SOUTH AFRICA: Black Rhinos Trans-located To Chad From South Africa

50 years after they were hunted to local extinction, black rhinos will again roam the wilds of the Central African nation of Chad.

This is the latest chapter in a movement to bring big mammals back to former ranges on the continent.

Six rhinos will be flown to Chad’s Zakouma National Park from the South African city of Port Elizabeth, sedated and confined in specially crafted crates to ensure they don’t cause a commotion mid-air.

The initiative comes against the backdrop of a poaching crisis that saw more than 1,000 rhinos slain in South Africa last year to meet red hot demand for their horns in Asia, where they are prized for their alleged medicinal properties.

With 18,000 white rhinos and 2,000 of the smaller black rhino, South Africa is home to about 80 percent of the global population of the pachyderms, making it the springboard for reintroduction efforts elsewhere.

By establishing a viable and secure population of rhino in Chad, we are contributing to the expansion of the rhino population in Africa and the survival of a species that has faced high levels of poaching, said South African Environment Minister Edna Molewa.

No rhino has been seen in Chad since the early 1970s.

African Parks, a non-government organization which runs Chad's Zakouma and other reserves, has also reintroduced rhinos and lions from South Africa to Rwanda and is planning to relocate lions to Malawi.

We have been using the history of conservation success in South Africa to repopulate other areas in Africa, Andrew Parker, director of conservation at African Parks,said.

The Chad-bound rhinos were in the fortified enclosures or bomas for three months in preparation for their long haul.

The animals have been fed lucerne, a kind of super-nutritious hay, the past few weeks.

It will be initially provided to them in Chad as they adjust their diet to new trees and shrubs.

Security has been tight, the animals’ location was kept under wraps, they will be given a police escort to the airport, and in Chad they will be dehorned and fitted with transponders.

Jumbo sized logistics and planning go into such an operation, the animals were tranquilized in Marakele National Park in northern South Africa and then brought to Addo, which has better facilities.

Cranes hoisted the crates containing the rhinos onto flat-bed trucks and they will be monitored carefully by vets on the plane for the 15-hour trip which involves two stops.

The hope is that the two bulls and four cows will establish a breeding herd which will be the most northern wild population of the species in Africa.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, there are only approximately 5000 black rhinos left on the African continent.

South Africa is home to just under 2000 black rhinos but, with the recent influx of poaching, numbers are declining.

The wildlife rich country is also home to 20,000 white rhinos which make up approximately 80% of the total population.

Sadly, more than 7000 of them have been poached for their horns, which is a coveted medicinal ingredient in China and Vietnam.

The Ambassador of the European Union in Chad, Madame Denisa-Elena Ionete said that, the Chad-EU cooperation has enabled the success of Zakouma National Park, and the extension of a conservation management mandate for African Parks will increase its footprint over a larger area.

Experience also demonstrates the close links between safety, development and environmental conservation, safety has improved considerably around the park thanks to the effective anti-poaching mechanism set up in cooperation with the security forces.

Socioeconomic development has been fostered through the creation of jobs, the promotion of tourism revenues and local enterprise development.


Tourism Observer

MALAWI: African Parks Reintroduces Lions In Liwonde National Park

Four years after the last lion was seen in Liwonde, African Parks have reintroduced the first of several wild lions back into the National Park.

In partnership with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW), and with support from the Dutch Government and the Lion Recovery Fund, two mature males were released into enclosed bomas in the park after being safely translocated from Majete Wildlife Reserve, where lions were reintroduced in 2012.

They will remain in bomas for several weeks to allow close monitoring of their wellbeing, adjustment, and bonding with two lionesses which will be translocated from South Africa in March, before they are all released in to the wider park.

While the translocation hails the return of this iconic predator to Liwonde, it is also symbolic of Majete’s extraordinary restoration.

Majete’s pride was entirely poached out decades ago, but since their reintroduction, the population has grown to the extent that it can assist in repopulating Liwonde, 200 km north-east of Majete.

