- Around 160 rhinos have been relocated to South African parks in the space of two months.
- The relocation forms part of African Park’s plan to rewild 2 000 rhinos in 10 years.
- The rhinos have been relocated to reserves in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo.
An ambitious plan to rewild 2 000 rhinos over 10 years is under way, with 160 rhinos relocated to South African reserves in the last two months.
African Parks last year purchased South African conservationist John Hume’s rhino breeding operation, including a 7 800-hectare property in the North West and 2 000 southern white rhinos, representing up to 15% of the world’s remaining wild population.
African Parks, which manages 22 protected areas in partnership with 12 African governments, said that it planned to relocate the rhinos to reserves within a decade.
The first of these relocations occurred in May, with 40 rhinos being rehomed at the Munywana Conservancy in KwaZulu-Natal.
This month, 120 rhinos were translocated to member reserves of the Greater Kruger Environmental Protection Foundation (GKEPF) in Mpumalanga and Limpopo, to boost the Greater Kruger area’s southern white rhino population.
GKEPF, established in 2016, is an alliance of nine private reserves, one provincial park, and one national park to protect the western and eastern buffers of the Kruger National Park and the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier National Park.
This translocation comes at a time when poaching rates within GKEPF reserves have significantly declined, indicating the effectiveness of security and anti-poaching measures,” said Peter Fearnhead, CEO of African Parks.
“Despite significant pressures, GKEPF members have played a critical role in the conservation of the Greater Kruger landscape providing an important buffer to the Kruger and we support their commendable progress in protecting rhino populations in their native range.”
The rhino have not been released into the Kruger National Park itself, but into private game reserves along its western boundary, and is the first reintroduction of rhino into this landscape in about 50 years.
Sharon Haussmann, CEO of GKEPF, said the Greater Kruger is home to the world’s largest wild population of rhinos.
“Supporting and sustaining this healthy population is critical to the preservation of the species. The introduction of rhinos into the reserves will offset losses that were incurred over the past decade due to poaching, and the private reserves within the Greater Kruger have now proven their ability to protect rhinos in the landscape,” she said.
Rhino entering the transportation crate. (Michael Dexter/ African Parks)
Haussmann said the relocation will also increase genetic diversity in the existing wild rhino populations.
She added that the rhinos are being continually monitored, and overall, are “doing very well”.
“Capturing 32 rhino at a time and having to translocate them immediately is demanding and tiring, but largely ran smoothly. It requires tremendous effort to accomplish and attention to detail, at every level and every step is critical. All parties involved had valuable experience in different areas, and pooling this experience is necessary for the success of the relocation. The dispersal of the rhinos has been interesting to monitor with some moving large distances,” she said.
Haussmann said the Greater Kruger is the ideal habitat for white rhinos and has the space and carrying capacity to support a far larger population than is currently in the area.
“There were far more rhinos in the system before the poaching crisis. The private reserves has proven exceptional skill and resilience in combatting the onslaught which this area previously faced and this gave both African Park and GKEPF members the confidence to undertake this translocation,” she said.
“Many lessons have been learned over the past nearly two decades of rhino poaching, and the people responsible for protecting the Greater Kruger environment have the knowledge, skills, means and expertise to do so. Poaching in the private reserves of the Greater Kruger has stabilised notably over the past few years.”
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The Munywana Conservancy is a 29 866-hectare reserve owned through a collaboration of community and private landowners, including the Makhasa Community Trust, the Mnqobokazi Community Trust, &Beyond Phinda and ZUKA Private Game Reserves.
“We are extremely pleased to receive the 40 rhino from African Parks, to supplement the current population of white rhino at our community conservancy,” said Thokozani Mlambo, chairperson of the Makhasa Trust, one of the three primary shareholders of the Munywana Conservancy. “We see this as recognition of the important role that community-owned land plays in conservation, and we are proud to be collaborating in such a significant partnership to rewild rhino across our continent.”
GKEPF veterinarian Günter Nowak and CEO Sharon Haussmann inspect the ear of a tranquillised rhino prior to attaching a tracking device. (Cathan Moore/ African Parks)
Dale Wepener, Munywana Warden and Conservation Manager, said that the relocation would assist in diversifying the genetics of the resident rhino population.
“The inclusion of the additional rhino will contribute to the genetic diversity of the Munywana Conservancy’s population. It will also serve as a boost to the existing breeding population, supporting the potential for future translocations of white rhino to other range states. The rewilding of these animals will also provide an invaluable opportunity for critical research on their adaptation to differing habitats and parasite loads. This key data will inform optimal future translocation decisions,” he said.
In addition to bolstering rhino numbers – which in turn encourages more tourists to visit conservation areas – the relocation also assists conservation efforts.
“Beyond their value in drawing tourism, rhino have a significant conservation value. They are a keystone species with a disproportionate impact on their environment and influence many other species. White rhino are mega-herbivores that provide a vital link in the conservation chain. They shape grasslands through grazing, which positively impacts nutrient cycling and reduces the rate at which fires can spread,” said Wepener.
“They also create natural water holes that are beneficial for other species, providing a habitat and water for many other animals. When they are absent from an environment, the impact is far broader than just that species.”
News24 previously reported that Hume’s operation, Platinum Rhino, was put up for auction with a reserve price of $10 million (R182 million) in 2023. At the time of the purchase, African Parks declined to release the figure paid for Platinum Rhino, saying only that it was “significantly lower than the initial asking price” and that the “emergency funding” had been sourced from “key donors”.
Platinum Rhino was run with the animals allowed to roam free and provided with additional food in winter. There was also an orphanage to care for calves if they fell ill or were separated from their mothers.
News24 previously reported that Hume had sunk around $150 million (R2.8 billion) into the project.
At the time, Fearnhead said the breeding programme would be phased out, and the rhinos rewilded in what he dubbed a “simply enormous” and “daunting” undertaking.
Last year, African Parks relocated 16 South African rhinos sourced from &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve in Munywana to Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
