22 May, 2012, North Luangwa National Park, Zambia. Frankfurt Zoological Society is pleased to announce the birth of a black rhino calf, which brings the small population in North Luangwa National Park (NLNP) to 25 individuals. The rhino monitoring officers were tracking an adult female, Mapalo, on May 20th and they spotted calf footprints next to hers. The rhino monitoring officers will try to approach mother and calf again over the next few weeks in order to confirm the sex of the calf and assess their health.

In 2003, Mapalo was translocated as part of a bigger...

In late October and early November 2011 six black rhinos in North Luangwa National Park (Zambia) died from natural causes. The Frankfurt Zoological Society’s North Luangwa Conservation programme (FZS-NLCP) has convened an Emergency Rhino Forum and invited experts from across southern Africa to brainstorm and attempt to resolve why these deaths have all occurred in such a short space of time. The age, sex and cause of death of all the animals are seemingly unrelated but a thorough investigation of underlying issues will be carried out.

It is with great sadness...

Our precious rhinos have arrived! Lots of last minute things to sort out yesterday morning but it all went past in a fizz and can’t really remember what or how! Regardless, at 1242hrs the Hercules landed in North Luangwa and five new lovely rhinos came rolling out of the back of it in their transport boxes. Hearts in mouths don't adequately describe that plane touching down, bouncing and then touching down again, but this time much further down the airstrip, the sound of the brakes coming on and within seemingly a few feet the plane came to a stop. It is an...

Feeling sick with anticipation… Or too much coffee and not enough sleep or all three. Tomorrow five black rhinos will arrive from South Africa. The final pieces of the jigsaw are either falling into place or square pegs are being pushed into round holes to make things happen! After months of planning, organising, building, purchasing, booking, writing, listening, telling, negotiating, etc we are here. The nine holding bomas have been refurbished, 3 release bomas have been built, 3 telemetry towers have been erected, 35kms of fence has gone up, roads have been graded,...

Well the rainy season is always due to start on Zambian Independence Day, there or thereabouts or so the locals say, but this year they started with a bang... literally!

I'd been over to the eastern side of the Luangwa River to witness the Chama Distercit Conservation Education Day. We supprt a CE programme in 6 schools over there and the NLCP CE Officer, Sylvester Kampamba visits the schools every month to recap on lessons learned. Once a year we get all the schools in each district participating in the programme together for a day of celebration to perform...

There’s nothing quite like the smell of fresh rhino dung early in the morning, the sound of contact calls and munching on browse or the feel of rough, fissured hide to get the senses reeling from a week culminating in five black rhino arriving at North Luangwa airstrip, 28th May 2008.

It all started a couple of months ago with the SANParks capture unit darting 5 Black Rhino (Diceros bicornis minor) in Marakele and Kruger National Parks. Since then, they have been nurtured and carefully looked after by Alison Kennedy-Benson (professional rhino handler) and...

Since 1986, the North Luangwa Conservation Programme (NLCP) has been working in partnership with the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) in law enforcement and ecosystem management activities in the North Luangwa National Park (NLNP) in Northern Province.

Zambia was once home to the third largest population of Black Rhino on the continent but efforts to save this charismatic and highly endangered animal through the late 1970s and early 1980s failed to stem the demand for its horn. The illegal trophy poaching decimated Zambia’s Black Rhino population and the species...