Uganda's rhinos became extinct nearly 30 years ago, during the time of Ida Amin, due to civil unrest and heavy poaching...
BUT, a few years ago Rhino Fund Uganda started a rhino sanctuary that can eventually house up to 50 rhinos! They started with 4 in 2005, and then received 2 more from Disney's Wild Kingdom last year. They are expecting the first baby rhinos to be born later this year!
Eventually, the rhinos will be re-introduced to Uganda's national parks...
The rhino sanctuary is surrounded by an electric fence to keep the rhinos in while keeping poachers out...and there are rangers who monitor the rhinos 24-7. Visitors are welcome to see the white rhinos from as close as 30-50 meters away.
So, we piled in the car and headed to the rhino sanctuary in Nakasangola district...arriving a few hours later...
Our guide met us at the gate and we headed toward where the rhinos were...driving part way but then walking the rest of the way away from the road.
Just then, we could see the first rhino...laying in the shade of some trees. As we got a little closer we noticed the other three rhinos that were also there. You can just see in the background how close I am to the rhinos!
A couple times a rhino would stand up and we were able to see how large these animals really are...they can reach up to 2.5 tons! They seemed to look right at us...but never came toward us.
The guides know them each by name and call their names to calm them down when they appear to be agitated. After getting our fill of pictures, we headed back to the cars, to lunch, and then back to Kampala.
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