Black rhinos return to Zimbabwe’s Matusadona after 30-year absence

Thirty years after they were airlifted out to save them from poachers, black rhinos are once again roaming Matusadona National Park in Zimbabwe.

In early June, 17 critically endangered black rhinos were flown into the park on the shores of Lake Kariba, marking a historic full-circle moment for conservation.

Before the late 1980s, the Sebungwe region with Matusadona at its centre held Zimbabwe’s largest contiguous population of black rhinos — around 3,500 animals. A surge of commercial poaching, with hunters crossing from Zambia for horns, cut that number to just 400 by the early 1990s. In Matusadona itself, the population fell from 250 to 16 in just one year.

Facing extinction, Zimbabwe’s parks authority launched Operation Stronghold, evacuating survivors to safer sanctuaries across Zimbabwe, and even to Texas and Australia. The last rhino was lost from Matusadona in 2016.

Some of the 17 animals now returned are direct descendants of those evacuated, sourced from Imire Rhino and Wildlife Conservancy, Matobo National Park, and other private reserves.”This is an incredible closing of a circle that was 30 years in the making,” said Mike Pelham, Matusadona park manager, who helped crate the last survivors in the 1990s. “Having witnessed the rhino’s catastrophic decline, it is incredibly emotional to see their return. It’s like a dream come true.”

The rhinos were airlifted in specially designed crates and placed in protected bomas to acclimatize. They will be released in phases into a 175-square-kilometre Intensive Protection Zone, each fitted with tracking devices and dehorned, with drones and anti-poaching teams monitoring them. Another 20 are planned for next year.

The park is managed by African Parks under a 20-year partnership with ZimParks since 2019, partly funded by Swiss billionaire Hansjeorg Wyss’s foundation. The return follows other reintroductions like wild dogs and comes as Zimbabwe’s national rhino population has recovered to over 1,000 for the first time in 30 years.