Season 1
Saba and the Rhino's Secret is a British wildlife documentary in which host Saba Douglas-Hamilton investigates the secret life of desert rhinos and concludes that their reputation as ill-tempered is unfounded.
The documentary premiered in the UK on Animal Planet in 2007. It is an hour long.
Saba and the Rhino's Secret aired in South Africa on DStv's Animal Planet channel on Sunday 9 March 2008, at 20h00.
Repeat
Monday 10 March: 02h40
Synopsis
Famously bad tempered, myopic and solitary, the black rhino has a daunting reputation. Its common reflex on encountering danger is to charge.
Just 50 years ago there was a rhino behind every bush in Africa. But today, poached to the brink of extinction for its horn there are now less than 3000 left on the continent.
Little understood, near-impossible to study, feared and vilified, the private life of rhinos has remained an enigma until now.
Ten years ago, whilst working for the Save the Rhino Trust in the Hinterland of Namibia, renowned wildlife expert Saba Douglas-Hamilton stumbled onto a secret; a surprising number of black rhino had adapted to an arid lifestyle in the desert and their numbers were thriving on the inhospitable and deadly Skeleton coast.
Well protected since the late 80’s their numbers are on the rise, but little is known about their social lives.
Leaving only the faintest smudge of footprints in the dust, rhino travel vast distances in search of food and water. Rhino can only be tracked on foot during the day, and even the most intrepid are careful not to get too close.
Saba is on to a hot tip through her friends at Save the Rhino Trust (SRT), where super-trackers like ex-poacher Filimon Uri-Khob follow rhino daily to gather data on their desert ecology.
Using camels to patrol the heart of the desert, rangers from SRT provide a critical deterrent to poachers.
Capturing their intricate social dance, Saba reveals for the first time the secret life of desert rhino: surprisingly vivacious and social creatures at night, and when given the chance gentle and unafraid.