Wildlife
Black Rhino in East Africa: Recovery, Behaviour and Where to See Them
The black rhino was nearly wiped out by poaching and is slowly recovering. How it differs from the white rhino, how it lives and the best places to see one.
The black rhino is one of the hardest of the Big Five to see, and one of the most precious. Poaching for rhino horn reduced East Africa’s black rhinos to a tiny fraction of their former numbers in the 1970s and 1980s. Today, thanks to heavily protected sanctuaries and dedicated rangers, populations in Kenya and Tanzania are slowly recovering.
Black or white?
Both rhinos are grey. The black rhino is smaller, with a pointed, hooked upper lip for grasping leaves and twigs, while the white rhino has a broad, square lip for grazing grass. Black rhinos carry their heads higher, are usually solitary, and are more nervous and quicker to charge. Read our white rhino guide for more on the differences.
How black rhinos live
Black rhinos are browsers, feeding on leaves, shoots and twigs of bushes and small trees, especially acacias. They are mostly solitary, apart from mothers with calves, and hold home ranges that they mark with dung heaps and urine. They have poor eyesight but excellent hearing and smell. Calves stay with their mothers for two to three years, usually following behind them.
Recovery
Kenya has been at the forefront of black rhino recovery, moving animals into fenced and closely guarded sanctuaries such as Ol Pejeta, Lewa, Lake Nakuru and Tsavo West’s Ngulia sanctuary, and translocating rhinos to establish new populations. In Tanzania, black rhinos survive in the Ngorongoro Crater, parts of the Serengeti and other protected areas. Poaching remains a serious threat, and protecting rhinos is expensive, relying on park fees, conservancy income and donors.
Where to see black rhinos
- Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania: one of the most reliable places, though often at a distance.
- Ol Pejeta and Lewa, Kenya: large populations, with rhino tracking on foot possible at some conservancies.
- Lake Nakuru, Kenya: both black and white rhinos in a compact park.
- Masai Mara and Serengeti: small populations; sightings are rare.
Read our guides to the rhinos of the Ngorongoro Crater and Laikipia.
We plan private safaris across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda, and write from time spent in these parks.
