Montana writer Rick Bass goes way into Africa on the trail of the 3000-pound black rhino.

A 4-year old Female black Rhino, runs after it was darted at Nairobi National Park, Saturday, Jan. 14, 2006. Kenyan wildlife officials began relocating 33 endangered rhinos to the Meru National Park to restock the animal. (AP)

Montana writer, nature writer, Rick Bass has brought us deep, beautiful stories of grizzly bear and high-country deer.  Wilderness and wolves.  Montana stars and sky and good dogs in pickup trucks.

Now he brings us a story out of Africa.  He’s a long way from his Montana mountains, in the fiery desert of Namibia, on the trail of the astounding black rhino.

Three thousand pounds of muscle and hide and horn.  Huge, and fast.  A time traveler from deep pre-history.  Deeply endangered in our time.  And saved, too.  For now.

This hour, On Point:  Rick Bass on the black rhino and us.

- Tom Ashbrook

Guests

Rick Bass, environmental activist and award-winning chronicler of the American western wilderness. His latest book is “The Black Rhinos of Namibia: Searching for Survivors in the African Desert.”

Simson Uri-Khob, Director of Community Outreach, Training and Research at Save the Rhino Trust in Namibia.

From Tom’s Reading List:

Minneapolis Star Tribune “In “The Black Rhinos of Namibia,” environmental activist and prolific author Rick Bass travels to Namibia to spend time with conservation groups and learn about the endangered black rhino. Although he doesn’t indicate a prior specific fascination with rhinos, Bass quickly becomes utterly enchanted by them.”

Open Letters Monthly “The Black Rhinos of Namibia, in which veteran geologist and nature-writer Rick Bass goes to that south-western African nation in search of its small population of black rhinos, is a haunting book because Bass is a prose stylist of great power – but it’s also a haunted book, because despite the hard-bitten optimism of its author, his story cannot have a happy ending.”

ABC News “As a growing number of endangered African rhinos are poached for their horns, officials and activists are scrambling for ways to halt the slaughter. Suggestions have included pre-emptively cutting off or poisoning their horns, or even deregulating their trade. But nothing promises to quell the insatiable demand for their powder in Asia.”

Excerpt: “The Black Rhinos of Namibia: Searching for Survivors in the African Desert”

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Gallery

Click through the slideshow below to see some pictures of the black rhinoceros in Namibia and around the world.

View slideshow