Inhambane, Mozambique, June 18, 2025 (Lusa) - Zinave National Park, in the province of Inhambane, southern Mozambique, has received 10 more rhinos from South Africa, the authorities announced on Wednesday.
The arrival of the 10 black rhinos represents another step in the development of a solid tourist product in Mozambique’s conservation areas, said Pejul Calenga, director-general of the National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC).
Calenga reports that on Monday, they introduced a total of five male and five female rhinos into the park as part of the Zinave Park ecosystem restoration project, which aims to reintroduce viable populations of wild animals.
According to Pejul Calenga, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlif donated the animals; the government organisation is responsible for maintaining wildlife and biodiversity conservation areas in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
ANAC coordinated the initiative in partnership with the Peace Parks Foundation (PPF), with financial support from the UK People’s Postcode Lottery, which raises money for good causes in Great Britain and other countries.
In September 2023, the park welcomed an equal number of these animals from South Africa - five white and five black.
Zinave National Park is the only park in Mozambique that has the ‘Big Five’, i.e. the five largest animals of the African savannah, elephants, rhinos, lions, buffalo and leopards, according to ANAC.
In addition to the ‘Big Five’, Zinave National Park is also home to crocodiles, giraffes, wild pigs, bushbucks, hippos, impalas, kudus, inhalas, oribis, changos, pivas, horse-cows and zebras, among other animals.
The park also has more than 200 tree species and 200 grass species.
The National Administration of Conservation Areas and the Peace Parks Foundation co-manage Zinave, entities that joined forces in 2016 to begin its recovery.
The Peace Parks Foundation, founded in 1997 by, among others, then-South African President Nelson Mandela, advocates for the reintroduction of rhinos in Zinave as an important milestone in the region to protect the species, which poachers have targeted.
According to data from the organisation, in the last decade, poachers killed more than 8,000 black and white rhinos in southern Africa, a number that exceeds a third of the entire remaining population worldwide.
Zinave National Park, located in the province of Inhambane, southern Mozambique, covers 408,000 ha, and authorities redeveloped it after the 16-year Mozambican civil war.
According to data from the Ministry of Land and Environment, Mozambique has 12 national parks and protected areas, with 5,500 species of flora and 4,271 species of terrestrial wildlife.
LYCE/ADB // ADB.
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