International Lifestyle Magazine Issue 49 | Page 16

All photos on this page credit: Dave Hamman Photography

other wildlife the chance to recover to sustainable numbers. Rhino and other species found reprieve through committed individuals in unity for their protection. Together a partnership for the rhino was formed amongst community members, government, and national and international partners. Now Namibia hosts the largest free-ranging black rhino population on the planet or 28 percent of the total black rhino population.

Yet Namibia’s rhino remain under threat. Although far less rhino are poached in Namibia than in South Africa, if poaching were to increase to match South African statistics, Namibia’s rhino could be decimated in just 2 years. This is compounded by the fact that recovery rates are slow due to low reproductive rates. A black rhino cow only gives birth to one calf every 2 ½ to 3 years. Black rhinos are one of the rhino species most

under threat and they are classified as critically endangered, meaning that they are at an extremely high risk of going extinct in the wild. In Namibia there are increasing threats as bordering countries clamp down on security and Asian mining companies encroach onto rhino territories. Yet Save the Rhino Trust and its partners are prepared for the worst. The survival of an entire species is in our hands. If rhinos represent

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