World Wildlife Fund (WWF) | New homes for Rhinos

With only around 5500 black rhinos remaining across their range in the wild, translocations to well-protected areas are essential in giving populations a chance for growth and survival, and allowing future generations of people to benefit from their natural heritage.

Completing its 13th move of rhinos, the WWF’s Black Rhino Range Expansion Project worked with with Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, WWF South Africa, African Parks and Malawi’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) to tackle one of the biggest translocation projects to date.

The 17 rhinos destined for Liwonde National Park in Malawi were captured in Kwazulu-Natal, and quarantined for six weeks in one of Ezemvelo’s parks. Before being flown from King Shaka airport in Durban to Lilongwe, every precaution was taken to ensure their wellbeing throughout the process. They were then driven to their new home, Liwonde National Park, where they were released on Tuesday 12 November and are settling in well.

Good law enforcement coupled with community initiatives have been central to ensuring adequate security while achieving strong support for Liwonde and Majete. Extensive measures to protect the rhinos include aerial surveillance, daily ranger patrols and the integration of the most advanced technology to enable their live-time tracking. Each animal has been fitted with a new GPS sensor device from Smart Parks, allowing teams to accurately monitor their activity and location on a constant basis. You can help initiatives like this by selecting WWF as your beneficiary on your MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet card, you swipes will raise funds to support this initiative and more.