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In 2004, a proposal was submitted to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism of Tanzania to re-introduce Black Rhino to the Serengeti-Mara Ecosystem. Permission was granted in November 2005 by the Tanzanian Government.
The Serengeti-Mara Ecosystem is home to less than 70 black rhino (Diceros bicornis michaeli) in isolated populations in the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya and in Tanzania in the Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area and two areas in the Serengeti National Park – north and south. The western Serengeti has been identified by the African Rhino Specialist Group as an area suitable for the re-establishment of additional populations of black rhino.
The re-introduction will assist in obtaining long-term funding which will boost security on the western boundary of the ecosystem. The ability to show the Big Five, through the SGR tourism activities to guests, will hugely strengthen the income generation from the photographic tourism on which the long-term sustainability of the project rests. On a wider scale, it will help consolidate all the stakeholders in the area – Tanzanian National Parks, Wildlife Division, Kenya Wildlife Services, Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area and other private NGO’s in working towards a healthy ecosystem.
Early in 2006, Port Lympne and Howletts Wild Animal Park based in Kent, UK approached Grumeti Fund with a view to donating two captive-bred black rhino to the Tanzanian Government and re-patriating them to Sasakwa-Grumeti Reserves. Negotiations began and, following a ‘risk assessment’ visit to the UK, permission was granted for Grumeti Fund to import two black rhino from UK to Tanzania.
Although this type of translocation has been carried out previously in Southern Africa involving this species, this operation would be the first of its kind bringing the animals back to their East African roots.