A RHINO ENCOUNTER

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In the late afternoon, we came across a rhino mother with her young calf. They moved calmly across the open landscape, staying close together. It was a quiet and special moment to witness in the wild. The following year, I returned to the same area and was delighted to find them again.
The calf had grown considerably and was now a strong young rhino, but the bond between mother and youngster was still clear. This time, I found them enjoying one of the simple pleasures of life in the wild — cooling off together in a muddy pool.
The scene created some wonderful opportunities to capture their natural behaviour and the changing relationship between mother and growing calf. Seeing them again a year later made the encounter even more special. It was a reminder that returning to the same places can reveal a completely different chapter in an animal’s life. Some wildlife encounters are best remembered without revealing exactly where they happened.
For this reason, I have deliberately chosen not to mention the name of the reserve or the precise location of this encounter. Protecting vulnerable wildlife must always come before sharing a location for the sake of a story.

The photographs remain a memory of two remarkable encounters — first with a mother and her young calf, and a year later with the same pair, now reunited in a muddy pool.