The elephant and the black rhinoceros are included in the “Big Five.”  While we saw many elephants, black rhinos are an endangered species.  It turns out that among asian cultures, the horn of the black rhinoceros is believed to be an aphrodisiac and is sold on the black market.  There are only 50 black rhinos in the Masai Mara.  They are solitary and shy creatures.  Even under the best of circumstances, they are very hard to see.  There were no black rhino in our part of the park.

That having been said, the Kenyan government is attempting to introduce white rhinos into the Mara, and we visited a reserve where they are raising some prior to release.  The one photo below of a black rhino was taken in Nairobi.  Believe it or not, there is a nature preserve with large wild animals that borders Nairobi.  We were visiting a baby elephant rescue park, and they had rescued a black rhino several years ago which had then been released into the park.  He still  likes to come back to the rescue and happened to be there when we visited.

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