Many animals on safari are accustomed to the movement of vehicles nearby, and tend not to react to them as the tourists get their sightseeing in. But sometimes these animals can take an interest in these cars and trucks, and their intentions aren’t always friendly.
Greg Bond caught this stressful situation on camera, when a large rhino took notice of his vehicle, and began sizing it up as the target of a charge before things rapidly began to escalate.
Being charged by an angry rhino can be a shocking experience, but these enormous creatures have terrible eyesight, and when a vehicle comes too close they can easily mistake it as a threat.
Peacefully Grazing
The rhino appeared to be peacefully grazing at first, and wasn’t displaying any violent or aggressive behavior. It may have been keeping a wary eye on the vehicle, mistaking it for some kind of large threat it couldn’t quite make out.
It’s also possible that this rhino had been harboring violent intent from the very beginning, because although it had its head lowered as if it was enjoying a nice grassy meal, it was already facing Greg’s vehicle and moving closer when he began recording.
Rhinos are not typically aggressive unless they feel they are under threat, but they can also be very territorial. If this individual mistook Greg’s vehicle for an encroaching competitor, due to its bad eyesight, it might have thought the best option was to attack.
Escalating Tensions
The sneaky move the rhino made towards the vehicle quickly became apparent as the beginnings of an outright charge. If the rhino thought it was facing another large animal, then the truck’s failure to signify submission might be what tipped the situation over the edge.
Greg had the foresight to see the charge coming, and was able to start accelerating out of the way, but this rhino wasn’t about to let him get away so easily.
Apparently desperate to hit its target, the rhino accelerated in turn, trying to catch the vehicle in the side before it managed to get out of reach. The rhino missed this first attempt, and fell into step behind the truck.
Eternally Just Out Of Reach
The speed of a rhino maxes out just below sixty kilometers an hour, meaning Greg’s truck is capable of moving much faster than his determined pursuer.
This gulf between potential speeds doesn’t stop the rhino from giving everything it has to the chase. Whatever Greg did, he must have caused some serious offence for this animal to put so much effort into chasing him.
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Didn’t Know When To Give Up
The poor rhino didn’t seem to realize its dreams of charging into the sides of Greg’s vehicle were going to go unfulfilled. If it’s purpose was simply to scare Greg away then it was having a marvelous success, but the doggedness with which it followed him suggested it wanted to do some damage.
Eventually Greg accelerated away, leaving the rhino behind in the dust where it appeared to swerve off into the bush before coming to a halt.
When encountering a wild rhino, the best option is to give it enough space that it doesn’t decide that charging is the best option in the first place.