Wildlife viewing is a popular activity consisting of peacefully admiring wild animals living in their natural habitat. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Garamba National Park, located in the province of Haut-Uélé, is a wildlife sanctuary intended to protect the habitats of many endangered animal species.
Thus, the park has just welcomed white rhinos from South Africa, as part of a project launched last year. It is an initiative of the Congolese subsidiary of the Canadian company Barrick Gold. It finances the conservation of biodiversity in the DRC, including the fitting of GPS collars on animals to track their movements and veterinary care.
An operation to reintroduce these endangered rhinos was successfully carried out by animal experts this Friday, June 9, 2023. The Congolese authorities and the NGO African Park are supervising the project in collaboration with the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of nature (ICCN).
Their arrival in the Garamba Park will certainly attract the attention of tourists from all over the world. On the other hand, the provincial government of Haut-Uélé and Barrick Gold are committed to working together to strengthen the attractiveness of the park in order to make it a competitive tourist center. This generates income for the province thanks to the strong employment and development potential that tourism represents.
Garamba National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is one of the oldest national parks in Africa. It covers about 5000 km2 and is home to many endangered animal species, such as: elephant, northern giraffe, hippopotamus, buffalo, okapi, etc. The landscapes of the park include immense savannahs, grassy or wooded, interspersed with gallery forests along the rivers and swampy depressions.
This event is therefore good news for the DRC and a step forward for the protection and conservation of wildlife, which contributes to the fight against climate change and the reduction of poverty.