Making rhino tracking possible for physically-challenged tourist

Tracking the now 14 rhinos on the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary of the Rhino Fund Uganda, to which entrance itself remains free, is done daily on foot, though access to a “jump off point” near to them is normally done by vehicle.

Once on foot, guided by qualified RFU guides and watched over by armed rangers – after all there is plenty of other game on the sanctuary, including leopard and reported lion presence on and off – the visitors to the sanctuary walk through the bush, and while doing so learn about the flora and fauna at Ziwa.

That, for some of the so called “wagenis,” a Kiswahili word for tourists, is already a bit of hard work when walking on their own two feet, but to track rhinos from a wheelchair is something quite different altogether.

Yet, the Rhino Fund has repeatedly now facilitated the visiting requests of people with physical challenges, especially those in wheelchairs, and a ranger is assigned to assist such a visitor by navigating through the bush and giving a helping hand to push where necessary.

People living with physical challenges, especially those with restricted movement abilities, often find themselves excluded from activities, especially while others go on a walking safari, but the Rhino Fund has made sure that such a challenge can be overcome, and literally everyone who does want to go tracking, on foot or in a wheelchair, can actually go and see the rhinos.

After the recent birth of another rhino girl, Ziwa is now home to 14 rhinos, and one more birth is expected before Easter this year, which will bring the number of Southern White rhinos to 15, just under 5 years after the first birth was recorded at Ziwa in June 2009 from an initial breeding stock of 3 adult males and 3 adult females.

For more information about the only place in Uganda where rhinos can be seen in the wild, visit www.rhinofund.org or www.facebook.com/rhino.uganda