Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park – Home of the White Rhino

The Hluhluwe area has been a hotspot for hunting since the early 1800s. First by the Zulus, and then by European hunters who arrived in the 1840s and plundered the region’s wildlife. Skins, ivory and, of course, rhino horn, were all highly prized materials leading to the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of defenseless animals. Rhino populations plummeted across the country and both the black and white rhino were declared regionally extinct in the Greater Kruger National Park.

The only remaining stronghold for these remarkable creatures were the protected areas of the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park. For the southern white rhino in particular, this was the only chance left at survival.

By the 1940s there were just 40 southern white rhinos left on Earth, and all of them resided in the park. What took place next to protect the species was dubbed ‘Operation Rhino’ and it went on to be recognized as one of the greatest conservation successes of all time. Led by famed conservationist, Dr Ian Player, Operation Rhino achieved a 1000% growth rate in the population by the 60s, saving the species from extinction.

In a nutshell, Operation Rhino was a ground-breaking capture and translocation operation that took the critically endangered population from Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park and expanded it throughout Africa and the rest of the world. Every southern white rhino alive today originated from this small crash of survivors.

Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park is, quite literally, the home of the southern white rhino.