African Parks will further supplement the populations in both parks over the coming months, with the translocation of up to 12 additional lions from South Africa.

This is an important milestone for lion conservation in Malawi, where populations of the vulnerable species are being revitalised as part of an effort to restore the country’s parks, rehabilitate wildlife populations and encourage tourism for the benefit of local communities.

The reintroduction of lions is fundamentally enriching for Liwonde said African Parks’ Liwonde Park Manager, Craig Reid.

It restores a key species that is critical to the healthy functioning of the natural system, contributes to the establishment of an important local predator population, and will significantly benefit tourism as a mechanism for socio-economic growth.

The arrival of these big cats lays the foundation for a secure national population of lions, helping to further distinguish Malawi as an emerging premier wildlife destination.

With the UN World Wildlife Day on Saturday 3rd March highlighting the plight of big cats across the world, Malawi’s lion translocation is an extraordinary example of the conservation measures being taken to secure a future for Africa's most iconic cat.

Just over a century ago, more than 200,000 wild lions were living throughout Africa, but in just two decades, Africa’s lion population has decreased by 42%.

Today, wild lions are extinct in 26 African countries, and there are only about 20,000 lions left in wilderness areas, prompting the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to classify lions as Vulnerable on the Red List of Threatened Species.

Threatened by habitat loss, human-wildlife conflict and loss of prey, their numbers are steadily decreasing, and unless urgent actions are taken to ensure their survival, it is likely that lions will become an endangered species.

African Parks assumed management of Liwonde in partnership with the DNPW in 2015, and since then has completely overhauled law enforcement to secure the park.

They have constructed a robust perimeter fence enclosing the entire park, established rigorous ranger patrols, and worked extensively with local communities, making significant progress in revitalising habitat and wildlife populations through the reduction of poaching and mitigation of human-wildlife conflict.

The lions have each been fitted with tracking collars to facilitate intensive daily monitoring.

For a long time Malawi’s stunning beaches, beautiful and varied landscapes and fascinating and friendly cultural experiences have been some of the best that Africa has to offer.

With the wildlife transformations currently underway courtesy of African Parks, Malawi’s safari experiences are now starting to match its other attractions as it emerges as one of the most complete destinations in Africa.



Tourism Observer

MALAWI: Cheetahs Translocated From South Africa To Liwonde National Park In Malawi

Cheetahs translocated from South Africa to Liwonde National Park in Malawi, returning the threatened species to the country.

A small founder population of cheetahs has been successfully relocated to Liwonde National Park in Malawi, restoring the severely threatened species at least twenty years after its extinction in the country.

Led by African Parks, a conservation non-profit that manages national parks and protected areas on behalf of governments across the continent, in partnership with the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) and Malawi’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW), the translocation of four cheetahs to Liwonde on May 17th formed a national milestone as the first big cats made their return to the flourishing park.

Although 20 years since occurring in Malawi, it has been close to a century since cheetahs were documented in Liwonde National Park. Lions and leopards were also historically common, but disappeared in recent years due to poaching.

Decades of habitat loss, human-wildlife conflict and poaching severely reduced the nation’s predator populations, entirely eradicating cheetahs, a species threatened with extinction in Africa.

Large predators like cheetahs play pivotal roles in African ecosystems, but they are in troubling decline across the continent said Liwonde National Park Manager Craig Reid.

Malawi has made progressive commitments to conserve wildlife. The reintroduction of the cheetah is historic for the country and a new era for the park, where the return of large predators holds great optimism for the restoration of the natural system and the conservation of this highly vulnerable species.

On May 17th, African Parks and the Endangered Wildlife Trust oversaw the successful translocation of four cheetahs, which made the journey by plane from South Africa and arrived safely in Liwonde National Park, thanks to the support provided by Ulendo Airlink and Robin Pope Safaris for the transportation.

They were released into specially-built bomas to allow for close supervision during a period of adjustment, until being released into the wider park.

