Smithsonian - A Movable Best
A Movable Beast
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The rhino population in Africa has fallen by more than 95 percent since 1900, to just 21,000 southern white rhinos and 5,000 black rhinos; 80 percent of those animals are in South Africa’s game reserves and on ranches. In a response to the dire situation that is facing rhinos in Africa, with rhino poaching at an all-time high, concerned conservationists teamed together to create Rhinos Without Borders. RWB plans to relocate 100 white rhinos from South Africa to safe havens in Botswana, where poaching is almost non-existent.
Along with writer Todd Pitcock, I rode along on the first convoy from Free State, South Africa to the Okavango Delta - a 1500km journey with 15 rhinos, the largest transportation of rhinos ever attempted.
Published in:
Smithsonian Magazine
photographs by Jason Florio
words by Todd Pitock