Black rhinos are returning to Zimbabwe’s Matusadona National Park for the first time in three decades, marking a milestone in a long-running effort to restore a species that was driven out by poaching.

Seventeen black rhinos were flown into the park in recent days, according to park manager Michael Pelham. Matusadona is managed by African Parks and receives support from the foundation of Swiss billionaire Hansjeorg Wyss.

From collapse to reintroduction

The Zambezi Valley’s black rhino population collapsed in the late 1980s and early 1990s as poachers crossed from neighboring Zambia to hunt the animals for their horns. Numbers fell to about 400 by the early 1990s from roughly 3,500 a decade earlier. The surviving animals were moved to safer areas in Zimbabwe and overseas.

That crisis prompted Zimbabwe’s national Save the Rhino campaign, including the release of the song Run Rhino Run. Rangers, police units and the air force were deployed in anti-poaching operations, but the decline continued and rhinos disappeared from Matusadona.

A 30-year conservation reset

“This is an incredible closing of a circle that was 30 years in the making,” Pelham said. “I helped capture the last survivors, we crated them and flew them out to safety, not knowing if the species would ever come back.”

The newly arrived animals are being kept in temporary enclosures while they acclimatize. Pelham said another 20 rhinos are expected to be introduced next year as part of a phased effort to rebuild a breeding population.

Why Matusadona was chosen

Poaching remains a risk, but managers say Matusadona’s geography makes surveillance easier than in many other reserves. One side is bounded by a lakeshore and another by a steep escarpment, creating natural barriers. Rangers are also using drones, infrared sensors and other monitoring technology to detect incursions.

The International Rhino Foundation estimates there are just under 7,000 black rhinos worldwide. About 800 live elsewhere in Zimbabwe, with most of the remaining population spread across neighboring southern African countries.

Hansjörg Wyss among conservation backers

African Parks, founded in 2000, manages 24 parks across Africa in partnership with governments. The organization says its annual budget exceeds $160 million.

Among its major backers are Wyss, whose fortune is estimated at about $9.8 billion, as well as the European Union, conservation groups and philanthropists including Rob Walton and Howard G. Buffett. Wyss is best known for building the Swiss medical-device company Synthes and selling it to Johnson & Johnson for $19.7 billion in 2012.

Still, the reintroduction represents one of the most significant wildlife restoration milestones in Zimbabwe in decades—transforming a former extinction zone into a potential breeding stronghold once again.