The animals are all in good health and are expected to do well in Liwonde, where habitat and prey conditions are optimal and measures are in place to ensure their ongoing conservation and protection.

African Parks assumed management of Liwonde National Park in partnership with the DNPW in 2015, and since then has completely overhauled law enforcement to secure the park, making significant progress in revitalising habitat and wildlife populations through the reduction of poaching and mitigating human-wildlife conflict.

The reintroduction of the cheetah forms part of the collective vision of African Parks and the Malawian government to restore the country’s parks, rehabilitate wildlife populations, and increase tourism, creating highly-valued assets for the country and its people.

Managing and restoring key species also positions Liwonde as a globally significant wildlife tourism destination, with benefits flowing to local communities.

The reintroduction of cheetahs to Liwonde National Park is another extraordinary story of progressive and optimistic wildlife conservation in Malawi. On the heels of the historic “500 Elephants” initiative which will see 500 elephants being moved from Liwonde National Park and Majete Wildlife Reserve to Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve (all three parks are managed by African Parks with DNPW), the cheetah’s homecoming marks the historic return of the threatened species to the nation at least 20 years after its local extinction.

This opens a hopeful new chapter for large predator conservation in the park. Liwonde has welcomed back its first big cat, a profound milestone for the ongoing restoration of this valuable protected area.

Cheetahs & EWT

The cheetahs were carefully sourced through EWT’s Cheetah Metapopulation Project, which was established in 2011 with the aim of creating safe spaces for cheetahs in South Africa and managing the existing population in a number of reserves to ensure genetic diversity.

The project now operates in 54 reserves, and in 2016, began investigating opportunities for reintroduction outside of South Africa.

This partnership was deemed ideal, as African Parks has secured safe spaces for a myriad of species in the reserves it manages. Phinda and Welgevonden Private Game Reserves made a male cheetah available, while Mountain Zebra National Park and Amakhala Private Game Reserve made a female cheetah available for this reintroduction into Malawi.

These are considered to be some of the top cheetah reserves in South Africa, all having contributed substantially to cheetah conservation efforts in the country.

Eradicated from 90 percent of their historical range in Africa, cheetahs are listed as Vulnerable with as few as 6,700 estimated to remain in the wild. Reintroduction to safe and fenced protected areas is one way to protect the future of the species on the continent” said EWT Cheetah Metapopulation Coordinator Vincent van der Merwe.

This collaborative undertaking represents a highly valuable opportunity for both the park and cheetah conservation in light of the need for urgent action to address their decline.

Since assuming management of Liwonde, African Parks has constructed a reliable perimeter fence, removed thousands of snare traps, significantly reduced poaching, and is working with local communities to ensure the long-term success of conservation in the area.

African Parks Completes Malawi

African Parks is a non-profit organisation that takes on total responsibility for the rehabilitation and long-term management of national parks and protected areas in partnership with governments and local communities.

Since 2003 African Parks has, in partnership with the Malawi government, managed Majete Wildlife Reserve, a partnership that has seen the reserve restored and restocked with an initial 2,500 animals including the Big Five.

Majete has been a great success and is now one of Malawi’s premier wildlife sanctuaries, conserving and protecting more than 7,500 animals.

With the addition of Liwonde National Park and Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve in 2015, African Parks now manages 3 of Malawi’s 9 protected areas and with goals to match all that has been achieved in Majete, African Parks are transforming the wildlife of the country.

If Malawi had a perceived weakness in tourism terms, it was that some of its neighbours offered a ‘better’ safari experience. But these developments are resulting in a total transformation of Malawi’s wildlife and safaris.

Malawi is fast becoming one of the most complete destinations in Africa - Lake, Landscape, Culture and now Wildlife experiences of the very highest quality. Warm, welcoming and unspoilt, Malawi really is just waiting to be discovered.

RWANDA: Rhino Kills Its Master

A conservationist who played a key role in reintroducing the eastern black rhino to Rwanda has been killed by one of the animals, a wildlife group says.

