Ethical Rhino Spotting in Eswatini

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I turn around and find myself face to face with a giant, 2-tonne rhino, staring me dead in the eye. She is standing with her back to her calf (who is nearly as big as her!), ears erect and ready to charge at a moment’s notice.

My heart is beating a million miles an hour, but remembering the advice of our guide, I back away slowly and crouch low. The rhino grunts and seems to lose interest. I daren’t quite relax, but I can’t take my eyes off her.

Where is Eswatini?

I’m in Eswatini on a walking safari. The Kingdom of Eswatini is a small country, landlocked between South Africa and Mozambique, previously known as Swaziland.

The country and the Swazi people take their names from King Mswati II, their 19th-century ruler who expanded and unified the country.

It operates under an absolute monarchy, the last of its kind in Africa, meaning that one person (the King in this case) has complete power over what happens within the state.

There have, of course, been some protests and controversy over this, but one of the good things about this monarch in Eswatini is that he is fiercely dedicated to preserving and protecting Swazi wildlife.

This is the fourth rhino we’ve seen today, and I’m no less stunned by her than I was by the first. Nowadays, there are around 100 white rhinos left in Eswatini, and they’re given the highest protection possible by the Kingdom.

Mkhaya National Park, where we are staying, won’t disclose the number of white rhinos they have, and they operate inside a 100km² area, large parts of which are fenced off to protect endangered species within it.

The entire park is constantly patrolled by Swazi rangers, who are ready to shoot any potential poachers on sight. It’s intense!

Read More: Tanzania Unveiled: Where Wildlife, Culture, and Adventure Collide

Protecting Rhinos: Why Are Rhinos So Endangered?

Rhino hunting is a cruel and unnecessary trade, based on a belief that rhino horns (simply made of keratin, the same substance that’s in our hair and fingernails!) contain medicinal qualities for curing many different ailments.

Nothing in modern medicine has so far proven rhino horns to have any healing powers at all, so it is tremendously sad that these beautiful animals are being killed for something that probably does not work at all.

Add to that: you actually don’t need to kill a rhino at all to use its horn! You can shave their horns painlessly and use the resulting powder.

Because of this, there have even been calls to legalise the trade of rhino horn, to stop poaching and allow those who want to use the powdered horn to buy it legally without costing rhinos their lives.

To see Mkhaya, you’d never imagine it could house these prehistoric giants, with its dry grassland dotted with a few thorny acacia trees.

Our guide is an experienced Swazi ranger who clearly has respect for every single plant and creature in the national park, whether it be medicinal plants, rhinos or feisty little dung beetles.

Spotting the First Rhino

Though we had been told we’d have a 50/50 chance of spotting any rhinos at all, we had barely been walking for half an hour when the guide raised his hand, motioning for us to stop and be quiet.

Around 10 feet ahead, wallowing in a muddy pool, was a gigantic male rhino, cooling off from the midday heat. We crouched low, watching in silence. It was surreal to be so close, with nothing standing between us. The rhino, however, wasn’t interested in us at all; he was far too busy enjoying his mud bath.

Seeing a rhino in person is an experience that’s hard to describe – if you imagine a dinosaur, you wouldn’t be far from reality.

That’s without mentioning the imposing horn, which, sadly, many rhinos no longer have since they need to be trimmed to deter poachers.

Rhinos with calves are naturally very protective, but otherwise (as long as you have a ranger with you!), it’s actually not too dangerous to be on a walking safari with white rhinos. They tend to be much calmer and more docile than their cousins, the much more aggressive black rhino.

Our guide explained in hushed tones that this rhino was a solo male and that he was around 30 years old. He did nothing but grunt away to himself in the mud and occasionally roll slightly to one side, but we were all completely entranced by him.

More Rhino Encounters

Thinking we’d had our encounter for the day, we moved on and came out into a clearing, where, to our complete shock, there were another two rhinos. This time, a mother and a nearly fully grown calf.

