| Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary | |
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IUCN Category IV (Habitat/Species Management Area)
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| Location | Nakasongola District, Uganda |
| Nearest city | Nakasongola |
| Area | 70 square kilometres (27 sq mi) |
| Established | 2005 |
| Governing body | Uganda Rhino Fund |
Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary is a private, non-profit, animal sanctuary in Uganda.
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The sanctuary is located approximately 176 kilometres (109 mi), by road, north of Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city. This location is in Nakasongola District, in the Kafu River Basin, off the Kampala-Gulu Highway.[1] The approximate coordinates of the sanctuary are:01 30 00N, 32 06 00E; (Latitude:1.5000; Longitude:32.1000). The coordinates are approximate because the sanctuary does not show up on most publicly available maps, as of January 2010.
Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary is a collaborative effort between the Uganda Wildlife Authority, the Uganda Rhino Fund, a Ugandan NGO committed to the restoration of Uganda's rhinoceros population and Ziwa Ranchers Limited, a private land management company. The sanctuary offers a secure place where rhino populations can be expanded by breeding, protected from human and non-human predators and gradually re-introduced in Uganda's national parks, while at the same time, allowing the public to enjoy these majestic animals, as the project moves forward.
The available facilities at the sanctuary include a guest house, a restaurant, camp grounds and tour guides. A team of approximately fifty (50) park rangers and security guards keep a 24 hour watch on the rhinos, to ensure their safety. The 70 square kilometres (7,000 ha) sanctuary is surrounded by a 2 metres (6.6 ft) electric fence to keep the rhinos in and the intruders out.
Besides the rhinos, the sanctuary is also home to at least twenty (20) other animal and reptilian species including monkeys, antelopes, hippopotamus, crocodiles and numerous bird species.[2]
Both the Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) and the White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum), are endemic to Uganda. However due to a number of factors, including prolonged armed human conflict, poaching and the mismanagement of their natural habitat, by 1982, both species had been wiped out in the country. Ziwa Rhino sanctuary was established in 2005 to reintroduce rhinoceros to Uganda. The long term goal of the sanctuary is to "build a sustainable rhinoceros population and relocate rhinos back to their original habitat in Uganda's protected areas". As of January 2010, Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary is the only location in Uganda, where rhinos can be observed in their natural habitat.[3] Starting with a total of six animals, four that were bought from from Solio Ranch in Kenya and two donated from Disney's Animal Kingdom in Orlando, Florida, in the United States, the rhino population had grown to ten, as of January 2011. [4] [5]
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