13 Jul 2014

Khama Rhino Sanctuary along Serowe/Orapa road is not only home to rhinos but a whole range of animals that can be viewed at any game reserve or game park around the country.

Employees of Radio Botswana recently undertook an excursion to the sanctuary where they had a feel of what it offered in terms of wild life tourism.

The team had to put on Khakhi gears because they were told that bright colours or colour blocking tended to traumatise animals and most wild animals did not take kindly to that.

Kgosi Sidiegeng Kgamane who earlier blessed the visit at the Serowe main kgotla was delighted to meet the team and said he was eager to join them but he had some engagement elsewhere. 

He however facilitated the donation of Khama Rhino sanctuary jacket to the leader of the team as a token of appreciation for the visit. The tone of the tour was set on arrival when chief warden Mr Moremi Tjibae said their trade mark at Khama Rhino Sanctuary was a smile.

He said Khama Rhino Sanctuary had nothing to do with President Seretse Khama Ian Khama except that he was a patron.

He said the sanctuary was actually a community Trust belonging to Serowe, Paje and Mabeleapudi residents. 

It has currently 49 employees on permanent basis.

The tour guides lived to their trade mark of a smile as they explained the behaviour of animals in a jovial mood making the trip a memorable one.

The first major stop within the Sanctuary was at Malema’s Pan where all the animals gather to quench their thirst after wandering through the Sanctuary measuring 4 300 hectares.

The tour guide Ms Bogolo Garebatho explained that the name of the Pan, Malema, had nothing to do with Babirwa tribal leader Mmirwa Malema.

She said the Pan owed its name to a man who was settled in the area but was relocated elsewhere to give room to Khama Rhino Sanctuary.

The Pan offers a variety of wildlife ranging from elands, wildebeests, zebras, impala, springbok, kudu, ostrich, hartebeest and others.

Predators that are found at the sanctuary include the leopard, brown hyena, the spotted hyena, the black backed jackal, bat eared fox and other smaller cats.

The side of the pan was peaceful and the animals seemed to have a leisurely time as there are no violent predators such as lions and there are also no elephants and buffaloes.

The tour guide said zebras and wildebeests like grazing side by side as they have a symbiotic relationship, zebras eat tall to medium grass, while wildebeest eat short grass. 

“Zebras kind of prone the grass for the wildebeests to feed with ease,” she said.

In terms of danger where safety is of paramount importance, wildebeests  tend to have a sharp sense of smell and as such they can smell and detect predators from afar and zebras have a strong sense of hearing and sight.

“While grazing zebras constantly lift up their heads and scan the veld to look and pick distant sounds from predators that could be lurking nearby,” said the tor guide.

Ms Garebatho said this relationship had turned zebras and wildebeests into very close associates even though they differ in many respects.         

She said the rhinos which were the major attraction were territorial animals and that males fight endlessly if they happen to stray into each other’s territorial grazing areas.

“A male rhino always like to have a large pool of females to mate with without any competition,” said the tour guide.The sanctuary has 54 rhinos with 49 white and five black.

Ms Garebatho said the colour had nothing to do with rhinos but their feeding habits and body size.

She said the white rhino was bigger and lived in open grasslands. It feeds on grass while the black rhino lives in thick forests and eats tree leaves and twigs.

The black rhino has a gestation period of between 16 to 18 months and the white rhino has a gestation period of 15 to 16 months. The female disappears from the family for a while and later comes back to introduce the new member of the family.

Nobdy, one of the black rhinos in the sanctuary gave the visitors a time of their lives when he approached the area where they were having lunch and they had a good time taking photographs of the rhino at a closer range.After the encounter with Nobdy the team wrapped up the visit and there was no doubt that the visit was worthwhile after two days of intensive discussions on how Radio Botswana can improve service delivery. ENDS