Khama Rhino Sanctuary

The first stop on our journey to the northern part of Botswana was the Khama Rhino Sanctuary; established in 1992, the sanctuary is a “community based wildlife project” aimed at “saving the vanishing rhinoceros, restore an area formerly teeming with wildlife to its previous natural state and provide economic benefits to the local Botswana community through tourism and the sustainable use of natural resources”.

Khama Rhino is home to both white and black rhinos, totally over 50 rhinos all together. While students had the opportunity to see a few white rhinos at the Mokolodi Nature Reserve and learn more about the threats to the species, the sanctuary deepened students’ knowledge and provided them with new perspectives (and viewing so many magnificent animals in close proximity was a crowd favorite for sure). After a lesson on ex-situ conservation and an introduction to the Khama Rhino Sanctuary, students embarked on a game drive that resulted in a couple rhino sightings, lots of zebras, a spotting of the national bird (kori bustard (kgori)) and the first giraffe sightings of the trip.

The day culminated in an organized debate between students, in which one group was pro ex-situ conservation and one was anti ex-situ conservation as the best way to maintain biodiversity and the survival of various plants and animals. Ex-situ conservation refers to supporting animals and plants outside of their natural habit by creating a similar environment. The Khama Rhino Sanctuary is an example of ex-situ conservation as the rhinos were relocated from their original habitats and are now protected in an enclosed environment. In-situ conservation would be conservation efforts for animals that leaves them in their natural habitats. Students did a great job using knowledge from the past couple weeks of classes and from the lesson at the rhino sanctuary to create a lively back and forth. As we head up to the Okavango Delta next, students will learn more about in-situ conservation and engage in another debate.