Rhinos!!

On the way back to Kampala from Murchison Falls (pronounced mock-shin the locals have taught us) we made a very special stop! Sadly, rhinos became extinct in Uganda in 1983. In 2005, concerned citizens and advocates came together to create the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. They were gifted 4 rhinos from Kenya in 2005 to begin the reintroduction process. In 2006, Disney gifted 2 rhinos from Animal Kingdom and “out of the love” (as our guide told us 😂) of 1 of the rhinos from Kenya and 1 from Animal Kingdom, the first baby rhino was born in 2009! It was named… Barack Obama ❤️ Through their efforts, the sanctuary is now home to 37 rhinos! In the next years once they reach 45-50, they will transport 15-20 of them back into Murchison Falls National Park! Rhinos will officially be back where they belong in Uganda 🎉

While at the sanctuary, we got to walk around the grounds with our sweet guide James in the hopes of seeing a rhino on the large acreage. Not even 5 minutes in, we spotted our first 2. A few steps later, 2 more! Then a few steps later… the ultimate gift. A baby rhino who was just born 1 week ago!! She wasn’t even named yet so I put in a vote for “Aneesa”, which also happened to be the mother of James so we felt it was the perfect choice lol.

The guides and rangers work so hard to keep the rhinos safe and healthy! There is an armed guard with every group of rhinos at all times to ensure to citizen harms them. They know their names, ages, relationships, and preferences. The ones we met were:

1. Sonic back, 7.5 year oldboy (named after the electronic company who donated)
2. Zawadi, 7 year old boy
3. Laloyo, mom to Madam
4. Rhoda, young rhino
5. Madam, mom to baby rhino, also Laloya’s daughter.
6. New baby! So the new baby is Madam’s daughter and Laloya’s first grandchild babyRead more