Rhinos have returned to Uganda’s Ajai Nature Reserve in a historic translocation that marks a new conservation chapter for the East African country.
The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) moved four southern white rhinos from Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary on the Lugogo River – the country’s first rhino translocation between protected areas.
The project is part of a national programme to repopulate reserves with the Near Threatened ungulates, with 16 more destined for Ajai Nature Reserve.
Northern white rhinos were once indigenous to Uganda and culturally important to the communities around Ajai, but poaching has reduced the Critically Endangered species to two females in neighbouring Kenya’s Ol Pejeta Conservancy.
Ziwa imported a founder population of six southern white rhinos from Kenya and Florida in 2005, beginning a breeding programme that has increased the reserve’s population to 55.
Uganda’s northern white rhinos once lived west of the Albert Nile (between Lake Albert and the South Sudan border), while critically endangered eastern black rhinos were indigenous to the other side of the river. During decades of instability for the country bordering Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the last native rhino was killed in 1983.
Southern white rhinos are regarded as an ecologically credible alternative to their functionally extinct northern counterparts, as the two historically belonged to the same species.
he news will boost the fledgling wildlife tourism destination, which has become a popular alternative to Rwanda for seeing mountain gorillas. Uganda’s main spots for gorillas are Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park.
The country is also strong on chimpanzee tracking, for instance in Kibale National Park and Kyambura Gorge. Queen Elizabth II National Park was recently taken off the FCDO advisory list and is known for its tree-climbing lions as well a healthy population of elephants and good sighting of leopards and plains game.
The country famous for 1970s’ dictator Idi Amin held presidential elections on 15 January 2026, with the 81-year-old incumbent, Yoweri Museveni, looking set to continue his 40-year term.
