The Bedford Estates, LondonIt’s a special time in the Park for one Road Safari resident - Southern white rhino Mkuzi moved to the Park 14 years ago this week!
Mkuzi – along with rhino gal pals Mirijam and Bonnie - can often be spotted greeting guests as they first enter the Road Safari, in the Savannah section of the drive through that they share with zebras, antelope and other African species.
The "teenager" of the trio, she's known to have a big personality that matches her size, and is often found getting into mischief and bossing the others around the reserve.
She moved to Woburn on 17th August 2009 when she was around 6 years old, along with another female rhino called Mtubatuba. The pair came to Woburn as potential breeding partners for the Park’s existing males, but unfortunately romance didn’t appear to be on the cards.
Mtubatuba was the more outgoing of the two to begin with, but Mkuzi soon found her feet and settled in well. After a short period of quarantine, the pair were introduced to the other Woburn rhinos gradually in the safety of the rhino house, before finally mixing with the whole crash for the first time in the side paddocks just a few weeks later on 6th October 2009.
It wasn’t long until the duo experienced their first taste of British winter, when heavy snow fell on 20th December 2009, coating the Park in a thick white blanket. Completely unfazed, Mkuzi continued to make herself at home and is now well accustomed to the changeable weather - in fact she loves nothing more than running around and having a wallow in the rain!
Taking every new challenge in her stride, it didn’t take Mkuzi long to become a firm favourite with visitors to the Park!
On 3rd February 2010 she made her Road Safari debut and joined the rest of the rhinos out in the 42-acre African Savannah reserve, under the watchful eye of the experienced keepers.
Although the team were concerned at first that her initial shyness might return in this new environment, fears were soon quashed as she quickly started exploring and displaying all of the same natural behaviours as the established rhinos.
The rest – as they say – is history!
Over the years the keeper team have tried to introduce a few new potential suitors to Mkuzi as part of the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) – most recently Kei, the current bull rhino in the Woburn crash, and Otto who was loaned to the Park from Colchester Zoo in 2016/17.
Unfortunately breeding attempts have never been successful, but Mkuzi is more than happy to spend her days roaming the reserves with her bestie Mirijam and act as a surrogate big sister to Bonnie, the youngest of the female rhinos.
See Mkuzi and more on safari this summer!
Often roaming near the Park entrance, you can spot Mkuzi and the other rhinos enjoying a slow and steady roam around the drive-through safari - with the odd burst of energy and a quick run around!
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