About Van der Stel in 1685 Governor Simon van der Stel undertook an expedition to Namaqualand in the year 1685. When the expedition was near the Piketberg Mountains, that is about 100 miles from Cape Town, a black rhinoceros charged the Governor's coach. Fortunately Van der Stel was able to jump out of the coach and the animal was turned by a shot from a gun.
Governor Simon van der Stel undertook an expedition to Namaqualand in the year 1685. When the expedition was near the Piketberg Mountains, that is about 100 miles from Cape Town, a black rhinoceros charged the Governor's coach. Fortunately Van der Stel was able to jump out of the coach and the animal was turned by a shot from a gun.
On 30 March 1898, President Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger of the South African Republic issued a proclamation establishing a Government Game Reserve in the Eastern Transvaal between the Crocodile and Sabi Rivers. In 1903 the Shingwedzi Game Reserve lying north of the Groot Letaba River was added, and these two reserves became the Union's first national park, the Kruger National Park, in 1926.
Kirby states that the black rhino favoured the Matamiri bush, though it was decidedly rare there in 1895 and altogether extinct in 1896. This appears to be the last record of the occurrence of the white rhinoceros in South Africa beyond the boundaries of Zululand.
