At the end of a work trip through East Africa, I made one final stop in Uganda for a walking safari at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, about three hours north of Kampala on the road to Murchison Falls. It turned out to be one of the most unique wildlife encounters I have been fortunate to experience.

A Second Chance for Uganda’s Rhinos

Uganda’s rhinos were completely wiped out by the early 1980s, a casualty of years of rampant poaching that followed the political upheaval of the Idi Amin regime. Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary was established in 2005 to bring them back, providing a protected breeding ground for southern white rhinos with the eventual goal of reintroducing them into Uganda’s national parks.

The first calf born here in 2009 came from a father donated by Kenya and a mother donated by Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Florida. So of course the rangers named him Obama. Nearly two decades later, that founding pair’s legacy has paid off in a big way and Ziwa is now home to 51 white rhinos (27 males and 24 females), all protected round-the-clock by armed rangers.

Tracking Rhinos on Foot

I set off on foot into the sanctuary with my ranger Emmanuel and an armed escort, looking to track down some rhinos. This was tracking done the old-fashioned way – following footprints, freshly broken branches and steaming dung piles through tall grass and scattered brush. After a 15 minute trek we finally came upon our first rhino family. We crept gingerly to within just a few meters of the rhinos as they grazed, utterly unbothered by our presence. Over the next two hours we tracked down one more family in a different part of the sanctuary.

Encountering a two-ton prehistoric animal on foot, rather than from behind the safety of a jeep window, was equally terrifying yet exhilarating. We watched in silent awe to the sound of grass crunching and tearing under the enormous jaws of the rhinos, and we jumped at their occasional snort. We were so close, that we could see every crease and scar on their thick grey hides.

My visit to Ziwa was proof that the best safaris don’t always happen in a 4×4 – sometimes they happen on foot at rhino pace.