Reintroducing Black Rhinos in Zambia | Claire Lewis

While in most places, we hear about rhinos and elephants being killed, in North Luangwa National Park in Zambia, one of the most untouched wilderness sanctuaries in Africa, the situation is quite the opposite. This little-known park is home to Zambia’s only black rhino population, which continues to show one of the highest growth rates in Africa, and Zambia’s largest, most stable and ever-increasing elephant population.
On this episode, Claire Lewis, a British conservationist who manages the park, talks about:
• What it’s like bringing up three kids in the wilderness
• How the rhinos, elephants, lions and wild dogs have recovered from poaching
• What it was like to reintroduce rhinos who had gone extinct
• Why having too many rhinos is risky and where they plan to put them
• Why this park is so successful in protecting its wildlife
• How conservation is also about managing people
Conservationist Claire Lewis has been living and working in North Luangwa National Park with her husband Ed Sayer and their three children since 2007. She is the Technical Advisor at the Frankfurt Zoological Society, a conservation organization which created the North Luangwa Conservation Programme with the Zambian Department of National Parks and Wildlife in 1986.