Krisztian Gyongyi was tracking animals in the Akagera National Park when he was killed, African Parks added.

It did not give more details, but rhinos usually charge and kill people with their horn.

Eastern black rhinos became extinct in Rwanda about a decade ago, and were reintroduced in May.

African Parks brought 20 rhinos from South Africa to the Akagera National Park.

The death of Mr Gyongyi, who was from Hungary, was "very tragic" and a "huge loss", African Parks CEO Peter Fearnhead said in a statement.

He was a rhino specialist with more than five years' experience, and was instrumental in supporting efforts to reintroduce the black rhino to Rwanda, Mr Fearnhead said.

In the 1970s, more than 50 black rhinos lived in the Akagera National Park, but their numbers fell as a result of wide-scale poaching.

The last confirmed sighting of the species was in 2007 until African Parks reintroduced them in May after taking steps to improve security at the reserve.

Last year a record 1,215 rhinos were slaughtered for their horns in South Africa - and at the same time, 42 poachers were killed by rangers and police. This bloody conflict is fuelled by the mistaken belief in Asia that rhino horn cures cancer, and it's growing more intense every year.

The gunman advances close to the animal, against the wind. He shoots. After if falls the other two join the killer, this time to extract the horn. Then we go to our hideout and wait for the cover of night before we walk to the border.

I met up with my friends to discuss how we could escape our lives of poverty. We decided to go and poach a rhino. First we went to see the witchdoctor to find out the safest route to take. Then we left home and headed for the mountains.

There are no more rhinos in Mozambique,the last were killed two years ago so his destination was South Africa's Kruger National Park, a pristine wilderness where animals can roam freely. It's home to the majority of the world's rhinos, which makes it the number one target for poachers.

We wait and watch the movement of the rangers and when it gets dark we walk long distances to a place where the rangers rarely go. There we sleep. At dawn we start the hunt. When there's no police around then you can kill it, but it should die on your first shot or it's dangerous. Cutting the horn is hard, but we in the countryside are used to cutting wood with a machete, so it's not difficult for us.

Poachers usually work in groups of three. One shoots the rhino, one cuts off the horn and the other acts as a look out. Eusebio was the shooter on his four successful trips into Kruger Park, making him about $10,000 (£6,740) in total.

This is a fraction of the value of a rhino horn in Asia, where, where - falsely thought to be a cure for cancer among other things, and an aphrodisiac - it can fetch $250,000 (£170,000). But to Eusebio it meant he could move his three wives and children out of their stick hut into a small house of brick and concrete, buy some cattle and set up a small bar.

Though he's not proud of killing rhinos, he says his family might otherwise be going hungry.

As the number of slaughtered South African rhinos has shot up - from 13 in 2007 to more than 1,000 in 2013 and 2014 - a whole industry to protect the animal has arisen.

One example is Protrack, the first of a number of private anti-poaching security companies that have been set up in South Africa.
"You've got heavily armed gangs coming in to kill," says its founder, Vincent Barkas, who hires out his rangers to private reserves in the Greater Kruger area.

We're teaching our guards to protect themselves, which unfortunately means teaching them to use a semi-automatic weapon, which can potentially kill a person.

The rangers live out in the bush and sleep under the stars when on patrol. To protect themselves from wild animals they make little enclosures with the branches of thorny bushes and spend the nights inside them with the comfort of a small fire.

Protrack's star ranger, Tumi Morema, who has caught more poachers than anyone else, says his wife is convinced he will be killed one day - either by poachers or wild animals. And the risks also follow him home.

I do get threats, he says. On the street I meet people who say, we're going to get you.

Despite this, he says he understands what drives the poachers, beyond poverty and greed.

Many years ago there weren't fences and then white people came and put up fences. Now they own the animals and black people feel like their access to the wild has been taken away, he says.

So they don't respect it. They feel like they've been robbed. That's the biggest problem. That's what causes poaching.

