Ziwa Rhino and Wildlife Ranch | |
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Location | Mukerenge Village, Nakasongola District, Uganda |
Nearest city | Nakasongola |
Coordinates | 01°29′08″N32°05′43″E / 1.48556°N 32.09528°E |
Area | 70 square kilometres (27 sq mi) |
Established | 2005 |
Governing body | Uganda Wildlife Authority |
Website | Website |
Ziwa Rhino and Wildlife Ranch is a private, animal sanctuary in Uganda. Established in 2005 to re-introduce Southern White Rhinos in the wild, the ranch is the only place in the country, where one can observe these endangered creatures in the wild. The ranch is collaborative effort between Ziwa Rhino and Wildlife Ranch, who own the land on which the sanctuary sits and the Uganda Wildlife Authority, the government agency responsible for protecting Uganda's wildlife resources. As of June 2024, the ranch was home to 41 rhinos. [1] [2]
The ranch is located approximately 164 kilometres (102 mi), by road, north of Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city. This location is near Mukerenge Village, Nakasongola District, in the Kafu River Basin, off of the Kampala–Gulu Highway. [3] The geographical coordinates of the ranch are:1°29'08.0"N, 32°05'43.0"E (Latitude:1.485556; Longitude:32.095278). [4]
Ziwa Rhino and Wildlife Ranch is a collaborative effort between the Uganda Wildlife Authority, and Ziwa Rhino and Wildlife Ranch Limited , a private land management company committed to the restoration of Uganda's rhinoceros population. The ranch offers a secure place where rhino populations can be expanded by breeding, protected from human and non-human predators and gradually re-introduced into Uganda's national parks, while at the same time, allowing the public to enjoy these majestic animals, as the project moves forward. [1]
A team of approximately 78 park rangers and security guards keep watch on the rhinos 24 hours daily, seven days a week, to ensure their safety. The 70 square kilometres (27 sq mi) ranch is surrounded by a 2 metres (6.6 ft) electric fence to keep the rhinos in and the intruders out. The ranch is home to at least 40 mammal and reptilian species including monkeys, antelopes, hippopotamuses, crocodiles , tortoise https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor, and numerous bird species. Tourist facilities at the ranch include luxury accommodation, rest rooms, camp grounds, a restaurant, bar and pool. In addition to on-foot rhino trekking, tourist activities include birding, shoebill trekking, nature rides and nature walks. [5]
Both the Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis michaeli) and the Northern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni), are indigenous to Uganda. However, due to a number of factors, including prolonged armed human conflict, poaching and the mismanagement of their natural habitat, by 1982, both species had been wiped out in the country. Ziwa Rhino and Wildlife Ranch was established in 2005 to reintroduce the southern white rhinoceros to Uganda. The long-term goal of the ranch is to "build a sustainable rhinoceros population and relocate rhinos back to their original habitat in Uganda's protected areas". As of January 2010, Ziwa Rhino and Wildlife Ranch was the only location in Uganda, where rhinos can be observed in their natural habitat. [6]
Starting with a total of six animals, four that were bought from Solio Ranch in Kenya and two donated from Disney's Animal Kingdom in Orlando, Florida, in the United States, the rhino population had grown to thirteen as of June 2013. Following the birth of another calf in April 2014, the total rhino population at Ziwa Rhino and Wildlife Ranch rose to 15. [7] As of March 2018, the rhino numbers at the ranch had increased to twenty-two animals, [8] and 33 in December 2021. [9] The population has increased to 50 as of June 2024.[ citation needed ]
The Javan rhinoceros, Javan rhino, Sunda rhinoceros or lesser one-horned rhinoceros is a critically endangered member of the genus Rhinoceros, of the rhinoceros family, Rhinocerotidae, and one of the five remaining extant rhinoceros species across South Asia and Africa. The Javan rhinoceros is one of the smallest rhinoceros species, along with the Sumatran, or "hairy", rhinoceros. They are superficially similar to Indian rhinos, as they have plate-like, "armored" protective skin folds, but are slightly smaller in size, at just 3.1–3.2 m (10–10 ft) long and 1.4–1.7 m (4.6–5.6 ft) tall, on average. The heaviest specimens weigh around 2,300 kg/2.3 tonnes, similar to a black rhinoceros. However, unlike the long and potentially lethal horns of the black or white rhinoceroses of Africa, the Javan species' single, somewhat blunted horn is usually shorter than 25 cm (9.8 in).
The black rhinoceros, black rhino or hook-lipped rhinoceros is a species of rhinoceros, native to eastern Africa and southern Africa, including Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Although the species is referred to as black, its colours vary from brown to grey. It is the only extant species of the genus Diceros.
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The white rhinoceros, white rhino or square-lipped rhinoceros is the largest extant species of rhinoceros. It has a wide mouth used for grazing and is the most social of all rhino species. The white rhinoceros consists of two subspecies: the southern white rhinoceros, with an estimated 16,803 wild-living animals, and the much rarer northern white rhinoceros. The northern subspecies has very few remaining individuals, with only two confirmed left in 2018. Sudan, the world's last known male northern white rhinoceros, died in Kenya on 19 March 2018 at age 45.
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