There’s a big difference between 200 and 15 000 hectares, and it would appear as if the country’s most talked about lion, Sylvester, was all too aware of this.

It took him only minutes to move out of the enclosure that he’s been in since November, into the larger Kuzuko contractual area of the park, when the fence was cut over the weekend.

The two lionesses were released on Friday afternoon when a SANParks vet darted them and fitted one with a tracking collar. As they are never far apart, one collar will provide the location of both at any given time.

“On their first night out they caught a kudu and the very next morning a red hartebeest, confirmation that they can successfully fend for themselves in the wild,” said Addo Elephant National Park Conservation Manager, John Adendorff.

Sylvester and the other male were released on Saturday afternoon. A carcass was placed about 50 metres from a corner in the fence, the fence was cut and Sylvester was out first.  He headed straight to the carcass and started feeding, followed shortly thereafter by the younger male. “Sylvester is already showing signs of being the pride leader, on Sunday night chasing the females off their kill,” continued Adendorff.

Sylvester, too, has proven that he hasn’t forgotten how to hunt, having caught an adult black wildebeest on Monday morning.

“Now that it appears he finally has a place where he belongs, without threat, and the fact that he has bonded so closely with the younger male, we are confident that Sylvester will have no need to ever stray again.  His satellite tracking collar location is monitored regularly and easily provides us with an accurate assessment of where the two are,” Adendorff said.

Sylvester the lion – history: 

Sylvester first escaped from Karoo National Park on 5 June 2015 and managed to evade capture for over three weeks. After his capture he was fitted with a combination satellite/VHF collar to find his location should he manage to get out again. This collar then alerted authorities on 28 March 2016 that the lion had once again left the park’s boundary, and played a big role in tracking him and returning him back to the park much quicker – three days later on 31 March. There was then much deliberation about where he could be relocated to, and in May 2016 he finally arrived at Kuzuko.

The two lionesses arrived at Kuzuko in May 2015. They became a national news item in December 2014 when park authorities made a desperate plea for visitors to report any sightings of them after their mother died of a suspected snake bite. More than six weeks after they were last seen and long after park staff had given up all hope of finding them alive, new light arose when a guide alerted rangers that he may have spotted them on 10 January 2015. Although sceptical, the park’s rangers still went out and miraculously found the cubs – albeit severely malnourished and lethargic.

Finally, the younger male also has a tale to tell – being the only male in a litter born to Josie last year. He would have experienced the same fate Sylvester did had he been left in Addo’s main camp section of the park – being driven out of the pride and having to fend for himself, possibly even killed by older, more dominant lions. He was moved to Kuzuko to join Sylvester in June last year.

African Parks is delighted to announce that on World Wildlife Day the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs committed €200,000 to the Rwandan Development Board (RDB) in support of bringing black rhino back to Akagera National Park. The funding will go towards the sourcing, translocation, reintroduction and protection of black rhinos into Akagera National Park later this year. This critical support was announced at the Save Wildlife Conference in The Hague. Since 2010, African Parks has managed Akagera through a public private partnership with its government partner, the RDB.

The rhino project in Akagera is a visionary conservation initiative that will see black rhinos restored not just to a park, but to an entire country. The species was nearly eradicated in the 1980’s due to wide-scale poaching and the last rhino was seen in the park in 2007. The reintroduction of rhinos will also cement Akagera’s Big Five status, a classification that will further stimulate tourism and generate additional employment opportunities for local communities who live outside the park.

“Restoring and protecting wildlife populations are cornerstones of the African Parks model” said Peter Fearnhead, CEO African Parks. “In a time where the main news coming out of Africa is about poaching and large-scale destruction of wildlife and wild places, this rhino reintroduction is a story of hope and of homecomings. We thank the Dutch Government for their generous contribution and congratulate our government partner, the RDB on receiving this support and the role they have played in the ongoing success of Akagera”.

The oldest of Rwanda’s three national parks, Akagera is 1,120km² in size. The only protected savannah region in Rwanda, the park also consists of rolling hills of acacia, woodlands and a labyrinth of lakes and papyrus swamps. It is home to more than 8,000 large mammals and more than 500 bird species. In July 2015, African Parks successfully reintroduced seven lions into the park, bringing the species back to Rwanda after almost 20 years.

About African Parks: African Parks is a non-profit organisation that takes on total responsibility for the rehabilitation and long-term management of national parks and protected areas in partnership with governments and local communities. African Parks manages 10 national parks and protected areas in seven countries: Rwanda, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic (CAR), Malawi and Zambia.