Mozambique: Over 100 elands translocated to Maputo and Zinave National Parks

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Mozambique: Over 100 elands translocated to Maputo and Zinave National Parks

2:55 CAT | 16 Sep 2022

Photo: O País

Maputo National Park, in the southern region of Mozambique, on Thursday received 26 elands donated by Vilankulo Wild Sanctuary, in the province of Inhambane as part of a programme to reintroduce this specie in conservation areas, in Mozambique, where it went extinct due to poaching.

Translocation of elands to Maputo National Park was preceded by an identical exercise last week that culminated with the reintroduction of 75 elands in the Zinave National Park (PNZ), Inhambane province, totalling 101.

These elands were also donated by Vilanculo Wild Sanctuary which has shown high levels of efficiency in the management and protection of the eland population.

This operation was carried out with the support of Peace Parks Foundation (PPF), a South African organisation committed on large-scale conservation in transfrontier conservation areas, in coordination with Mozambique’s National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC), under a shared management agreement.

Speaking to AIM, park administrator Miguel Gonçalves said that the arrival of elands at the Maputo Park was a culmination of a process of reintroducing wild animals started in 2010, when it was found that the conservation area had lost most its fauna and some of its species had become locally extinct.

Since then, around 5,000 animals of 11 species have been translocated to the park.

According to the source, with the success in reintroducing herbivorous animals, such as elands, giraffes, nyalas, kudos, warthogs, among others, now the park’s challenge is to ensure an ecological balance, which means reintroducing predators, such as cheetahs, leopards and hyenas.

“We are pleased with the arrival of elands and at the moment our immediate challenge is to ensure fencing of the park, though there are still communities living inside the park perimeter. Now we are persuading our partners to reintroduce cheetahs and other carnivores to ensure the right balance,” said Gonçalves.

As for the translocation operation from Vilanculo Wild Sanctuary to both Zinave and Maputo national parks, PPF project manager at the Maputo Park, Brian Neuberg said that the animals travelled a distance of about 450 kilometres by road to Zinave and over 800 kilometres to Maputo.

According to the same source, PPF is an organization committed in the promotion of biodiversity which, in his view, does not depend only on the “Big Five” or species considered most emblematic in the landscape, but the ecosystem has much to gain from other species such as elands, among other species and herbivores.

Brian Neuberg pointed out that the last two eland translocations preceded a recent successful white and black rhino translocation to PNZ, as part of a long-term animal restocking programme to restore unique ecosystems in Transfrontier Conservation Areas.

“With this translocation a robust eland population suitable for the varied and habitat-rich landscape in Maputo and the Zinave is expected,” he stressed.

Source: AIM