EARLIER this year, I was lucky enough to stand within five metres of one of the world’s most powerful creatures – the white rhino – on a walking safari in Zambia’s Mosi-oa- Tunya National Park. It was a humbling experience, given even greater gravitas because there’s a very serious possibility that in less than ten years time, an encounter of this kind might be impossible.

The story of animal species nearing extinction is one that’s sadly repeatedly retold worldwide, but the plight of the rhino alarms with particular urgency.

In Zambia, my guide informed me, there were once 60,000 rhinos in the 1970s, but by 1989 there were none.

It’s a terrifying situation that’s mirrored across Africa and indeed the world, with the five remaining rhino species listed on the IUCN Red List as threatened.

This week has seen events taking place as part of World Rhino Day on Monday, which celebrated the animal and raised awareness of the key cause of its rapid decline: poaching.

In South Africa, home to 73 per cent of all wild rhinos worldwide, three of the animals per day are lost to poaching; at that rate, they’ll be wiped out by 2020.

It’s no secret that a growing appetite for horn in the Asian markets is the source of the problem, with buyers under the ludicrous impression that it has medicinal properties.

Even more worryingly, horns are being erected on coffee tables as status symbols, or stockpiled as a commodity to rival gold.

Possible solutions posed by Save The Rhino include improved education, tightened security and continuing conservation efforts, and it’s that latter sector that really applies to us as tourists.

In Africa, tourism and conservation have become closely interlinked, with visitors providing not only much-needed revenue for projects, but also an incentive to protect the continent’s most precious resources.

If tourists continue to spend money on safaris, local people and governments will continue to understand the importance of wildlife.

Safari companies across Africa have been responsible for a number of successful rhino translocation projects.

In 1992, five white rhinos were brought to Zambia’s fenced Mosi-oa- Tunya National Park and put under 24-hour guarded care. Since then, the number of animals has doubled.

This month, Kenya will welcome its biggest private rhino conservation reserve in an area where Tusk ambassador the Duke of Cambridge worked during his gap year.

By removing a fence between the Lewa Wildlife and Borana conservancies, a population of 88 black rhino and 63 white rhino will have more space to roam.

  • A stay at the Lewa Safari Camp costs from £233pp (full board with transfers), with profits reinvested in conservation projects. Book through chelipeacock.com with a three nights for two offer on selected dates in November.