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Location: |
Africa - Eastern Africa - Sudan |
Subject: |
Distribution - Records |
Species: |
White Rhino |
![](http://www.rhinoresourcecenter.com/style_images/1/spacer.gif) |
![](http://www.rhinoresourcecenter.com/style_images/1/spacer.gif) |
Plans and priorities
Shambe Game Reserve and adjacent areas. Most of the ground work in February was in the Shambe and Alliab Dinka areas. Rhino poaching only started in those regions in the last 2 or 3 years, but in that time it has eliminated most of the rhinos. In the Shambe area we worked with the Senior Wildlife Officer, Gabriel Gurguri and his honey hunter 'informers'. They had reported 24 rhino sightings in 4 locations since 1981. We covered six locations, concentrating on likely areas such as the few water holes and the places where rhinos had been reported. Despite several promising leads, no fresh rhino spoor was seen and it appears that most of the alleged sightings of rhino tracks were of doubtful validity. The most recent reported sighting of live rhino was in July 1982. Most rhino poaching was from late 1979 to 1981. Our preliminary conclusions are that:
1. The Shambe region no longer contains enough northern white rhinos to justify a major investment for their conservation but the limited help promised by IUCN/WWF is still badly needed and will be productive.
2. The proposed full Game Reserve area should be officially gazetted as soon as possible with an initial compromise on limited grazing and watering rights in the south east, but total human exclusion in the north west.
3. The best hope for the area is for an agreement to be made between the Ministfy and a reputable safari company or the long-term tourist development and. conservation of the Reserve. There has been a preliminary acceptance of this idea and an initial meeting has been held.
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