Rhino conservation initiative
The Solution
The Community Rhino Conservation Initiative aims to re-introduce rhinos to this part of Zimbabwe in a highly secure and sustainable way to eventually accommodate a viable population of free-roaming black and white rhinos.
Communities that do not benefit from conservation often harbor negative attitudes toward wildlife and will often turn to poaching. The Community Rhino Conservation Initiative places local communities at the heart of conservation efforts. It engages them as rhino custodians and guardians so they can reap directly from the initiative’s benefits.
Hwange Community Rhino Conservation Initiative
In May of 2022, the Hwange National Park in the southwest side of Zimbabwe reintroduced the first two rhinos in twenty years in collaboration with the Hwange Community Rhino Conservation Initiative and Imvelo Sarfari Lodges.
The two rhinos, Thuza and Kusasa, have thrived in their first year on the community-owned conservation. In Ndebele, the Niger-Congo language, Thuza means "to charge or strike,” alluding to the rhino’s powerful physical and metaphorical position. In Ndebele, Kusasa means “tomorrow” because these rhinos represent a bright future for village children and grandchildren.
Today, most rhino conservation successes throughout Africa are on private land. Imvelo’s CRCI - Community Rhino Conservation Initiative - represents a massive paradigm shift, placing rhinos on community land with the local communities as custodians. This historic translocation is one of Africa's most exciting conservation projects today. This is an incredible achievement for the Hwange and future generations and will have a meaningful impact on the communities who have been part of this groundbreaking conservation initiative.
The Issue
In 1985, Hwange National Park had 100 white rhinos, and by the 1990s, poaching was so rampant that by 2007 the last white rhino was seen and killed by foreign poachers near Ngamo in the southern part of the park.
These communities have allocated and entrusted some of their communal grazing lands specifically for rhino conservation. Rhino viewing fees from tourists visiting Imvelo Safari Lodges, will generate social and economic returns to go back into these communities, with 70% of the total funds generated from the rhino returning to the communities.
The reintroduction of the rhino is a catalyst for growing socio-economic benefits in the local communities. This model of community-based conservation will simultaneously generate funds for community development and sustain, finance, and expand conservation efforts.
The Results
Along with Thuza and Kusasa's success has been the accomplishments of the COBRAS and the addition of ecological and environmental curriculum studies in local schools called I Know Rhino.
The Cobras Community Wildlife Protection Unit is a group of scouts, all of whom are from the local villages.
Their mission is to protect communities and wildlife. They have been trained in first aid, conservation education, communications, weapons handling, conservation law, and rhino monitoring to support and protect the area's wildlife and the communities from wildlife threats and damage. They carry out important activities, including rhino protection, patrolling for snares, poaching, wildlife management, firefighting, environmental education, and human-wildlife conflict resolution.
Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park has many animals: elephants, lions, buffalos, hyenas, cheetahs, and leopards. The communities living along the Park's southern boundary often get elephants destroying their crops or predators such as hyenas and lion killing their livestock. By protecting the communities from wildlife, the Cobras are alleviating significant anti-wildlife attitudes and the potential for poaching.
The I Know Rhino educational program aims to facilitate education and awareness among school-age children about rhinos and other wildlife and the importance of conservation. A big part of the Community Rhino Conservation Initiative (CRCI) is to develop awareness and appreciation for wildlife conservation among the next generation of local communities. It has taken decades of experience with tourism to bring local
communities to the point where they could set apart their own land for wildlife. CRCI builds on this solid foundation by directly benefitting communities and using the rhino as a catalyst for further community-based projects.
What is Needed
Funding for the Hwange Community Rhino Conservation Initiative is ongoing. Donations like yours, private donations, and the rhino viewing fees paid by guests participating in the Imvelo Sarfari Lodges tours. Please support the Hwange Community Rhino Conservation Initiative today.
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