Ziwa rhino sanctuary celebrates second birth within months

Following the birth a few months ago of “little Obama,” the first rhino born in Uganda for about 30 years, good news emerged from the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, when the chairman of the Rhino Fund Uganda, Dirk ten Brink, informed this correspondent of the second birth on October 7, this time from “Bella.” Bella originally comes from the Solio Sanctuary in Central Kenya near Nyeri and is now 10 years old. There are now 6 adult rhinos, 3 males, and 3 females on the 17,000 acre sanctuary plus, of course, the two young ones.

Little Obama is now up and running, and visits to him and his still very protective mom are finally possible, as long as safe distances are kept between the visitors and the rhinos, but Bella has gone into overdrive to keep rangers, wardens, guides, and other staff of the sanctuary away from the newborn, resulting in no gender being established yet. Once that is accomplished, the name-giving will be attended to.

Bella was the first to become pregnant some two years ago but then suffered complications and lost her unborn baby, and it is of special joy at Ziwa that she has finally entered proper motherhood.
The Rhino Fund Uganda made all this happen with the help and assistance of many donors and sponsors, which allowed building of the sanctuary at Ziwa Ranch, courtesy of Capt. and Mrs. Roy who granted the land-use rights for initially thirty years and then moved their cattle to a neighboring estate while the funds raised - including a major grant from the European Union - helped to fence the 17,000-acre ranch and turn it into a proper sanctuary. That was achieved after the RFU had first built a rhino enclosure at the Wildlife Education Centre in Entebbe, and obtained two rhinos sponsored by the Kampala Sheraton Hotel and the Ruparelia Group, aptly named Sherino and Kabira.

Visitor numbers since the arrival of little Obama have soared, but financial sustainability of the sanctuary is still some time off, as vet bills, security cost, ongoing capital expenditures. and recurrent expenses keep racing ahead of the monthly income.

Write to Angie, the RFU's executive director and CEO of the Sanctuary via angie@rhinofund.org for more information on how best to contribute to the upkeep of Ziwa and to help the breeding program. The success at Ziwa will determine how fast the first rhinos can then be relocated to their original environment like the Kidepo Valley National Park and the Murchisons Falls National Park. For now, the arrival of baby number two - number three is expected in early 2010 if not before - will be a boost for tourism and conservation in Uganda and hopefully bring yet more visitors to the sanctuary.