black rhino charge

Over the past few days myself and another ranger have been going down to the south of the reserve to photograph some small jackal pups playing at their den site. Yesterday morning when we arrived there the pups were out and about but on the far side of the clearing I saw a pride of 10 lions on a wildebeest kill. This caught our attention for a while until we saw 2 rhino stroll onto the clearing. For some reason a lioness took great interest in these two. We decided to make my way around towards the rhino to see if anything would prevail. Only then did I realise they were two black rhino. Little did we know what was about to happen The mother spotted the lioness and us. All of a sudden she came thundering down the clearing straight towards the vehicle. Caught in the moment I started snapping away at 8 frames per second. She covered the 60m with some serious speed whilst her calf was trailing close behind. At a few metres I realised she probably wasn’t going to stop. In one motion the camera dropped to my lap, thunderous shouting poured out my mouth with my right hand slapping the door. At the last moment she slammed to a halt and the dust from the charge engulfed us. I only managed to snap the last few pictures as she ran away. It was a very intense few seconds that left large amounts of adrenaline pumping through our bodies. The speed at which these large animals can move was a huge eye opener for the both of us. Some amazing shots.

Posted: Madikwe Safari Lodge by Marc Lindsay-Rea, Date: 22 January 2010

 
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