When Harry met Manje

Since we let the cat out of the bag earlier this week about HRH Prince Harry’s visit to Khulula Care for Wild there have been 2 questions on everybody’s mind: “How long did it take him to grow that magnificent beard?” and “What exactly did he get up to at Khulula?” Unfortunately we don’t have any intel on the former, but we do know how the visit went.

HRH Prince Harry and party arrived at Khulula Care for Wild just after mid day. His “party” included his friend Earl Grosvenor, son of the Duke of Westminster and godfather to Prince George, as well as bodyguards and a representative from the Kruger National Park.

They made it to Khulula later than anticipated due to some traffic problems en route – something even a royal party isn’t immune to!

To make up for lost time, they headed straight to the bottom boma to help with the feeding round. While we sadly don’t have any pictures of Prince Harry feeding the rhino, you can see Khulula volunteers at work, feeding that particular group of rhino, which includes both black rhino and white rhino.

Heading back up the hill, Prince Harry met some of the youngest rhino, much beloved little Warren and Olive.

After a light lunch in project director Petronel Niewoudt’s house, it was back to the rhino bomas to spend time with the adolescent rhino Mia, Manje and Venus. Prince Harry spent some time sitting with Manje, rubbing and tickling her. Petronel then took Prince Harry and Hugh Grosvenor into the enclosure of Storm and Luna, at 18 and 24 months the two biggest rhino at Khulula Care for Wild.

Being down-to-earth young men, they did not hesitate to get their hands dirty in helping prepare a nice mud bath for the rhino!

They finished the afternoon by spending more time chatting to the volunteers and posing for the official photos. Ivan, Petronel’s son, was very excited to share a little moment with Prince Harry. Needless to say, the visit caused quite a stir.

We are very grateful to HRH Prince Harry for giving his support to wildlife conservation, and we hope that he enjoyed meeting the team at Khulula – and its charismatic rhino residents!