Rhino Dung: A Sustainable Option for Growing Great Vegetables in South Africa

“I feel like I’m not doing enough when I’m feeding this safari camp alone. We need to have other people coming from other areas to learn. They should know that we have nice vegetables that we are growing from rhino dung.”

Meet Kenneth Jazi, the head gardener at Londolozi Game Reserve, a private game reserve committed to conservation, rehabilitation of wildlife and sustainability in South Africa. Over a year ago, Kenneth had the idea to start the camp’s very first local garden to supply fresh vegetables to the camp kitchens. But, he didn’t want to go outside for fertilizer. He was committed to finding something more local, something more natural to grow his vegetables with – little did he know that rhino dung would be his answer.

Enjoy the short video! It’s very inspiring to travel somewhere remote and discover great ideas in food sustainability. I really wish I could have gone with Kenneth to show you how he harvests rhino dung out in the bush. He tells me it’s “great fun”. Apparently, rhinos collectively create natural dung piles, returning to specific spots within their territories to defecate and “communicate” with each other. I had no idea this was why rhino dung was so easy to harvest – just grab a shovel, head out into the African wilderness (hopefully with a good ranger/tracker team) and find their dumping grounds for fertilizer gold.

Thanks again for watching food. curated.! I hope to share a cooking video from Londolozi, later this week, so you can see some of the vegetables Kenneth grows being used in South African dishes. Happy eating!