Inhambane, Mozambique, June 7, 2026 (Lusa) - Mozambique’s Zinave Park has received nine white rhinos from South Africa to restore the balance of ecosystems, the National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC) announced on Sunday.
“By returning the white rhinos to Zinave, we are ensuring the future of a key species and restoring the balance of ecosystems, creating investment opportunities within the wildlife economy, promoting the development of local communities and demonstrating what is possible when partners work together for the sake of nature,” Pejul Calenga, Director-General of ANAC said in the statement.
According to ANAC, donors transferred the animals to Zinave National Park, in the province of Inhambane, southern Mozambique, as part of a rhino reintroduction programme, in a “complex cross-border conservation operation” carried out by the Mozambican agency, Exxaro Resources and the Peace Parks Foundation, with the support of South Africa’s Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.
Pejul Calenga said that the translocation of the animals represents a chapter of pride and hope in Mozambique’s conservation journey.
Mozambican conservation areas have been receiving animals translocated from South Africa, including elephants, lions and rhinos.
Zinave National Park is the only one in Mozambique to host the ‘Big Five’, that is, 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, among other animals, crocodiles, giraffes, warthogs, bush goats, hippos, impalas, cudos, inhalas, oribis, changos, pivas, horse-antelopes and zebras.
The park also has over 200 tree species and 200 species of grasses.
Zinave is managed under a co-management arrangement between the National Conservation Areas Authority and the Peace Parks Foundation, organisations that joined forces and began its restoration in 2016.
The Peace Parks Foundation, founded in 1997 by, among others, the then South African President, Nelson Mandela, advocates the reintroduction of rhinos to Zinave as a key milestone in the region for protecting the species, which conservation efforts are striving to safeguard.
According to the organisation’s data, over the last decade, more than 8,000 black and white rhinos (over a third of the entire remaining global population) have been lost to poaching in southern Africa.
Zinave National Park, located in the province of Inhambane in southern Mozambique, covers 408,000 hectares and underwent redevelopment following the Mozambican civil war, which lasted 16 years.
According to data from the Ministry of Land and Environment, Mozambique has 12 national parks and protected areas, home to 5,500 species of flora and 4,271 species of terrestrial wildlife.
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