Wildlife crime is the fourth largest global illegal trade, according to WWF, after drugs, counterfeiting, and human trafficking
Rhino horn is one of the world's most expensive commodities, fetching about $60,000 (£40,500) per kilogram - it's worth more, gram for gram, than diamonds and gold.

There are about 20,400 southern white rhinos in Africa - but campaigners warn that the number of rhinos poached may soon to exceed the number being born

In southern Africa, European hunters brought the rhinoceros to the brink of extinction in the early 1900s and there are no longer any in Mozambique

Some rhinos are pregnant when killed, others may leave orphans which later die; There's a lot of collateral damage of the 1200 that were killed last year, you can probably add another 400, says vet Peter Rogers,half of Mozambique's population lives on less than $1 a day.

One of the 42 poachers killed in South Africa last year was Eusebio's younger brother, Sebastiao. He left behind two widows, two children and heartbroken parents.

Until last year poaching was not even a crime in Mozambique, and there still seems to be a reluctance in some quarters to stop the lucrative trade.

The police and soldiers bring the weapons here for us to go and poach, says Eusebio's father, Jeremiah. So the first step is for the government to stop the police and soldiers bringing guns from the capital Maputo, but if the guns continue to come here, our children will continue to go poaching because they have nothing else to do.

Police even compete to be deployed to poaching areas such as Massingir and Magude, over the border from the Kruger National Park, says Mozambican journalist Lazaro Mabunda, because this is where they can make a fortune out of poaching.

Those running illegal hunting have practically neutralised state institutions, he says. That's why you hardly find cases of people convicted for rhino poaching. On the contrary they are the most protected people by the state.

Mozambique's head of conservation, Bartolomeu de Soto, acknowledges that the number of rhinos being killed is rising, but he says poachers have been arrested, and it's because the law was only passed last year that there have been no convictions so far.
He says this issue is a priority for the government, and that if there is a case of corruption, the government acts.

But he accepts that poverty - one of the root causes of poaching - won't be eradicated soon.

On the other side of the border, the man charged with stopping rhino poaching in Kruger National Park, Maj Gen Johan Jooste, says he knows that killing poachers is not the solution.

Poacher will always replace poacher unless you take out organised crime, the big bosses, he says. You must also give the community hope. You must demonstrate that you have control over the crime network and then come with a benefit that they'll get in the long term. The future of our parks lies in the hand of our communities and them benefiting from the wildlife economy.

Most rhinos are killed for their horn, though some are tranquillised while the horn is hacked off. But how do you treat an animal mutilated in this way? No-one has had to do it, until now.

The biggest challenge is the size of the animal, and the fact that very little post-operative care can be done," says wildlife surgeon Johan Marais.

We have to immobilise the rhino with the facial wounds every four weeks for up to 12 months, which is a risk every time for the animal as well as a financial burden for the owner. However, it is something that needs to be done to save these animals' lives.

This rhino, called Lion Den, had her horn and part of her face hacked off with a chainsaw, and was left wandering the bush with blood pouring from her fully exposed sinuses.

To keep flies out, vets covered the wound with a cast made of fibre glass, but the rhino began to damage it while scratching on tree trunks.

What they came up with was rather surprising. They decided to fill the wound with the material used for dental plates and sew it on with dental wire, filling in any gaps with superglue.

Skin was also taken from behind Lion Den's ears and sewn on to her face,the first ever skin graft performed on a rhino. It has so far proved successful and Lion Den is slowly recovering at the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre.

There was, however, one casualty. Lion Den was pregnant when attacked and the trauma meant she lost her calf.

RWANDA: Rwanda Receives 10 Black Rhinos To Receive 10 More Soon

Ten black rhinos arrived in Rwanda from South Africa as part of conservation efforts to reintroduce the endangered species to the Akagera National Park.

The rhinos landed at the Kigali International Airport on Tuesday, May 2, with another ten expected next week, according to the Akagera park management.

