Durban - The re-invigoration of an entire species in Rwanda rests upon the powerful shoulders of seven KwaZulu-Natal lions, whose journey began on Tuesday.
The big cats – five females from &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve and two males from Tembe Elephant Park – arrived at Akagera National Park where they will spend two weeks in quarantine in two separate enclosures.
The lions arrived in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, at 11.30am on Tuesday.
On the way to the park, the trucks transporting them were cheered on by the local people who lined the roads.
African Parks, the organisation which initiated the project, said lions became extinct in the park 15 years ago when numbers of the species were poisoned by cattle herders in the years after the 1994 genocide – which lasted 100 days and saw a million Tutsis massacred by the Hutu – when the park went unmanaged.
Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife spokesman, Musa Mntambo, said the carrying capacity of the parks made it necessary for conservation managers to look at moving surplus animals.
Food
“We need to look at the space allocated to the animals and how much food is available in a particular area. Animals are moved to keep them and the environment healthy,” he said.
Valeri Mouton, spokeswoman for Phinda, said the initiative fitted in with the organisation’s long history of lion conservation.
“It was a natural choice for us to become involved in a translocation of this significance,” she said, adding that the reserve had been approached nearly two months ago.
The conservation group said the lions were selected based on future reproductive potential and their ability to contribute to social cohesion.
The chief tourism officer at the Rwanda Development Board, Yamina Karitanyi, has called the translocation a “breakthrough in the rehabilitation of the park”.
“Their return will encourage the natural balance of the ecosystem and enhance the tourism product to further contribute to Rwanda’s status as an all-in-one safari destination.”
The females are between two and 10 years old and each weighs between 180 and 190kg.
The males are 3½ and 4 years old and each weighs about 250kg.
They are known to have sired at least 12 cubs in total.
The group included young adults, sub-adult females and young adult males from different genetic stock.
The lions were captured and held in bomas in Phinda and in Tembe Elephant Park ahead of the move.
On Monday they were tranquillised, placed in specially designed relocation containers and loaded by crane on to a truck for their trip to OR Tambo International Airport.
On arrival in Johannesburg, they were loaded on to a charter flight and flown to Kigali from where they were transported by road to the park.
The entire journey from KZN to the park took about 26 hours.
African Parks said the lions had been fitted with satellite collars (with a two-year life span) which would enable the Akagera Park management team to monitor their movements and reduce the risk of the lions breaking out into neighbouring community areas.
The fences have also been predator-proofed.
Last year, as part of the preparations for the re-introduction, the Akagera Park team implemented a comprehensive sensitisation programme in communities surrounding the park to promote harmonious co-existence with lions.
Daily News