Second safari at the Mkhaya Game Reserve in Swaziland

We are at the Mkhaya Game Reserve in Swaziland, we are at the Stone Camp, we arrived this morning from the Hlane Royal National Park; we have already had a short safari on arrival and, this afternoon, we are planning the second one.

Finally it’s 3.00pm, we are ready with our cameras, so we get on the safari car and leave; it's nice sometimes not having to drive and not having to look for the animals on our own, sometimes we also like to let us carry around by an expert guide, even if, at times, we spot them first.

This morning Richard could not find the rhinos and this thing did not go very well to him, so now he's super busy in research.

At one point I see two, a male and a female, not far from our car, we do not see them very well because they are partially hidden behind the bushes, so Richard tells us: "Let's get out of the car".

We are a bit perplexed because, although the white rhinos are gentler than the black ones, they are still wild animals and, because of their short-sightedness, they trust very much their sense of smell and their hearing and we could send them some danger signals that could put them on the defensive or even attack us, but Richard seems sure of what he does and so we follow him.

We take a few steps in the tall grass in the direction of the two rhinos, one of the two, the male, goes away a bit, while the female seems to look at us puzzled and then starts running towards us, for a fraction of a second it seems it wants to attack us but then we understand that in reality it ran to meet its friend.

It and our guide have known each other for a long time and, since it was a puppy, he has always had a special relationship with it; every time it sees him, it runs towards him because it wants the scratches; it's amazing to see an almost 2-ton animal running like a dog to be pampered by a man.

Richard approaches and caresses it and then, at a certain point, invites us to do the same: what an indescribable emotion! One of the most beautiful moments of our life!

When we return to our car it follows us, it still wants to be scratched, especially by Richard, and then it puts itself in front of the car; he tells us that if it does not get them it sometimes tries to lift the car to get attention, so he pulls it to the side of the car, so we can leave.

We are still incredulous, a crazy experience; we probably have a stupid smile on our face ...

Continuing along the dirt tracks we also see several zebras, wildebeests, giraffes; we also see a herd of nyalas and witness the fight between two males for dominance over the females.

More than a real fight, it seems like a dance: the two males have arched backs, the white fur, that is located along the spine, straight and they walk slowly in circle; it looks like a scene from High Noon but, instead of colliding, one of the two leaves the battlefield, decreeing the other male winner.

It was very interesting to watch even if we did not understand on what basis the winner won.

Today's safari has given us indescribable emotions and when we return to the Stone Camp we are happy and satisfied; the Mkhaya Game Reserve gave us spectacular sightings.