We were less than a couple of feet away and had come out of nowhere. Naturally, the mother was quite taken aback. Our guide motioned to us hastily to back away and crouch down, but the surprise was too much for the mother, who suddenly began to scrape her feet as though she might charge.

Our hearts were in our stomachs, and we stayed motionless and silent as our guide stepped forward and raised his hands in the air. She could easily have taken out any of us with even the slowest run-up.

To our amazement, although the guide had not come into contact with her at all, the rhino calmed down. She was still watching us warily, huffing a little.

Our guide explained that he had managed to make himself look big enough that she saw him as a threat – seeing the size of this pretty slim man, compared to the absolute behemoth that was this rhino, that was hard to believe!

It seemed he knew his stuff, as she allowed us to leave quietly without any issues.

As we continue through the bush, we see our fourth rhino (the one peering at me through the bushes), her grown calf (the fifth), another family of three, and even a small herd of giraffes. We can’t believe our luck, but the best was yet to come.

Sightings of rhinos are never guaranteed in Mkhaya, as the animals are completely wild and unrestricted in their range within the reserve.

Read More: Journey Through Tembe Elephant Park: A Community of Wildlife Conservation

The Best Part of the Day

As we’re heading back to the car, ready to leave after two incredible hours, our guide suddenly stops and points silently, gesturing to us to step closer and look through the bush in front of us.

Barely able to believe my eyes, I spotted them: a mother and a tiny calf, barely a few weeks old, playing in a muddy puddle and having the time of his life.

The mother was massive, her ears twitching as she listened for any sign of danger. The calf was so tiny it could barely stay upright and wobbled slightly, eventually flopping down to splash about in the puddle – unbelievably adorable.

We couldn’t get so close, as the mother was very protective, but witnessing such a rare and intimate moment in the wild was unreal. We stood there for several minutes, completely blown away, before the mother snorted softly and led her calf away into the dense bush.

By the end of the safari, we had seen nine different rhinos, each encounter unique and humbling. The memory of that tiny calf, full of fragile innocence yet facing an uncertain future, stayed with me.

It was a reminder of the importance of conservation and the need to protect these giants of the wild, ensuring that future generations could also stand in awe of their presence, just as we had that day.

If You Go

How to Get to Eswatini

It’s not so easy to fly to Mbabane (the capital of Eswatini), so it’s best to overland there from South Africa. You can take a bus to Eswatini from Johannesburg or Mbombela (Nelspruit) in South Africa.

This would go to the capital city, Mbabane, from which you can book a tour to the National Parks, and can be booked online via Busbud.

Alternatively, you can book a car and drive across the border (which is what we did). We hired a car through Expedia, which had the best rates, and then messaged the company through the Expedia app to confirm we would be able to take it across the border. This was all really easy and problem-free!

Travelling with a Tour Provider

We organised this trip ourselves (more on how to do this below), but if you want to use a tour provider, I heard excellent things about Safaribookings.com, whose route we used as a basis for our trip.

Putting This Trip Together Independently

To book this trip yourself, you can go directly to Mkhaya National Park – you can email them here, specifying that you want to stay at Mkhaya (as they also service other national parks in Eswatini).

The package we booked was the 24-hour package (from 4 pm to 4 pm), which we had heard would give us the best chance to see rhinos.

Their accommodation within the national park can all be booked directly too. It is quite rustic (no electricity or internet!), but the lodges are beautiful and it’s a very immersive experience with nature.

There are lots of other excellent national parks in Eswatini, such as Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary (there are no rhinos or predators, but they have a lot of endangered antelope and rare bird species) and Hlane Royal National Park (the biggest in Eswatini). You can find out more about these other parks here.

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Author Bio: Emma is a responsible travel writer from the North East of England, specialising in ethical wildlife encounters, local accommodations and cultural, community-based tourism. She has been working in travel and tourism for 10 years and has seen first hand the impacts of traditional extractive tourism – her goal these days is to further the lifespan of the industry with regenerative tourism and responsible travel, so that we can all enjoy travel for as long as possible, and so that local communities, our ecosystems and wildlife come first.