4 minute read
BLACK RHINOS are back in Mkomazi National Park
All images ©Eliya Uzia, wildlife photographer at Ngoteya Wild
After years of poaching brought about their extinction, a small population of eastern black rhinos has been reintroduced into Mkomazi National Park on Tanzania’s northern border. Some are being cared for in the park’s new rhino sanctuary, which it is hoped will provide a safe breeding environment and a new population of this critically endangered animal. Nature-loving Tanzanian filming and production company Ngoteya Wild, which loves to spread the word on conservation projects in the country, gained exclusive access to the sanctuary’s team and its crucial work. Here is their story.
Mkomazi National Park is among the youngest of the 22 national parks in Tanzania. The Park lies within the larger Tsavo Mkomazi ecosystem which hosts over 12,000 elephants. It was established in 2008 when the country’s government took over the Mkomazi-Umba Game Reserve, which had in recent years seen its populations of elephant, African wild dog, greater kudu, sable antelope and brindled gnu/ wildebeest dwindle as a result of factors such as livestock incursion and poaching. The most striking victim was the black rhino, which had been hunted into extinction.
The area was home to 200 eastern black rhinos in the 1960s but by 1985 none remained. The Tanzanian government began restoration efforts in the 1990s in collaboration with George Adamson Wildlife Preservation Trust with award-winning conservationist Tony Fitzjohn as field director.
The trust brought four new black rhinos in from Addo Elephant National Park in South Africa to Mkomazi in the hope that they would in time begin a new native colony. In the years leading up to 2016, 11 more East African subspecies of the black rhino were introduced from zoos across Europe. It is hoped that in time a viable breeding population will be created with sufficient genetic diversity to ensure its offspring can adapt to the new environment. This year the population of black rhinos in Mkomazi stands at over 35.
Qualified team
As the black rhino numbers have increased, the park’s staff has kept pace with new team members brought in for the rescue, care and rehabilitation of sick, injured or orphaned rhinos. In the past two years, one orphaned baby rhino named Kisima was rescued in the wild at about three months following the sudden death of the mother because of sand colic. The calf was taken care of by park staff and is now 15 months old and in good health.
This level of care is expensive and currently Mkomazi is considered a dependent park because it cannot generate sufficient revenue to fund its operations. To make the park self-sustaining, efforts are underway to attract more tourists to one of Tanzania’s most remote national parks. These efforts included the opening of the Mkomazi Rhino Sanctuary in July this year and the development of new tourist products including night game drives and bush meals. The new sanctuary has started with a founder population of about six rhinos. It is hoped such unique features as the sanctuary will bring in more tourists to Mkomazi and generate a level of revenue which will help the park to break even soon.
Stress-free environment
The transfer of rhinos to the sanctuary was the first-ever translocation to be fully conducted by local Tanzanians. The purpose of this new sanctuary is not only to boost tourism but provide the stress-free environment the rhinos need to breed. Funds collected from rhino tourism will also support community outreach work in villages surrounding the Park in the hope that Mkomazi’s rhino population will never again be wiped out by poachers.
The signs look good. Since the first of the rhinos were introduced here, Mkomazi has gone 22 years without any incidents of poaching and it once again has a diverse and thriving wildlife population with a good number of wild animals including the Big 5 of black rhinos, elephants, buffaloes, leopards and lions.
The Ngoteya Wild team were so fortunate to take photographs and create this short documentary about the conservation efforts done by the government. We hope to create awareness and inspire conservation of these species in different parts of the world.
GET TO MKOMAZI NATIONAL PARK WITH AIR TANZANIA
Fly into Kilimanjaro International Airport. Head to Moshi, which is around 30km distance. Here there will be plenty of choice of tour operators or public transport to take you the 112km south to Mkomazi, which is right next to the small town of Same.
Visit airtanzania.co.tz to book your trip or call free on 0800 110 045 for more information.
Rhino fun facts
Greek
Rhinoceros is a Greek word. ‘Rhino’ means ‘nose’ and ‘ceros’ means ‘horn’.
Lip
Black rhinos have a prehensile or hooked lip for pulling leaves off branches.
Toes
Like ballet dancers, but slightly heavier, rhinos move on their toes. Impressive when you consider an adult black rhino weighs between 800 and 1,400 kilograms.
Skin
With thick, but pale skin, rhinos are at risk of sun burn. That’s why they often wallow in mud to get a layer of protection.
Big
Black rhinos are the third biggest of the five types of rhino.
Diet
Black rhinos are the foodies of the wild. The herbivores eat leafy plants, branches, shoots, bushes and fruit from up to 220 different species.
FIND OUT MORE WITH NGOTEYA WILD
For more pictures and a trailer of the documentary, visit @ngoteya_wild on Instagram
