Rhino Armour

I came around a corner in the jungle in Nepal and there you were, no more than ten feet away. I took one sharp breath and held it. You stood your ground, your armour facing me, and for ten full minutes neither of us moved.

Everything seemed to come in tens that day. Ten feet. Ten minutes. I only took a couple of photographs. Mostly I stood there, barely breathing, trying to take in the fact that I was looking straight at a rhino and you were looking straight back at me.

Then, after ten minutes, you lowered yourself to the ground and put your head down. I remember the relief of seeing you do that. You’d had a good long look at us. Today, we were no threat to you.