Back to Africa Swaziland

The habitats of animals living in the wild in southern Africa are coming under ever increasing pressure because of advancing urban sprawl. Even within parks, sensitive animal species are reaching critical population levels and are threatened with extinction. To cite a single example, the number of Roan and Sable antelopes in the Krüger National Park has in each case shrunk from over 500 animals to around 45 animals today. 'Back to Africa' has set itself the goal of repatriating Roan and Sable antelopes from zoos in England, Holland and the Czech Republic to Africa. These animals are released by the zoos at no charge, and 'Back to Africa' then bears the costs for the transportation and settlement of the animals. Eighteen animals have in the meantime already been returned to two different parks: 6 Sable antelopes to Kimberly in South Africa and 12 Roan antelopes to the Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary in Swaziland.


At both sites the animals are firstly held in quarantine. In a time-consuming process, the immune system is built up to enable the animals to overcome normal illnesses and afflictions without any assistance. Only after this immunisation process are they settled in groups of around 10 animals within a larger territory. The Comanis Foundation has supported this project for 5 years and has already witnessed impressive successes here.