Nhlanhla, or “Baby N” as he was more commonly known as, was brought to HESC on the 13th of April 2016. Fortunately, he had not been a victim of poaching, but had been sadly rejected by his mother, who did not show interest in feeding him.  A ranger from a nearby game reserve caught sight of the skinny calf, and called in for help.

He was tiny at two weeks old, and would have soon died without any intervention. Baby N was in terrible shape, he was dehydrated, skinny, and extremely tired. It was pure luck that the ranger caught sight of him, and called for help. Hence it was decided that he would be named “Nhlanhla” meaning “lucky” in the IsiZulu language.

Fortunately he drank the milk formula we gave him, and it took just over fifteen hours, until his first urination, which was a good sign. He slept well that first night.
It was decided Baby N needed the extra loving services of Lammie, the sheep, our centre’s greatest mother.  She stayed by his side, together with our curators, until he was better.

Within six days of his arrival, Baby N had picked up 5Kg’s, and weighed 46Kg. He made good progress, fast.
Due to his mother rejecting him, Baby N’ system did not receive colostrum into it at that vital stage of his growth, and a lack of colostrum made him very susceptible to infections. He started to experience chronic diarrhea, which eventually had to be treated with a plasma transplant, which Doctor Rogers sourced from the older rhino’s. The idea is that the antibodies would help his immune system to fight against the bacteria in his system, that was causing the consistent diarrhea. It worked, and he soon got better.

He turned out to be quite an independent little rhino, always up to something of his own, and very playful, often bursting into “rhino gallops”. Not long after he arrived, we received another two baby rhinos, (Olivia and Khulula), his new siblings, as fate would have it.

Over the months that followed Nhanhla continued to spend time with Olivia and Khulula, but found a special connection to Lula that arrived at the centre nearly a year after his arrival.

In November 2017, Baby N was no longer much of a baby, as he was officially weaned!
Currently Nhlanha shares land with Khulula, Olivia, Lula, Stompie and Balu. This works well, with all of them getting along well, with an equal ratio of males and females.

We need all the help we can get to look after these costly rhinos! Security being our biggest cost at the moment. You can Foster Nhlanhla or any of the rhinos, for as little as USD12, or R200. Please help us continue doing what we are doing, by donating where you can! To Donate towards all of the Rhinos, and HESC in General please click HERE