South Africa: Another 10 bufallo released into Marakele National Park

The Marakele National Park in Limpopo used to be home to the famous Big Five, but due to a disease called Theileriosis all buffalo in the Park had to be removed in 2009. About two years later, in 2011, a herd of 15 sentinel bulls got reintroduced to initiate a test to determine the disease prevalence in the area. These bulls were tested again in April 2013 and confirmed to be negative for Theileriosis, so that the quarantine status on the Marakele National Park got fully lifted. Another six month later, a herd of 20 buffalo which comprised of nine cows and eleven bulls got released into the park. Following the successful re-introduction, SANParks now released another ten cows into Marakele National Park on 07 April 2014.

The Marakele National Park is located in the Waterberg Biosphere in South Africa's Limpopo Province and covers about 670 square kilometres. The Park's accommodation options include two camp sites, namely Tlopi Tented Camp and Bontle Camping Site, ans the Motswere Guest Cottage, a farm-house turned guest cottage self-catering unit.