The Power of Collective Action

Tanzania

2025

Zuka Private Game Reserve is a member of the Munywana Conservancy (along with andBeyond Phinda and Makhasa Community Trust) and we are thrilled to share the news of our recent successful translocation of 17 white rhino from the Munywana Conservancy to Tanzania.

On 27th February 2025, 18 of our white rhino were carefully crated, transported to Durban and flown to Tanzania. For accuracy, one animal was returned to the conservancy with the remaining 17 in a perfect state to continue.

On landing in Tanzania, the convoy journeyed to the soft boma release, and later, a wider release in the Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area, followed by the official handover ceremony taking place on 3rd March. Zuka Media’s Jamie Lucas was the official photographer to document everything from their touchdown in Tanzania onwards.

Conservation translocations are a proven strategy to support the survival of a threatened species and this project goal is to successfully establish a number of viable, genetically diverse breeding populations of Southern white rhino in Tanzania, helping to secure the future of this species.

As Zuka Private Game Reserve, we have supported numerous wildlife translocations since our inception in 2001; as part of the Munywana Conservancy, and talking rhino in particular, this amounts to 220 white rhino and 15 black rhino since 2004.

Instrumental in the negotiating and detailing of this extraordinary feat is andBeyond and without doubt, the power of the collective Munywana Conservancy, the collaboration between all the key partners (see below) with the logistical and veterinary teams, this donation and translocation has defined unity, while offering something important for the greater good of the African continent and this planet.

Ngorongoro Crater in Tanazania, the world’s largest volcanic caldera, is a dominant feature in the 809,440 hectare Ngorongoro conservation area – a UNESCO world heritage site and part of the UNESCO Serengeti – Ngorongoro Biosphere Reserve.

Feasibility studies and assessments by both the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute and independent assessors indicated that the habitat in the Ngorongoro Crater Conservation NCCA is an ideal implementation area, and that Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area Authority has the capacity, effective monitoring protocols and resources to manage and protect this Ngorongoro Crater founder population.

This project is an important step towards the Tanzanian government’s long-term goal of establishing viable, genetically diverse breeding populations of the species.

It is wonderful that Zuka Private Game Reserve is a part of this collective vision and legacy; that our shared efforts as Munywana Conservancy have not only safeguarded the numbers of this endangered and iconic species, but we have enabled them to flourish, thus catalysing the possibility of this gift to Tanzania.

This is testament to the members of the Munywana Conservancy, our shared endeavours to restore balance, our commitment to a future where the wild has a place, where rhino thrive and where our collaboration stands as a beacon of what can be achieved when we unite for a cause greater than ourselves.

KEY PARTNERSHIPS:

  • Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Tanzania (MNRT)
  • Ministry of Finance and Planning, Tanzania, (MoFP)
  • Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority, Tanzania (NCAA)
  • Regional District Governance Structure, Tanzania
  • Munywana Conservancy, South Africa (andBeyond Phinda Private Game Reserve, Zuka Private Game Reserve, Makhasa Community Trust)
  • andbeyond
  • A truly generous donor who wishes to remain anonymous and who’s support made this possible.

TO SEE MORE

Rhino Translocation Tanzania
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