The rhino’s return to this country is a testament to Rwanda’s extraordinary commitment to conservation and is another milestone in the restoration of Akagera’s natural diversity,said Peter Fearnhead, the chief executive officer of African Parks, a conservation non-profit that manages Rwandan parks.

The Eastern black rhinos have been translocated to Rwanda from South Africa’s Thaba Tholo Game Ranch.

The last recorded sighting of the large herbivore in Rwanda was a decade ago after increased poaching led to declining numbers and thereafter its extinction.

According to the Rwanda Development Board, Akagera park had about 50 black rhinos but “their numbers declined under the pressure of wide-scale poaching until the last confirmed sighting of the species in 2007”.

The return of the rhino comes nearly two years after Rwanda successfully reintroduced lions in the Akagera park. In July 2015, seven lions were relocated from South Africa to the park and their numbers have since grown to 17, according to the park’s management.

The Howard G. Buffett Foundation, the People's Postcode Lottery and the Dutch government supported the rhinos reintroduction.

Several years ago, as we were struggling to have success combating rhino poaching in other parts of Africa, I made a commitment to President Paul Kagame that we would support the reintroduction of rhinos in Rwanda because we knew this country would protect them, said Howard G. Buffett, chairman and CEO of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.

“The total relocation operation cost in excess of $2 million” said Sarah Hall, the tourism and marketing manager at Akagera National Park.

The return of the rhinos to Rwanda's Akagera National Park opens a new chapter in our conservation journey and we are grateful to all our partners who contributed to this achievement, said Clare Akamanzi, Rwanda Development Board's CEO.

With the reintroduction of the rhino, the Akagera park has now reclaimed the Big Five status – having the lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and the rhino.

Rwanda now hopes this will boost the country’s tourism sector, which is its biggest foreign exchange earner.

African Parks indicates that of the twenty rhinos to be brought to Rwanda, about half are female.

MALAWI: Prince Harry Takes Part In Historic ‘500 Elephants’ Conservation Initiative

Prince Harry spent almost three weeks on the ground in Malawi with African Parks, a conservation NGO that manages protected areas and national parks on behalf of governments, where he served as part of the expert team and helped implement the first phase of ‘500 elephants’.

This initiative is one of the largest and most significant elephant translocations in conservation history where up to 500 elephants are being moved over 350 kilometres across Malawi from Liwonde National Mark and Majete Wildlife Reserve to Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve, where the elephants will be able to thrive. All three parks are managed by African Parks in partnership with the Malawi Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW).

The ‘500 Elephants’ initiative, led by African Parks, will play a critical rote in helping to secure a long-term future for Malawi’s elephants. Prince Harry assisted with the first phase of the translocation during which 261 elephants were successfully re-homed in Nkhotakota. The remaining 239 elephants will be moved during the second phase which will occur in the summer of 2017.

“We are thrilled to have Prince Harry serve as an integral part of our translocation team” said Peter Fearnhead, CEO of African Parks. “He has extensive field experience and was extremely comfortable with the animals, whether helping an anesthetised elephant to the ground and monitoring its breathing to affixing radio collars. He played a vital role in many aspects of this giant operation which requires not only all hands on deck, but a vigilance he exudes, and a commitment to the cause he embodies”.

Along with moving elephants, Prince Harry assisted with translocating a male rhino, a host of game species including antelope, buffalo, and zebra (more than 1,500 head of game were also translocated to Nkhotakota to help restore the park), and he facilitated in re-collaring three lions in Majete with GPS collars to monitor and better protect them.

“There has to be a balance between the numbers of animals, and the available habitat. Just how nature intended it” said Prince Harry. “In this case, African Parks, in partnership with the Malawian government, have re-established a safe area for elephants to be moved back to. This simultaneously relieves the pressure in Liwonde, and restocks Nkhotakota so both populations of elephants can continue to grow”.

