Sauraha, Nepal. A village next to Chitwan National Park, with hotels, restaurants, and tourists walking among handicraft stalls. Nothing foreshadowed what happened in mid-May, when two male one-horned rhinoceroses crossed the Rapti River and took their territorial dispute straight into the market.
They charged at each other just centimeters from shops and terraces while locals and visitors recorded from wherever they could, not quite knowing which way to run. Each animal can weigh more than a ton, and neither seemed willing to give up ground.
Most astonishingly: no one was injured. The video went viral within hours, and behind the scene lies another remarkable story: Chitwan is now home to around 694 rhinoceroses of this species, thanks to decades of conservation in a country that managed to reverse poaching almost to the point of eradicating it.
