I'll remember the moment for the rest of my life...mostly in a cold sweat at 3 am.Me,standing unprotected,too far from the jeep for a run to safety turning around to find a mother rhino just 25 metres away and facing my way That was back in late 2018,when I was fortunate to be on safari in Sabi Sands Game Reserve in South Africa,one of the best places on the continent to see wild rhino,whose numbers are dwindling.From more than half a million at the beginning of the 20fh century the World Wildlife Fund estimates that just 27 000 remain worldwide.There are five surviving species of rhino:the black rhino and the white rhino in Africa; and the Javan,Sumatran and greater one-horned rhinos in Asia.All are threatened to some extent.As for most threatened species,loss of habitat is a big factor in the decline of rhinos in the wild.But poaching also places enormous pressure on animals that are already too close to extinction.According to data from UK-based conservation charity Save the Rhino,numbers of African rhinos poached rose alarmingly from 60 in 2006 to 1346 in 2015,roughly where this story begins.
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