Black Rhinos are native to eastern and southern Africa, and although the animal is referred to as black, its colours vary from brown to grey. Unlike other Black Rhino populations, the ones of this region of Namibia are usually unsociable, tending to live in small groups. A mother will remain with her calf for around two and a half years. Enough time for the youngster to obtain all the vital methods of surviving in one of the toughest habitats on the planet!
These specially adapted individuals can withstand scorching heat; in excess of 40°C (100°F), but can also cope with the below freezing temperatures common after dark in Namibia's arid regions. Black Rhinos are least active during the heat of the day (between 10am and 3pm) when they take to the shade of large rocks. They become more active after dark when the temperatures drop.
Black Rhinos are browsers (i.e. they eat trees, bushes and shrubs), as opposed to their White Rhino cousins, which are grazers. Remarkably, the Namib Desert Black Rhino has evolved to survive without water for 2 or 3 days! The population density of the Black Rhino in the desert plains of northwestern Namibia is one rhino per 100 km2, and still the Black Rhinos in Namibia make up to one third of the world's remaining rhino population! That is a scary statistic.
The area where we will be walking and driving today holds the only population of Black Rhinoceros outside a protected area anywhere in the world. They do cover huge distances in search of food and water and have big territories so it might take a great tracking effort to find them. During the tracking we will encounter various other species of game including Gemsbok, Springbok, Hartmann's Mountain Zebra and hopefully also African Elephant.