Ecological notes on the Tsavo

When the park was proclaimed in 1948, this practically uninhabited region was one vast tree-savannah. A campaign was carried out against poachers who killed a couple of dozen per annum. It was not until 1956 that it was noticed that the baobabs were being damaged. It was during the extreme drought in 1960 and 1961 that the authorities began to be alarmed by the deaths, en masse, of the black rhinoceros, about 300 being found dead during this period: severe malnutrition was the only cause of death which the veterinarians could establish. A census on 15 and 18 Oct 1963 gave a total of 782 black rhino per 5000 km?, a density of 0.15 per km?.