The rhinos – 19 females and 11 males, a mix of adults and subadults – were driven from Phinda private game reserve in South Africa’s Munyawana conservancy, flown from Durban to Kigali, then transported by road to Akagera, completing a 40-hour journey of more than 3,400km – a massive logistical undertaking that went ahead despite the new Covid variant announcements over the weekend. The sedated rhinos are loaded into the hold for the flight from South Africa. We refer to it as an ‘animal bank’, where you can keep wildlife for the future movement of animals within the region, once we have a good, breeding, functional population in Akagera.” “We’re starting with 30, but this could grow – Akagera could be a home for easily 500 or 1,000 white rhino in the future,” Gruner said. Unlike critically endangered black rhinos, which previously roamed in Rwanda, white rhinos are a new introduction to the country. We have to do everything we can to address their safety.” If some countries can’t get hold of the illegal wildlife trade, white rhinos and rhinos in general might be pushed to the brink of extinction. “It’s absolutely vital to get white rhinos spread across the continent, where they have safe habitats, and not necessarily only where they used to be,” Gruner said. One of the rhinos is released into a temporary enclosure in Phinda game reserve for quarantine ahead of the move to Rwanda. Down to an estimated 18,000 animals across Africa, white rhinos are classified by the IUCN as near threatened, with numbers in decline largely due to poaching, driven by demand for their horns. It is hoped Akagera will become a new breeding stronghold to support the long-term survival of the species. The 30 white rhinos arrived at their new home, Akagera national park in eastern Rwanda, yesterday. But they were partly drugged, so they could still stand up and keep their bodily functions normal, but enough to keep them calm and stable.” “The rhinos weren’t sedated on the plane in the sense they were totally lying down, as that’s bad for their sternums.

“All the rhinos were slightly sedated to keep them calm and not aggressive or trying to get out of the crates,” said Jes Gruner, of conservation organisation African Parks, who oversaw the largest single rhino translocation in history this weekend. The last thing anyone wanted was a 1.5-ton rhino on the rampage aboard a Boeing 747. Crew members instead worked to keep the first-time air travellers placid and problem-free. Getting stuck into the in-flight wine wasn’t an option for the 30 passengers flying overnight from South Africa to Rwanda.

Rhinoceros shirts