500 Elephants has two objectives: to relieve human-wildlife conflict and pressure on natural habitats from the high density of elephants in Liwonde and Majete, and to restore Nkhotakota making it a premiere elephant sanctuary for Malawi. As recently as 20 years ago, Nkhotakota supported more than 1,500 elephants but due to rampant poaching had as few as 100 elephants before the start of the translocation this year. Since African Parks’ management, law enforcement has been completely overhauled to secure the park and prepare for the arrival of the translocated elephants and game species.

Majete has been managed by African Parks since 2003 and is a conservation success story in that prior to assuming management, most of the wildlife had been hunted out. Today, after African Parks reintroduced elephants, rhino, lions, leopard, buffalo and a host of other species, the park has rebounded making it Malawi’s only Big Five reserve now home to a population of more than 400 elephants; tourism has flourished and benefits are being derived by the local communities.

African Parks assumed management of Liwonde and Nkhotakota just in August of 2015 and immediately began fencing both parks (to reduce conflict in Liwonde, and prepare for the translocation in Nkhotakota) and have overhauled law enforcement in both places through ranger recruitment, training, active patrols and technology, making them more secure for wildlife. As Malawi is a densely-populated, agro-based country, ecological corridors no longer exist to allow for natural migration, however the “500 Elephants” initiative is a human-assisted migration providing the best chance of a long-term and sustainable future for these elephants.

Under mounting pressure from poaching, habitat loss and human-wildlife conflict, the African elephant is being increasingly threatened in many parts of the continent. Numbering as many as 10,000,000 a century ago, recent census results indicate they have been reduced to fewer than 450,000. With between 30,000 to 40,000 elephants being poached every year to feed the insatiable demand for ivory, their long-term survival at risk.

“Good news in conservation is often just the absence of bad news” continued Peter Fearnhead. “What we’re seeing with ‘500 Elephants’ is a pivotal moment for Malawi who is emerging as a leader in African elephant conservation. We’re looking head on at the consequences of well-managed protected areas like Majete with increasing populations of elephants and other species, and how this creates opportunities for wildlife and communities. It’s a story of hope and survival, and serves as inspiration as to what is possible”.

African Parks is a non-profit conservation organisation that takes on the complete responsibility for the rehabilitation and long-term management of national parks in partnership with governments and local communities. With the largest counter-poaching force for any one NGO in Africa, more than 600 rangers on staff, and the most amount of area under protection for any one NGO in Africa, African Parks manages 10 national parks and protected areas in seven countries covering six million hectares: Malawi, Zambia, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Chad. Visit www.500elephants.org and www.african-parks.org to learn more.

MALAWI: Translocating 250 Elephants To New Home In Malawi

Prince Harry assists conservationists in translocating 250 elephants to their new home in Malawi.

The first round of the translocation process of a total of 500 elephants was completed last month, seeing just over 250 elephants rehomed into a sanctuary at Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve in central Malawi.

The world’s media have been closely following Malawi’s elephants since the first elephant family was translocated from Liwonde National Park on 5th July 2016.

Prince Harry joined the operation in its final stages, which saw him supporting the African Parks team with the delicate process of darting and capturing the elephants to load them onto trucks for their 350km journey north.

Not just elephants were involved in this, one of Africa’s biggest ever animal translocations. Other games species totalling 1117 individuals were also moved including 404 waterbuck, 200 sable, 199 warthog, 122 impala, 100 kudu and 92 buffalo.

The operation ensured the safeguarding of not only the elephants, but also the livelihood of local agricultural communities. Surplus populations of elephant were resulting in habitat degradation and human wildlife conflict. Their new home is a vast wildlife sanctuary that was once home to over 1500 elephants, but due to poaching only 100 remained.

Peter Fearnhead, CEO for African Parks said, “The reason we are moving these elephants is to prevent further habitat degradation and mitigate conflict in Liwonde and Majete, as well as to restock Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve. To do this, we have to be sure of their long-term security, which is why we have already overhauled law enforcement and anti-poaching measures in the elephants new home.”

