Photo POSTcard: A Privileged Sighting of Southern White Rhinos

Southern white rhino at Lake Nakuru National Park in Kenya

Last Updated on 10/14/20 by Rose Palmer

We were very fortunate to briefly spot a few southern white rhinos in Lake Nakuru National Park in Kenya.

These white rhinos, as well as their black rhino cousins were relocated to this fenced in park to help protect them from poachers. The horn of the rhino has long been favored as an Asian medicinal remedy, which has brought this majestic animal close to extinction all across the globe. The powdered horn, which is nothing more than keratin, the same material that is in hair and fingernails, is ground up and dissolved in boiling water, and used to treat ailments such as fever, rheumatism and gout. As a chemist, I know that biting my finger nails doesn’t help me with a fever, so there is no chemical reason that a ground up rhino horn should either.

The statistics are sad and scary – 3 rhinos are poached on average every day across Africa and 2 rhino species have fewer than 80 animals living in the wild. Will my grandchildren have the same opportunity to see these great creatures in their natural habitat like I did?

Please consider giving your help and support to rhino conservation at https://www.savetherhino.org/.

Thanks for visiting.

Rose