Khama Rhino Sanctuary
From Tswehe we cruised northwest to Khama Rhino Sanctuary, a long-established community-based protective reserve for black and white rhinos.
Camp at Khama Rhino Sanctuary
Ken suggested a visit to Khama to me late last year as a “let’s make sure we get to see some rhinos” option as a concluding activity for the larger group. I took care of the booking arrangements for the sanctuary: two nights with an evening guided game drive on the arrival day, a morning drive the next day, and the opportunity for self driving before we bolted for Maun.
We arrived at camp by about 2pm, giving us plenty of time to setup camp and prepare for our game drive. Tee would be our guide and he came by camp just before 4pm to take us out on a 2 hour rhino-seeking expedition.
Black rhino hiding in the bush
In 2024 we struck out on seeing two species that mattered to us: rhinos and secretarybirds. Leaving Gonarezhou, Scott had an incredible sighting of a black rhino in the bush and we were able to get a few evidence photos taken, but nothing of any quality. But at least we saw a rhino in the wild! Within 15 minutes of our game drive at Khama several group members and our guide simultaneously saw a black rhino in the bush, giving us a slightly better view. Our guide let Karen and I creep out of the vehicle for a few steps to get low and get a better photo. As you can see these leaf-browsing bush-hiding smaller rhinos are elusive and rest open, high quality photos.
White rhinos in the plains
Soon after this we started seeing more of the massive white rhinos: bigger horns, wider lips for grazing the grasses, and simply huge. They often wander the open plains giving more chances for great photos.
White Rhinoceros baby
We were staring at one of these in the distance when our guide quickly started up the engine and started driving away, saying “we’ll come back to see this guy and get closer”. Ok… and soon after we pulled up near another guide vehicle where a mom and baby where cruising by the road, about to cross. We got some great photos and sat for a long time watching how the two behaved together.
White Rhinoceros butts
An interesting note: our guide was very reluctant to share any information with two different vehicles self-driving - he had noticed one of them making excessive noises to try to flush a rhino from the bush, and another speeding around the park (and passengers drinking beer). “They are naughty” he said. We quickly learned to keep our mouths shut and not point at the rhinos we were observing as the vehicles passed us by, oblivious to what we were monitoring.
Flip 7 with headlamps
We had dinner at the restaurant that evening, bracing ourselves for a limited menu and poor service based on the reviews we had been reading. We weren’t disappointed: I had to fall back to my fourth choice on the menu, a barely-any-meat t-bone steak. Service was slow, food was generally poor, and the power went out about 8pm. Still, we had a blast, filling our time playing Flip 7 with our headlamps and celebrating Ken and Tenya’s wedding anniversary.
It is possible the power was out because of a massive storm that hit us that evening: thunder and lightning, some rain, and very high winds. I got about an hour of sleep that night because of the gusts constantly rattling our tent, and it got cold overnight. The game drive the next morning was an exercise in endurance as we roamed around with gloomy skies, bitterly cold wind, and animals mostly hunkered down. We did see some more rhino, giraffe, and a lot of ground birds who seemed less impacted by the wind and cold.
Back at camp we made the quick decision to bolt north to Maun. A day hanging around camp with the winds increasing throughout the day (steady 25 mph, gusting into the 40s) wasn’t high on anybody’s list. The weather forecast in Maun: sunny and 93. We booked rooms for all of us and left the sanctuary.
Overall the visit was worth it: our guide was excellent, the rhino sightings and birds were fantastic. And our first springbok antelope sightings of the trip happened there. The apathy of the hospitality staff and the poor quality of the restaurant are concerning. This is a management and leadership problem - with a captive restaurant audience like this they have an opportunity to increase staff, make the menu as printed actually available, and provide a level of service that attracts day visitors and overnight campers like us to come back for a second visit.
