Hluhluwe–iMfolozi Park

IUCN Category II - National Park

F2

The Hluhluwe- Imfolozi Park, 280 km to the north of Durban, is the oldest national park in Africa. It covers 960 km ² mostly hilly terrain and is located in the central Zululand in KwaZulu -Natal in South Africa.

The diverse vegetation provides habitat for many mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians. The "Big Five", elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion and leopard are also in the park represented as cheetah, wild dog and giraffe and nyala. Hluhluwe Imfolozi and were founded in 1895 as a separate reservoir, as the population of these animals was threatened by excessive hunting.

In the early 1960s, the White Rhinoceros ( Ceratotherium simium ) was threatened with extinction in Imfolozi existed the world's last known occurrence. In Operation Rhino, which was conducted by the KwaZulu Nature Conservation Service, began a one copies and sent them to reserves and zoos around the world, that have now recovered the global stocks. Today Find similar efforts with the Black Rhinoceros ( Diceros bicornis) instead. 1999, a project for the conservation of lions stocks started suffering from inbreeding, so that stocks were supplemented by new animals.

Over time, the parks were assigned to other areas, built in 1964 fences and 1989, the two main areas and separating corridor combines the present park.