Thanks to its perennial water sources, Zakouma National Park serves as a sanctuary for West and Central African wildlife, many of which are threatened within this ecoregion. Around 66 mammal species are found in the park, 16 of which are large mammals, including black rhino. Zakouma is home to a number of threatened or endangered species, including 50% of Africa’s Kordofan giraffe population, a critically endangered subspecies, Lelwel hartebeest, north-east African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii) and Buffon’s kob.
Zakouma’s floodplains, rivers, marshes, and pans are valuable stopovers and breeding grounds for migrating birds, and the south-eastern wetlands form part of the Inundation Plains of Bahr Aouk and Salamat Ramsar site – one of the largest in the world.
Species Restorations
In December 2023, five black rhino were moved from South Africa to Zakouma. Learnings from the loss of four of the six rhino translocated in 2018 informed the timing and approach of this exercise, and included reintroducing the animals earlier in the dry season, allowing a longer pre-flooding period to adjust to different browsing species and ensuring better access to supplementary feeding during the settling process. As daily monitoring is essential to the security and acclimatisation of the rhino, radio and satellite transmitters were attached to each animal prior to its release. Bringing the total to seven black rhino in Zakouma, the reintroduction has been successful and the rhino have adjusting well to their new environment.
Buffalo numbers have increased exponentially in Zakouma, from about 220 animals in 1986 to over 15,000 today, allowing over 900 buffalo to be moved to Siniaka Minia National Park. Many came from a large herd that occupied the Tororo wetland on the park boundary, which was at risk of spilling over into agricultural lands to the north.
Monitoring and Surveys
To gain a better understanding of wildlife movement and habitat use, a variety of species have been collared in the Greater Zakouma Ecosystem, including nine elephant, five lion, four tiang, nine giraffe, one roan and one hartebeest. In Zakouma, 63 camera traps were active by the end of 2023.
Conservation Law Enforcement
Since African Parks began its management partnership in 2010, a comprehensive law enforcement programme supported by community engagement, quickly brought poaching and illegal hunting under control.
With over seven years of zero elephant poaching in Zakouma, elephant in the region are becoming noticeably more relaxed, moving consistently outside of the park in the wet season. Through analysing historical elephant movements from collar data, the conservation law enforcement team has identified key locations across the landscape from which to monitor wildlife and illegal activities. In addition, the data helps to identify possible human-wildlife conflict zones, so that preventive measures can be taken to reduce this in the wet season.
Horses are one of the most effective means of ground transport in the GZE when flooding during the rainy season makes movement too difficult by vehicle or even motorbike. Refresher training is regularly conducted, and preparatory work undertaken for specialised horseback training, to ensure a highly professional unit, in both veterinary and operational terms. Other learning initiatives included extensive tracking training received by the rhino trackers, and wildlife capture training for research/monitoring managers.