What’s a rhino boma?

A boma is an enclosure for an animal or animals. The rhino boma at Shamwari Game Reserve is used as a safe haven to rehabilitate injured or orphaned rhino until they are strong enough to be released back into the wild.

African Travel, Inc. and Lion World Travel staff recently traveled to South Africa and had the opportunity to help build a rhino boma for the current rhino “crash,” – Noelle, Winston and Chip at Shamwari.

 

Learn more about Noelle, Winston and Chip and their journey at Shamwari here.

From digging to drilling to nailing, staff helped build a larger enclosure for the rhino crash. Here are a few photos of their labor.

 

 

 

 

Thank you to Shamwari for the opportunity to help with rhino conservation. Are you interested in learning how you can help? When guests book Majestic South Africa, we will be donating $50 per couple, in their name, to go towards building a new rhino boma at Shamwari. 

Out of all the amazing adventures we experienced during our staff educational trip in South Africa, micro-chipping a rhino was definitely the most special.

Our day started bright and early with a wake-up call at 5:30am. The schedule of the day was a surprise as the team at Shamwari were unsure if they would be able to find the rhino that needed to be micro-chipped in the time allotted. We met with the other half of our group in an open field and also met with Dr. Johan Joubert, head veterinarian at Shamwari, chief ecologist John O’Brien and Rodney Visser, head of Shamwari’s group security.

Dr. Joubert explained the process of micro-chipping a rhino and the importance of doing this type of work so that their team is able to monitor and locate rhinos to prevent poaching. Rodney explained that fortunately, in the past five years, there have been no poaching incidents at Shamwari. This is largely due to the success of his anti-poaching unit that is always on patrol.

In order to micro-chip the rhino, Dr. Joubert explained the type of drug that needed to be used and how the dosage was important as too much could affect the rhino’s blood levels and we could also have issues waking the rhino up after the implantation of the micro-chips. In addition to micro-chipping, DNA samples would also need to be collected from the hair from the rhino tail as well as from shavings from the rhino horn.

Shamwari has an extensive rhino conservation program. To assist the local anti-poaching team with identification, all rhino's will have their ears notched. Additionally, rhinos are also fitted with three microchips and DNA genotyped. The resident veterinarian will immobilize a rhino once in its lifetime to do the procedures. For the rhino’s safety, there was a helicopter on site during the darting process. 

Did you know 95 per cent of rhinos have been wiped off the face of the earth in the past four decades?

After speaking with the team at Shamwari, we received the great news that the rhino had been located! Everyone hopped into their vehicles and off we went to the location where we spotted three white rhinos.

Dr. Joubert pointed out which rhino we needed to micro-chip and he took aim with his tranquilizer gun. With a swift “pfft,” sound, Dr. Joubert shot the gun and the rhinos took off running. We watched from a distance as one of the rhino slowed down and after a couple of minutes eventually laid down. We quickly drove over to where the rhino was and Dr. Joubert and John ran out from the vehicle and quickly covered the rhino’s eyes and plugged his ears. Although tranquilized, the rhino is still coherent so a mask and earplugs help keep the animal calm.