10th September, 2019
Tanzanian authorities received nine black rhinos offered by South African authorities to improve the East African country’s tourism.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Adolf Mkenda, who received the rhinos at the Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA), said the animals, in the list of endangered species, would boost tourism in Tanzania.
Mkenda promised to fully protect the endangered rhinos against poachers, adding that rhinos from South Africa’s Thoba Tholo game reserve would be sheltered at the Sasakwa area in the Serengeti game reserve.
He said their transportation to Tanzania was facilitated by Grumeti Fund, a wildlife conservation organisation.
In July, the Directorate of Presidential Communication at State House in Dar es Salaam said in a statement that the elephant and rhino populations in the country had begun to rebound after a government crackdown.
The statement said that due to the work of a special task force launched in 2016 to fight wildlife poaching, elephant populations had increased from 43,330 in 2014 to over 60,000 to date.
It said the number of rhinos had increased from just 15 to 167 over the past four years.