine (by weight).
This picture comes with no geo tags as I was told that poachers are meanwhile regularly scanning the web for the latest visuals to hunt them based on the geo tags of iPhones. Fortunately helicopters over national parks are themselves hunted by the local armies. However, it is hard to condemn the poachers as one kill brings them about half a million of dollars.
We have to condemn the market that is creating this demand. Traditional Chinese ‘Medicine’ – reminds me badly of the ‘scientific’ whale hunting…
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