By KT Reporter
Activities aimed at restoring the White Rhinoceros in Ajai Game Reserve, Madi Okollo District, have been intensified.
Ajai Game Reserve currently hosts over 250 Uganda kobs, which were introduced last year to help clear thick vegetation and make the habitat more suitable for the reintroduction of rhinos.
Since then, a series of activities—including dialogues and sensitization meetings—have been undertaken by Madi Okollo District officials, local communities living around the reserve, other stakeholders, and the Rhino restoration project team tasked with monitoring preparations ahead of the planned translocation of rhinos to Ajai Game Reserve.
Key interventions include the construction of a piped water system to serve both wildlife and surrounding communities, installation of an electric fence to demarcate the reserve boundary, construction of security outposts, rehabilitation of roads and pathways, and installation of solar-powered housing facilities.
According to Night Zahara, the third phase of environmental manipulation for the rhinos has been completed across a two-square-kilometre area designated to receive the first batch of animals.
“This will be a Christmas gift for the people of Madi and West Nile and by Saturday today, we expect to fix a day next week for the rhinos to be brought here in Ajai,” Zahara said on her official handle.
Zahara added that the team will conduct two days of monitoring and inspection of the final activities together with officials from the Uganda Wildlife Authority, after which a date for the rhino translocation will be confirmed.
Meanwhile, Madi Okollo District LC V Chairperson Ismail Drabe said local communities are eager and fully prepared to receive and safeguard the wildlife once the rhinos are introduced.
He noted that residents are excited by the news that the animals may arrive before Christmas.Once restored to their original habitat—where they existed in the early 1960s and late 1980s—the White Rhinos are expected to boost tourism and generate additional local revenue for Madi Okollo District, West Nile, and Northern Uganda.
Although the exact number of rhinos to be translocated in the first phase has not yet been disclosed, there are expectations that up to twelve animals—six males and six females—could be introduced.Last week, the Government of Uganda received a batch of rhinoceroses from South Africa as part of ongoing efforts to increase the country’s rhino population.
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