Thula Thula Private game Reserve outside Empangeni was thrilled to welcome a new addition to its wildlife family -which took them completely by surprise.

Owner and Managing Director Francoise Anthony said she was over the moon when she received word from of their rhino monitoring guards that one of their female rhinos, Mona had given birth. This comes after Mona had lost one of her calves, Lisa, a few weeks ago.

“It took us by surprise because we did not know she was pregnant. We brought her over from another game reserve last year in May and it would seem she was pregnant before coming over to us. Nevertheless, this is the best gift we could have hoped for.

We were all saddened when Lisa died a few weeks ago, not knowing Mona was pregnant,” said Anthony. Both the mother and daughter are said to be in good health.

“All of us are ecstatic as this is the first time that a rhino has been born in Thula Thula in over a century.”

To cap it all, just after Mona gave birth the entire Thula Thula elephant herd suddenly showed up at the main house as if celebrating the occasion and congratulating the ‘matriarch’ Francoise in becoming a rhino grandmother.

Original Article posted in ZO (23 March 2020) by Erica Abrahams