Um, um, wouldn’t you believe it? Rhinos make their return in Mozambique! Bad times don’t last, but Rhinos do! I wrote these words, for everyone, who struggles in they youth, sings Ms. Lauryn Hill, for what is meant to be, will be!

So the first 19 white rhinos have been successfully translocated from South Africa to Zinave National Park in Mozambique through the longest road-transfer of rhinos ever done. This landmark and pioneering rewilding initiative, the first in a series of white and black rhino translocations still to follow, is the result of a partnership between Mozambique’s National Administration for Conservation Areas (ANAC), Peace Parks Foundation and Exxaro Resources, in support of and in collaboration with the Governments of Mozambique and South Africa. Wildlife in the 4,000-square-kilometre (1,500-square-mile) haven was decimated by Mozambique’s decades-long civil war, which ended in 1992, and by poaching.

The return of the rhino allows for Zinave to be introduced as a new and exciting tourism destination in Mozambique. The protection of biodiversity is a universal imperative and together we will continue to fight for the preservation of our natural heritage.

The African Rhinoceros evolved over millions of years, and despite living on earth for eons, it has not been able to survive the greed of human beings.

Mozambique’s entire rhino population originated in neighboring Kruger National Park in South Africa—where extensive poaching has caused rhinos to decline and extinct. Rhino horn, elephant ivory and tiger products continue to command high prices among consumers, especially in Asia. In Vietnam, the recent myth that rhino horn can cure cancer has led to massive poaching in South Africa and pushed the price of rhino horn to rival gold. Hey yo I, feel kind of melancholy people think they really know medicine but bones and horns holds no medicinal benefits at all!

So many of these criminal syndicates that are driving the rhino horn and ivory trades are Asian nationals, who are operating from bases within African countries. And if they’re operating successfully, it also means that they’re expanding their activities. They’re becoming more entrenched.

Organized crime is not shy about using corruption or intimidation to get what they want. And so all of this is unfolding in these countries.

An old German proverb holds that there are two sides to every pancake. With all the publicity about endangered species, with horrifying shots of mutilated elephants or rhinos, killed for their tusks or horns, one necessarily remembers that Africans have to live with these beasts and that for some villagers subsistence poaching makes all the difference between a full stomach and hunger.

Furthermore, while the rhino is endangered in Zimbabwe, elephants are not: one count holds that Zimbabwe has 80,000 of the beasts and that the fat fees charged for hunting them are a major source of income for the districts and villages.

Thus, any policy on conservation in a country such as Mozambique, or Zimbabwe has to take into account that villagers will do some poaching. A policy has been developed, the “Campfire” (Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources) plan. Roughly, the plan provides for villages adjacent to game-rich areas to share in the income from that area. Culling, when called for by drought or a decline in the number of predators, produces meat for local consumption. Tourist facilities for photo safaris or hunting parties produce profits shared by the villagers. Such facilities provide employment for locals and earn the country foreign exchange. Basically, the philosophy of this would be familiar to American conservationists of the last century such as Theodore Roosevelt or Gifford Pinchot: use resources wisely for this generation but manage them so they will also be available for future generations. Threats to such plans come from a variety of sources. Military rebels from many areas of Southern Africa, Angola, and other places killed for ivory and rhino horn, which provided money for weapons. They also killed to eat. Some members of the Zimbabwean military, poorly paid or undisciplined, also poached. Most game wardens were not prepared to risk their lives in opposing such well-armed men. One advantage to the Campfire plan was that it was well received by Aid donors. One weakness was that the money generated, which was supposed to go to the villages except for a portion earmarked for the district government that needed it for road building and infrastructure, attracted the attention of the central government, which like all governments was anxious to spend the money on things that would get them reelected. Since the end of South Africa’s policy of destabilization and the consequent opening of the area for tourism, poaching has subsided in the south eastern lowveld, but the main organizers of the poaching ring that operate since 1980s have not disappeared and constantly try to fuel new ways to reopen poachy rings in the area.

This is clearly at odds with the stereotype of black African corruption and poverty stricken poachers so favored by Western Conservation Organizations.