Historic return of rhinos to Mozambique! [update]

update (31 August 2022): Zinave National Park in Mozambique has received 27 rhinos in the past two months. According to Bernard van Lente, project manager of the Peace Parks foundation, 54 men have been trained by Peace Parks to reinforce security in the national park and a helicopter to reinforce the patrol work, which is on site day and night, has been requested.

Zinave National Park in Mozambique is set to become the first “big five” National Park in the country and the host of the first founder population of the critically endangered black rhino and the near threatened white rhino. After becoming locally extinct more than 40 years ago, diversified resources company, Exxaro Resources, and southern African NGO, Peace Parks Foundation, are spearheading the project to reintroduce both rhino species to the National Park in 2022. Zinave National Park, which is co-managed between Mozambique's National Administration for Conservation Areas (ANAC) and Peace Parks, is situated in the district of Mambone near the Save river in the Inhambane Province of Mozambique. 

(c) Peace Parks Foundation

Since 2016 an intensive rewilding programme has reintroduced more than 2 300 game animals representing 14 different species into Zinave National Park. This has included rewilding the park with buffalo, elephant and leopard. In September 2021, the first lions were also recorded in Zinave after a 40-year absence.

Mozambique: Big cats are back in Zinave National Park!

A female and a male leopard have been introduced into Zinave National Park in the Inhambane Province of Mozambique. The two predators were initially introduced into the 18 600 ha sanctuary established within the National Park, but, as big cats do, they soon ventured further, exploring the surrounding habitat within the greater 408 000 ha protected area. The leopards, which were sourced from Karangani Game Reserve in south-western Mozambique, are the founder animals of what will hopefully become a significant leopard population for the region. The two leopards are being closely monitored by the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) and the staff of Zinave National Park as they settle into the National Park. Tracking data seems to indicate (December 2020) that they are doing well and have already begun to establish new territories.

The extensive rewilding efforts in Zinave National Park, which was ravaged during the Mozambique civil war that ended in 1992 and subsequent poaching, form part of a larger restoration and development programme that has been accelerated under a 20-year co-management agreement signed in 2015 between Mozambique's National Administration for Conservation Areas (ANAC) and the Peace Parks Foundation. About 2 300 mammals from 14 species,  including 200 elephants in 2018 and a clan of four spotted hyenas in 2020 (they have already produced two cubs!), have been since been introduced into Zinave National Park, with wildlife numbers now flourishing to around 6 500 animals.

A nomad male lion has also been seen in Zinave National Park. According to the Peace Parks Foundation, a camera trap recently (December 2022) captured the first known image of a male lion in the National Park for several (four?) decades. The photographed lion is a young adult male estimated at between 4 to 5 years of age, which has probably settled in the Zinave National Park along with his female companion.

De Beers Group to move 200 elephants from South Africa to Mozambique!

Diamond producer De Beers Group and the Peace Parks Foundation, a leading not-for-profit organisation focused on the preservation of large functional cross-border ecosystems, have begun to move 200 elephants from Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve (VLNR) in South Africa to Mozambique. During the first phase of the project, approximately 60 elephants will be transported in July 2018 and August 2018 from the VLNR to Zinave National Park in central Mozambique. The remaining approximately 140 elephants will be moved to conservation areas that hold sufficient elephant carrying capacity within Mozambique from 2019.

ICYMI: we’re moving 200 elephants from #SouthAfrica to #Mozambique to protect the welfare of one country’s wildlife and rebuild the elephant population of another #MovingGiants pic.twitter.com/mB2JtUHfsD

— De Beers Group (@debeersgroup) July 24, 2018

De Beers-owned Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve (VLNR), which is located about 80 km from Musina im Limpopo and forms part of Mapungubwe National Park, covers an area of 320km². It can accommodate around 60 elephants without causing extensive damage to the Nature Reserve's ecosystem. As a result of natural population growth, VLNR is currently home to 270 elephants. The elephant population in Mozambique's Zinave National Park, which covers an area of 4080km², is estimated to be around only 60 animals. The elephant population in Mozambique was badly hit by a 15-year civil war that ended in 1992. In more recent years, elephants in the country are threatened with extinction because of poaching. 

Mozambique: Peace Parks Foundation to develop Zinave National Park!

The Peace Parks Foundation and the Mozambican Minister of Land, Environmental  and Rural Development, Mr Celso Correia, have signed a co-management agreement in order to develop Zinave National Park in Mozambique over the next five years. Zinave National Park will be developed as an integral component of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA), the larger area surrounding the core transfrontier park.

The main developments in Zinave National Park will be:

• Establishing a project implementation unit
• Developing an extensive livelihood improvement strategy for the surrounding communities
• Appointing community liaison officers to oversee the development of the conservancies between the three National Parks (Limpopo National Park, Banhine National Park, Zinave National Park) in Mozambique
• Re-stocking the park with wildlife
• Employing and training additional field rangers, providing them with the necessary equipment, building additional ranger accommodation, purchasing vehicles to deploy staff and covering operational costs for rations, fuel and equipment
• Establishing an efficient anti-poaching unit
• Fencing and key infrastructure upgrades
• Preparing and implementing a biodiversity economy strategy for Zinave National Park and the community conservancies that will provide ecotourism and wildlife opportunities

Zinave National Park, situated in the district of Mambone near the Save river in Mozambique's province Inhambane, created by decree on 26 June 1973 and currently covers 4,000km². The Park has very diverse tree species, inlcuding the Acacia nigrescens-dominated plant community, as well as dry Terminalia woodland in a scenic landscape. It boasts massive trees and has a very high carrying capacity for wildlife.