Fresh dung. Tracks in the sand of the Namib desert. The black rhinoceros cannot be far away. Wildlife rangers Stefanus Ganuseb, 42, and Fritz Hoeb, 45, are patrolling on foot, equipped with binoculars and a camera, and accompanied by an armed policeman.
Then they discover the young male rhino named Arthur on a distant crest.
The rangers check the direction of the wind so that their scent will not be detected, and creep toward the animal. Normally they get no closer than 100 metres (330 feet), but today, Arthur is coming closer, not noticing the men and peacefully grazing on juicy stalks of spurge bushes.
The men take pictures and fill out a form of the sighting for the animal protection group Save the Rhino Trust.
โThe chief aim of Save the Rhino Trust is to protect the black rhinoceros from poachers,โ says Lesley Karutjaiva, the 47-year-old head of the groupโs base in Palmwag, in northwestern Namibia. It is from the local lodge that tours start for observing the creatures.