Territorial Dispute

Out this morning in a game drive and found these two heavyweights facing off. By the time we got close to the rhinos, they were scrapping hard, head butting each other and flicking their horn stumps across each other's faces with remarkable speed. The rhino who we thought to be the territory challenger was mostly in full reverse gear - they fought like this for three or four hundred yards till they came to a small dam where they ended up facing off while sliding about up to their midriffs in water. Three hippos in the dam watched from 50 feet away, apparently unconcerned.

My photos don't really capture the scene very well because both animals were moving quickly and were emitting thunderous grunts and a series of high pitched squeals as they bashed each other. Thankfully both animals had had their tusks removed - as all rhino do in this area to discourage poaching otherwise there might have been a lot more blood spilled.

This head to head challenge went on for 20 minutes or so. The challenger moved away a bit as if to conceed defeat, but was then chased, at some speed away from the water hole and several hundred metres into the distance. We also recorded this on video so I might try to upload a short clip, depending on the performance of the internet at Savannah Lodge where this dram took place.