Today, we are going to show you one of the ways we track and protect our rhinos here in South Africa—through dehorning and collaring.

It’s 6 AM at Lionspruit Game Reserve, just south of Kruger National Park, and we are gearing up for an exciting day ahead. We’re darting and collaring two male white rhinos, named Peanut and Flippy. Unfortunately, these are the last two remaining rhinos on the reserve. While we’re here for the collaring, we will also check the condition of the veld, to see if there is enough adequate open space and therefore food- due to bush encroachment it will likely require supplemental feeding of the rhinos during the winter months. We will also meet with the team to assess funding and anti-poaching arrangements to potentially add a third female so that the rhinos can breed.

Although this state-owned reserve spans only 1,500 hectares, it houses a large amount of biodiversity—buffalo, giraffes, zebras, wildebeest, blesbok, crocodiles, impalas, warthogs, and we hope that eventually, it will support a small but thriving rhino herd.

Why are we performing a collaring and dehorning operation today? Peanut’s telemetry collar no longer has signal, while Flippy’s collar works on a sporadic basis.. 

Our partners for today’s operation are Kerry David from Over and Above Africa, Deidre Joubert with Wild & Free Rehabilitation Center, veterinarian Chris Smith from African Wildlife Vets who sponsored the veterinary time and drugs, and representatives from the Nkomazi Local Municipality. Thank you all for joining us on this important conservation mission.