Kelly White from Malawi Tourism said “The future for Nkhotakota looks bright, the next 12 months will see a repopulated park both with elephants and over a thousand individuals of other game species providing a premier elephant sanctuary for Malawi and a tourism hotspot for the country in the coming years. With Malawi’s three premier parks now benefitting from the proactive management of African Parks Malawi will soon have a high quality safari experience on offer to match its existing lake, landscape and cultural highlights making it perhaps one of the most complete destinations in Africa”.

Phase two of the process to move an additional 250 elephants from Malawi’s Majete Wildlife Reserve will commence in July 2017, along with plans to secure populations of lions and cheetah to reintroduce into Liwonde National Park in early 2017.

African Parks is a non-profit conservation organisation that takes on the complete responsibility for the rehabilitation and long-term management of national parks in apartment with government and local communities. African Parks manages 10 national parks and protected areas in seven countries covering six million hectares: Malawi, Zambia, CAR, The Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Chad.

To learn more, please visit www.african-parks.org

ANGOLA: World Environmental Day 2016 For Angola

Angola, which is seeking to conserve its biodiversity-rich wildlife and rebuild its elephant population, will this year host the 2016 World Environment Day (WED).

WED is the largest single day event aimed at positive action on the environment worldwide. It takes place on 5 June each year. This year’s theme is fighting the illegal wildlife trade, an issue of large importance in Angola, where poaching is threatening efforts to rebuild an elephant population decimated by decades-long civil war.

According to Angolan Environment Minister Maria de Fatima Jardim Angola is delighted to host WED because the illegal wildlife trade and particularly the trade in ivory and rhino horn is a major problem across the African continent. “By hosting this day of celebration and awareness-raising, we aim to send a clear message that such practices will soon be eradicated.”

The United Nations Environmental Programme says very little is known about the size of Angola’s remaining elephant population, which historically lived in the southeast of the country, also crossing the borders to neighbouring countries.

The Great Elephant Census, the first aerial survey of known elephant ranges in Angola, started last year in attempt to build a clearer picture of the population in Africa, and with regards to Angola, in the Kaza Area. The information collected will be used in the Angolan government’s elephant inventory programme and for the conservation of wild habitats in the Okavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area and the Cuando-Cubango province.

Angola is also currently revising its Penal Code to ensure tougher punishments for poachers in its efforts to reverse the damage to its wildlife populations.

The Great Elephant Census is designed to provide accurate and up-to-date data about the number and distribution of African elephants by using standardised aerial surveys of tens of hundreds of thousands of square miles. Conceptualised by Elephants Without Borders, it is supported by African Parks, the Frankfurt Zoological Society, Wildlife Conservation Society, The Nature Conservancy, IUCN African Elephant Specialist Group and several influential individuals.

CONGO DR: Four Rangers Killed In Garamba National Park By Poachers

Poachers in the Democratic Republic of Congo killed three park rangers and an army officer as authorities seek to re-exert control over a national park, a conservation group has said.

The illegal hunters opened fire on a patrol including nine rangers and a military colonel that had tracked an elephant's transmitter collar to a poachers' camp in northern Congo's Garamba National Park on Monday.

A helicopter operated by African Parks, which manages Garamba, rescued six of the men but was unable to return for the remaining four, the group said. Their bodies were recovered later.

Garamba's park manager Erik Mararv said clashes with poachers were on the rise. Eight people have so far died this year in Garamba, which has long been home to poachers and armed groups, including members of Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army.

"We have increasingly and more fiercely started to expand our protection zone to cover the whole park in the last six months and this has obviously brought us in to a number of confrontations with various armed groups," said Mararv.

Poaching has received renewed international attention in recent months, with the United Nations calling on member states to improve efforts against trafficking and poaching, arguing the profits fund insurgent and rebel groups operating in Africa.

Africa's elephant population is estimated to have dwindled by 60 percent over the past decade with around 30,000 elephants poached each year largely to supply ivory to Asian countries.