Rwanda has announced the reintroduction of the Eastern black rhinos after 10 years of absence.
A Facebook post on the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) page announced the historical move signifying the growth of the country’s tourism.
The deal to bring in the rhinos was part of conservation and tourism efforts by RDB and African Parks, the firm that runs Akagera National Park, with support from the Dutch government, which last year pledged to contribute Euro 200,000 to the project.
According to Robert Kayinamura, first counsellor at the Rwandan embassy in The Netherlands, in an interview earlier on this year with The New Times, the plan is to get 20 rhinos (10 males and 10 females) at Thaba Tholo, a game farm situated in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, in February.
Black rhinos last thrived at Akagera National Park in the 1960s to 1970s with a population of 50 animals, but later almost entirely disappeared due to wide-scale poaching in the 1980s.
Akagera, a savannah park, is one of the largest protected wetland in Central Africa and Rwanda’s last refuge for savannah species such as elephants, buffaloes, zebras, and antelopes.
Since 2010, African Parks and RDB agreed to jointly manage the park – for an initial term of 20 years, with an option of renewing for a further 20 years – through the formation of Akagera Management Company (AMC).
