Zimbabwe is the final destination in my Africa trip that I have to write about on my blog and I’ve definitely saved one of the best until last. We didn’t spend a lot of time in the country; only three days with two of those being driving days travelling between Zambia and South Africa. But the one full day we had was definitely a highlight for me given the range of cool things we got to see. On this day, we visited Matobo National Park. Chances are you have never heard of it, but it came highly recommended to me from my cousin who went the year before. In this post, I’ll be sharing why you absolutely must visit Matobo National Park!
Walking with rhinos in Matobo National Park
The main reason you must visit Matobo National Park is for the opportunity to track White Rhinos on foot! This is the ultimate wildlife encounter for animal lovers. We got UNBELIEVABLY close to these beautiful animals in a non-invasive way. Whilst white rhinos are much bigger than black rhinos, they are less aggressive. If approached respectfully, they will tolerate your presence and allow you to get quite close. The guides running the tours have formed a relationship with the animals and have a way of communicating with them to make them aware of our presence in a non-threatening way.
Our first sighting
The first thing we did when we arrived in the park was go on a walk looking for rhinos, and we managed to find the two young males pictured above. As we approached the rhinos, our guide mimicked the sounds they use to communicate to each other so that they knew where we were and would be comfortable with our presence. They didn’t care about us at all, though they did keep one ear pointed in our direction so they could hear what we were up to. We all had to do our part to make sure they were comfortable with our presence, too, staying crouched in a group and staying as quiet as possible.
The ultimate encounter
In the afternoon, we decided we wanted to go for more walks to try see more rhinos. This time, it took a couple of tries but we were rewarded with the best sighting of them all: a mother rhino with a 9-day-old calf! We approached in the same way, with our guide making sounds and gestures to alert her to our presence. But mum wasn’t particularly happy having us around and quickly moved off into the bush. Not before we could catch a glimpse of her baby and capture some photos, though! I never expected to see a baby rhino in the wild and certainly not so close. It’s definitely a memory I’ll treasure forever.
Some rhino conservation facts
There are five rhino species in the world, two of which are found in Africa and all of which are threatened by poaching and habitat loss.
Matobo National Park has the highest concentration of both black and white rhinos in Africa, but in 2018 it was expected that the rhinos in this park cannot be protected for more than five years. That means that if things have stayed the same, there’s only THREE years left for them now in 2020.
Rhino horn is made out of the same stuff as our fingernails and hair and it grows back. It doesn’t have any medicinal benefit despite the beliefs of many, but there is the potential for sustainable harvest.
In 2018, the conservation actions being undertaken by Matobo National Park included de-horning, a fencing project and anti-poaching patrols. De-horning isn’t particularly successful, however, as the price of rhino horn is so high that poachers will kill for even the smallest stump of horn.
So what can we do about it?
If you visit somewhere like Matobo National Park, you’ll be asked to make sure you turn off any location tags on your photos. This is because if you post those photos on social media, poachers can use the location tag to find the exact spot you saw the rhino and go hunt it down. It’s scary to think something so simple can have such a huge impact.
Of course, raising awareness and donating to organisations such as the Matobo Rhino Trust if you can are important as well. By going on a tour such as this one in Matobo National Park, you will be supporting the conservation of this incredible species!
There’s more to Matobo National Park than just wildlife
The thing I really loved about Matobo National Park was that it was about more than just the Rhinos. We saw a couple of other animal species, including this dung beetle and a super rare black eagle! Furthermore, there are lots of scenic and cultural places to visit as well, making Matobo National Park somewhere you absolutely must visit!
Cave paintings
A highlight for me was a hike up to a cave with Bushman paintings. These paintings are at least 13,000 years old and evidence from archaeology and paintings in this area indicate bushmen were living in this area for at least 500,000 years! They were absolutely beautiful and there were so many different animals painted.
This cave is also home to a ‘shadow painting’ which is quite possibly the coolest thing ever. If you just look at the wall you won’t see anything there, but if the shadow hits the wall at just the right spot a painting of a woman will appear! Our guide explained to us about these shadow paintings but I can’t remember exactly what he said… I believe they are supposed to represent some kind of protective spirit and there are only a few known examples in the area. Don’t quote me on any of that though!
Incredible landscapes
We also visited World’s View and Rhodes’ Grave. It costs $10 USD to go up to the top of the viewpoint (which is about $16 AUD) so a friend and I chose to save some money and wander around the area at the bottom. The view was still quite good in my opinion! The landscape in Matobo National Park is really unique and beautiful, and I enjoyed seeing it both from World’s View and as we drove around the park.
Our guide was really incredible and taught us a lot about the local landscape and plants. One of the most interesting plants was a small forb which is supposed to have healing properties. It works by rubbing the leaves between your hands with water, which creates a natural after-sun lotion! I was super burnt at the time so I like to think it helped. If nothing else, it was very interesting to learn and try.
Cultural experiences
At one point in our day we visited a local market where we could buy crafts made by the locals. There was also the option to visit a local village within the park but we chose to look for more rhinos instead. I would have preferred to visit the village than go to World’s View as it sounds like it would have been a really interesting cultural experience meeting the chief. You’ll have to let me know what it’s like if you go!
Why you should upgrade to a full day tour
If you’re travelling with Acacia Africa, your Adventure Pass will include a half day tour to walk with Rhinos at Matobo National Park, with the option to upgrade to a full day tour. When I was reading the description back home, I thought I probably wouldn’t upgrade because it didn’t sound that great. However, once I got there and met the guide who would be taking us, he really sold it and made it sound awesome! So I, like everyone else in my group, decided to upgrade to a full day. Which I HIGHLY recommend.
If we hadn’t upgraded to the full day, we wouldn’t have gone to see the cave paintings (which were the best I saw in Africa) and we would have missed out on seeing the baby Rhino! Half a day is just not long enough to really experience this incredible National Park.
If you’ve read my Wildlife of Africa post, you’ll know that if it weren’t for the range of wildlife at Etosha National Park, Matobo would make the top spot for my top place for viewing wildlife. But due to the range of things you can do, I’d actually recommend it more. Long story short, Matobo National Park is definitely somewhere you must visit once in your lifetime!
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