DR Congo Introduces White Rhino to its Garamba Park

Only four nations are home to the vast majority (98.8%) of southern white rhinos: South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Kenya. 

In the late 19th century, southern white rhinos were believed to be extinct, but in 1895, a small colony of fewer than 100 animals was found in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa.

Officials announced the release of 16 southern white rhinoceroses into the Garamba national park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Saturday 10th June 2023, reintroducing a poaching-devastated endangered species.

The park, which is located in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, lost its final northern white rhino in 2006 due to poaching.

16 southern white rhinos have been moved from a private reserve in South Africa to Garamba, according to a joint statement from the park and conservation organizations.

According to Yves Milan Ngangay, director general of the Congolese Institute for the protection of Nature (ICCN), "the return of white rhinos to the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a testament to our country's dedication to biodiversity protection.

The ICCN, conservation NGO African Parks, and Canadian mining company Barrick Gold, which sponsored the rhino translocation, were in charge of the operation.

One of Africa's oldest national parks is Garamba, which opened its gates in 1938. However, throughout time, the wildlife of the unstable Congo has been destroyed by conflict, poaching, and chronic insecurity.

The announcement also included a quotation from Peter Fearnhead, CEO of African Parks, who said that efforts to conserve the northern white rhinos in the park had been "too little, too late."

"This reintroduction is the beginning of a process whereby the southern white rhino can fulfill the role of the northern white rhino in the landscape as the closest genetic alternative," he said.

Future shipments of southern white rhinoceroses to Garamba National Park are anticipated.