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Four Southern White Rhinos Moved to Kidepo After 43 Years Without Rhinos

White rhinoceros grazing in dense vegetation at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary in Uganda
Conservation · Reintroductions & translocations

Four southern white rhinoceroses (Ceratotherium simum simum) were translocated from Ziwa Rhino and Wildlife Ranch to Kidepo Valley National Park in March 2026, marking the return of rhinos to the landscape 43 years after the last rhino was killed there.

The translocation was carried out in two stages over three days. On 17 March, two six-year-old males, Seiji and Whittaker, left Ziwa and travelled about 600 kilometres north to Kidepo. Two days later, five-year-old Rae Ruparelia and an unnamed younger male followed the same route. All four were released into a secure sanctuary in the Narus Valley.

Uganda Wildlife Authority had initially announced the movement of the first two animals as the start of a planned eight-rhino founding population. A follow-up report from project partner WildLandscapes on 2 April confirmed that four rhinos had completed the move. Early monitoring found all four feeding, moving freely within the sanctuary and showing no signs of distress. A further four animals remained planned for a later translocation.

Kidepo was prepared with a secure rhino sanctuary

The return followed extensive preparation of Kidepo for rhino conservation. Partners established a protected sanctuary with perimeter fencing, access roads, firebreaks, ranger facilities, water infrastructure and monitoring systems. The Morungole Community Conservancy, representing local Ik and Dodoth communities, also supports daily surveillance, tsetse monitoring and fence maintenance.

Rhinos disappeared from Kidepo during a period of intense poaching and insecurity in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and the last rhino in the park was killed in 1983. Uganda later rebuilt a protected breeding population at Ziwa, which began with six southern white rhinos and has since become the source population for new reintroductions elsewhere in the country.

Southern white rhinos are new to the Kidepo landscape

The animals moved to Kidepo belong to the southern white-rhino subspecies. WildLandscapes notes that white rhinos themselves are new to the Kidepo landscape; the historical rhino fauna included northern white rhinos and black rhinos. The current southern white-rhino introduction is part of Uganda’s wider National Rhino Conservation Strategy and is intended to establish another secure rhino population while reducing the country’s long-standing dependence on a single site.

Kidepo became Uganda’s third site holding rhinos in 2026, after four southern white rhinos had already been moved from Ziwa to Ajai Wildlife Reserve earlier in the year. The Kidepo translocation was led by Uganda Wildlife Authority with support from Ziwa Rhino and Wildlife Ranch and a broad group of conservation partners.

Sources and image credit

  1. WildLandscapes. (2026, April 2). Rhinos walk in Kidepo again.First-hand project-partner report confirming that four southern white rhinos completed the March translocation.
  2. Uganda Wildlife Authority. (2026, March 17). Uganda begins historic return of rhinos to Kidepo Valley National Park.Primary wildlife-authority announcement documenting the first two animals and the planned founding group.

Image: Bernard DUPONT — white rhinoceros at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, Uganda, the source population for the Kidepo translocation. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Representative image for this story; not presented as an animal or scene from the reported study or event. · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Source

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