When I was invited to join the board of the Rhino Fund Uganda nearly 10 years ago by erstwhile Rhino Lady Yvonne Verkaik, I accepted the call and was promptly elected as chairperson of RFU. Little did I know then what challenges lay ahead of me and my colleagues on the board, and what achievements I could look back at when passing the baton to my successor Dirk ten Brink, who now chairs the organisation. Courtesy of Captain Joe Roy, the Rhino Fund was granted long term land use rights for his Ziwa cattle ranch and the use of the buildings, and when RFU’s efforts to secure the necessary funding hit ‘gold’ the work began in earnest to convert Ziwa into a rhino sanctuary.

Today, nearly 17.000 acres of ‘restored wilderness’ are protected by an electric and secondary fence, the cattle have been moved to a neighbouring ranch, the sanctuary headquarters and workshops have been refurbished, lodging facilities have been created and a restaurant and gift shop are available for an ever growing number of local and foreign visitors. But most important, with the help of donors like the EU and then the Disney Animal Kingdom, the RFU managed to procure 6 adult southern white rhinos, three males and three females who have produced one calf each so far, bringing the total population to 9 on the sanctuary. New ‘Rhino Lady’ Angie Genade is now managing the affairs of the RFU and the sanctuary and has given Ziwa new momentum and set high goals for the future. Initially the southern white rhino was NOT found in Uganda, where the eastern black and the northern white were common, but the eastern blacks were poached to extinction as were the northern white, last seen in the early 1980’s in Uganda. However, the support for our breeding project and the return
of the species to Uganda could at the time only be achieved by ‘settling’ for the southern white, but the visible success has now put Uganda and Ziwa in line to establish also a breeding programme for the eastern black, and negotiations are underway to have the Kenyan government grant consensus to give us a core population, either on loan, as a gift or on outright purchase to return this subspecies too to the Pearl of Africa.

This all is good news to the Ugandan tourism and conservation sectors, where our private efforts have succeeded to bring the rhinos back to Uganda. This added another attraction to the safari circuit and being prominently located en route to Murchisons Falls National Park allows local and foreign visitors alike to catch a glimpse of the rare animals in the wild. Across the border in Kenya several private rhino sanctuaries exist, besides the ‘public’ sanctuaries at Lake Nakuru National Park and near Ngulia / Tsavo West. The 90.000 acres Ol Pejeta Conservancy, which is straddling the equator on the Laikipia plains between the towering Mt. Kenya and the Aberdare Mountains, has in recent years turned into a premier tourism destination in its own right, more so since the erstwhile boundaries between the ‘working cattle ranch’ and the area dedicated for wildlife were removed and a single, major conservancy created, where cattle and wildlife now happily co-exist. This ‘integration’ and its financial success is most amazing to witness and groundbreaking in many ways, and the experience there may in fact in coming years find favour with Ziwa too, to improve financial self sustainability in the longer run.

Ol Pejeta is managed by Richard Vigne, who is by the way a former resident of Uganda and his dedicated team. Ol Pejeta’s ownership is split between Flora and Fauna International, The Arcus Foundation and the Lewa Conservancy and the company operates as a not for profit organization, where neither shareholders nor directors received dividends or any form of remuneration, incidentally the same at Rhino Fund Uganda. All financial surpluses are ploughed back into the property to help in paying for the very costly conservation efforts and further improvements in the infrastructure. Over the years Ol Pejeta has become the largest rhino sanctuary and breeding project in Kenya for the Eastern Black Rhino, now having over 100 of these animals on the conservancy while alongside a number of the Southern White species are happily coexisting with their cousins. The Eastern’ species are ‘browsers’ and the Southern’ species are ‘grazers’ hence not having a conflict over food sources, which is important when it comes to carrying capacity of the conservancy. However, the most significant recent development was the introduction of the rarest of rhino species, the Northern White, four of which were donated by the Czech Republic in December, when they arrived in an airlift at the international airport in Nairobi, before being trucked to Ol Pejeta. There they will now make a permanent home on Ol Pejeta, and hopefully succeed in breeding. Four more of them are left in Czech zoos, but are thought to be too old already for reproductive purposes.

The last remaining ‘wild’ Northern White population, as often pointed out by this writer in the past, were more than likely poached to extinction in the Garamba National Park in Congo by Ugandan rebels, who – after being pushed out of Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan – made camp in Garamba. An earlier planned airlift, with aircraft engines literally running already, to bring them to Ol Pejeta and into a secure refuge until conditions in Congo were conducive again to conservation, was cancelled by a ‘minister’ in the Kinshasa regime at the time, who deluded himself that Congo was able to ensure the protection of these rare animals and clearly misled the world at the time over their abilities, their real commitment and true intent.

Aerial and ground surveys are ongoing in Garamba, now that the rebels have been pushed out of the park again, but todate no signs of any Northern White alive have been found to the disappointment of those who hoped beyond hope and as a confirmation of others who believe that they are indeed gone forever. Hence, the four Northern White Rhino now at Ol Pejeta are the one and only remaining chance to save that sub species, and going by the conservancy’s track record, if they cannot do it no one can. My host, Richard Vigne, made it possible for me to get close up to the Northern Whites, and not only see them but also speak with their wardens and rangers to get first hand information how well they have settled into their new, and permanent environment on Ol Pejeta. It reminded me of all the issues of wildlife conservation and our responsibility to look after them well, so that future generations of humans can still enjoy, what seems so ‘normal’ still for me and my generation. And here are the ‘real’ challenges ahead for old hands like us, to pass on the batons, and keep the flame of our love for the wilderness, the bush and its animals burning in the next and future generations. We almost failed when poaching took root and ‘rhinocide’ was committed and it took huge efforts to bring back the
rhinos to Uganda, but if future generations lose this focus and commitment, fail to learn from our lessons, more likely than not we will also once again lose these precious animals, and then for good.

For more information please Visit: www.olpejetaconservancy.org and www.rhinofund.org