Ever dreamed of working with Giraffes, Rhinos, Nyala, Zebra and Wildebeest?

Well get ready to be a little green with envy as this week we bring you – a morning in the life of an Africa Keeper here at Safari Zoo!

We joined Africa keeper Erica with the White Rhino Crash for the morning to see exactly what looking after of our chunkiest residents is all about!

We start by giving the Rhinos their breakfast. Each rhino gets two scoops of a specialist pellet for their breakfast in addition to a good chunk of hay whilst we give them a health check.

Erica has worked with the Rhinos for such a long time she knows their behaviours, habits and the way they usually respond to her, which forms the basis of the health check – if they aren’t acting as normal it may suggest they are feeling out of sorts.

Erica also checks that the Rhinos are moving freely, are injury free and their eyes are bright and alert (a tasty pellet is good encouragement to help see them from all angles!)

They’re all looking great so now it’s time for them to go for a run on the field and a roll in the mud.

We have three boys and three girls but the boys cannot go out together so their field exercise is rotated. Today is the girls' turn.

Erica takes a reading from the electric fence which surrounds the Africa field to make sure all is in good working order, and we pop two piles of hay on the field then we’re good to go.

The girls trot out (with a bit of encouragement!) and are joined by Spud, the youngest of the male Rhinos.

Huubke gets his fresh air this morning on the hardstand and Muzungu has some chill time indoors whilst the Rhino pens get a good clean out.

It also gave us opportunity to collect faecal samples for monthly parasitology testing – did you know hormone levels in poop samples can also tell us when Rhinos are pregnant? We also chucked some logs into the pens for enrichment.

All in a good morning's work!