Kigali, Rwanda – 10 June 2025 – African Parks, together with the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), has moved 70 southern white rhinos to Akagera National Park in Rwanda.
The rhinos were moved in two groups of 35, with three days between each group.
This move is part of the Rhino Rewild Initiative by African Parks and was funded by The Howard G. Buffett Foundation. The goal is to increase the number of white rhinos in Akagera and support rhino conservation across Africa. It also helps Rwanda play a bigger role in protecting rhinos worldwide.
The Rhino Rewild Initiative plans to move over 2,000 rhinos to safe and well-managed parks across Africa. This will help create healthy groups of rhinos in different areas and protect the species from extinction. It will also help restore natural environments.
In 2021, 30 southern white rhinos were moved to Akagera. Today, that group has grown to 41. Now, the new group of 70 rhinos will help build more groups in different places, giving rhinos more space to live in the future.
Before coming to Rwanda, the rhinos were first moved inside South Africa to the Munywana Conservancy. This area is managed by local communities and private landowners like the Makhasa and Mnqobokazi Community Trusts, and the Phinda and ZUKA game reserves.
This first move helped the rhinos get used to the kind of diseases and weather they will face in Rwanda. Then, they were transported 3,400 kilometers from the Munywana Conservancy to King Shaka Airport in Durban. Each rhino traveled in its own steel crate by truck. They were lifted by cranes into a Boeing 747 plane, flown to Kigali, and then taken by road to Akagera National Park. Each group’s trip took around two days and vets checked on the rhinos the whole time.
Moving rhinos like this is very difficult and takes many months of planning. Experts in animal transport and health study everything carefully before the move. Now that the rhinos are in Akagera, a special vet team will watch them closely for a few weeks to make sure they adjust well and stay healthy.
This is the largest rhino move ever done. It was made possible through strong teamwork between RDB, African Parks, Munywana Conservancy, and many experts. It shows how working together can help solve big conservation problems.
The Howard G. Buffett Foundation paid for the move. The Rob Walton Foundation and the Pershing Square Foundation helped start the Rhino Rewild Initiative.
