Black rhino released on to Pongola Game Reserve
TWELVE black rhino have last year been released on to Pongola Game Reserve in northern KwaZulu-Natal. The animals form the third founder population of the Black Rhino Range Expansion Project, a partnership between international conservation organisation WWF and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife. To create the Pongola Game Reserve, six neighbouring landowners brought together 13 000 hectares of land under single management for the benefit of black rhino.

Unbeknown to it, the shy, nervous, blustery black rhino has contributed immensely to the conservation of its own and other endangered species over the last three years. Through the Black Rhino Range Expansion Project more than 80 000 hectares of land in KwaZulu-Natal have been brought under more rational conservation use.
“The Project has contributed more than anything in recent years to the creation of large blocks of uninterrupted land devolved to sound conservation principles. It has been talked about for years – the Project has proved that it can happen,” says WWF project leader Dr Jacques Flamand.

The Project aims to increase black rhino numbers by increasing the land available for their conservation, thus reducing pressure on existing reserves and providing new areas in which they can breed rapidly. It does this by facilitating partnerships between neighbouring landowners in order to create large areas of land with good black rhino habitat. This is best for rapid population growth, essential for the long-term health of a critically endangered species.

The Project’s first founder population of 15 animals was released on to Munyawana Game Reserve in 2004. The second population of 21 animals was released on to Zululand Rhino Reserve in 2005. Both reserves were created by a number of neighbouring landholders in order to receive black rhino from Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife.
“We are delighted at how well things have gone at both of those sites. We have three calves so far and are expecting more,” Dr Flamand said. He also praised the many landowners who have helped the Project succeed. “Landowners have committed themselves to partnerships with one another and with Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife to look after black rhino on a custodianship basis. For many this has required brave sacrifice. They have given up a degree of independence by taking down fences with their neighbours and they have contributed significantly, in cash and kind, to the protection of black rhino on their land.”

The uninterrupted blocks of land catalysed through the Project range in area from 13 000 hectares to 24 000 hectares and there is the exciting prospect of links between them. There are also excellent prospects of bringing in community-owned land, Dr Flamand said. “Two areas are already envisaged: one which could link to Weenen Nature Reserve and one with links to Pongola Game Reserve and Zululand Rhino Reserve. Through the Black Rhino Range Expansion Project we hope to make black communities real stakeholders in conservation which is very important for the long-term security of the black rhino and other endangered species. We also hope to release a population of black rhino on to the eMakhosini Ophathe Heritage Park between Ulundi and iMfolozi.”

The WWF/ Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Black Rhino Range Expansion Project is made possible through funding from WWF-Netherlands, through WWF-South Africa, and is supported by the Mazda Wildlife Fund.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The nature of black rhino
• Black rhino have a reputation for being bad-tempered, but they’re actually just shy and inquisitive. They will investigate anything strange in their surroundings, and tend to run towards a disturbance – possibly because they can’t see well from far away. Some individual rhinos are very nervous and a female with a calf will charge anything she considers a potential threat.
• Black rhino are browsers, using their pointed upper lips like a miniature elephant trunk to twist off low-growing branches of trees and shrubs. They can grow to 1.6 metres tall, weigh up to one and a half tons and run at 55km/hour.

The history of black rhino
• Before the 19th century, there were hundreds of thousands of black rhino across Africa. But they were powerless against the proliferation of modern weapons and their numbers began to dwindle. Even so, there were still more than 65 000 wild black rhino alive in the mid-20th century. Then, the devastating poaching crisis of the 1970s and 1980s hit. Fuelled by demand for rhino horn in the Middle and Far East; made easier by economic and political chaos in some African countries, the slaughter wiped out black rhino populations across the continent. By 1992, there were only 2500 black rhino left. Those that could be reached by poachers had been killed. Those that remained were mostly in heavily protected reserves. Since those dark days, black rhino numbers have been inching back up in some countries, thanks to intensive protection efforts in state and private sectors. There are now an estimated 3600 black rhino in the wild.

For more information contact:

Pam Sherriffs
Communications manager: Black Rhino Range Expansion Project
psherriffs@wwf.org.za
033 845 1856
083 943 1754

Dr Jacques Flamand
Project leader: Black Rhino Range Expansion Project
jflamand@wwf.org.za
082 705 9710
035 550 0666