Golola Rhino Orphanage and Rehabilitation Centre

DO

There aren’t many places in the world where you can gain hands-on experience with rhinos rehabilitation. The Golola Rhino Rehabilitation Project offers just that, under the guidance of skilled professionals with extensive knowledge and passion to share. You will be an integral part of this small team assisting with the daily care and monitoring of white and black rhinos:

Care for baby rhinos

Many of the orphaned rhinos are injured and emotionally distressed on arrival at the project. You’ll help to care for and rehabilitate them so that they can eventually be released back into nature.

• Prepare milk formula and bottle feed the baby rhinos
• Saw off branches with fresh leaves for the black rhinos and put out grass for the white rhinos
• Work as part of a team, keeping a baby rhino warm and calm throughout the day and night
• Clean the rhino enclosures by mucking out, replacing hay and scrubbing feeding troughs
• Create mud wallows for the rhinos to bathe in
• Accompany staff exercising the rhinos in the bush
• Be guided through vet nursing work, such as helping clean and dress a wound

Monitor rhinos in a big 5 reserve

Once they’re old enough, the rehabilitated rhinos are released into a big 5 wildlife reserve which is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Monitoring the interactions and success of the breeding populations across the site is another key part of rhino conservation work at this project.

• Record data on breeding behaviour
• Assess and record how well-rehabilitated rhinos are integrating into the existing rhino population and whether they are adapting to their new environment
• See lions, leopards, giraffes, elephants and Africa’s other large charismatic animals in their natural habitat
• Capture the moment with your perfect wildlife photo

Assist with scientific research

Conservationists are some of the few people who get excited about dung and the story it tells. But don’t worry, there’s more to research than just the animal droppings.

• Observe a veterinarian taking blood samples to measure things like oxygen and glucose content, useful indicators of rhino health 
• Look at rhino dung under a microscope and record the numbers and species of parasites, another health indicator
• Monitor baby rhinos’ milk intake, teeth development and physical growth

Work with anti-poaching dogs

Poaching is the primary reason for baby rhinos being orphaned. While you would never be tracking poachers, anti-poaching walks can provide useful information on poaching activity and an opportunity to learn about plants, birds and bushcraft along the way.

• Work alongside a qualified ranger and dog handler
• Help care for the anti-poaching dogs
• Help train the dogs to look for signs of poachers

LEARN

Alongside a ton of practical experience (see the ‘Do’ tab for details), you’ll learn first-hand about the behaviour, threats, conservation, protection and ecology of rhinos.

Conservation

• The reasons rhinos are being poached in southern Africa
• The role of the rehabilitation centre
• The process of rescuing orphaned rhino calves 
• How to provide the best care for orphaned baby rhinos
• The role of rangers and anti-poaching dogs

Ecology

• Ecological factors affecting rhinos and other African species 
• How rhinos fit in the wider ecosystem as an ‘umbrella species’

Biology

• The differences between white and black rhino
• Rhino physiology
• The diet of white and black rhinos in the wild and in rehabilitation centres

Behaviour

• Creating a stimulating environment for orphaned rhinos before they are released 
• The way rhinos communicate and interact with each other
• How orphaned rhinos integrate back into the wild, for example, their breeding behaviour and their reaction to large predators