national park

Turning the tide for Vietnam’s primates

Vietnam is home to highest diversity of primate species on the South-East Asian mainland. However, 90% of these spectacular designs of nature are facing extinction threats due to the high demand for wild meat and wildlife parts used in traditional medicine.

The Endangered Primate Rescue Center focuses on the rescue, rehabilitation, breeding, and release of Vietnam’s rare primates, many of which have been confiscated from wildlife traffickers.

The elephant in the room

Elephants are beautiful, majestic and emotional individuals that are worshipped by Hindus. But they are also simply so big that in a fragmented landscape like the Terai, conflict with humans is hard to avoid.

A windy road to reintroduce goitered gazelles to the steppes of Vashlovani 

Vashlovani Protected Areas, which are often referred to as the Georgian Savannah, is the only region in Georgia which was once inhabited by the goitered gazelle. However, due to the unsustainable level of hunting and poaching since the 1930s, the range and numbers of this medium-sized grazer declined rapidly, and in the 1960s, the species was declared extinct in the country.

Nowadays, Vashlovani hosts over 200 goitered gazelles thanks to trans-border cooperation and several rounds of trial and error, which shows the fragile process of species reintroduction.

We had the chance to meet some of the key players who contributed to what eventually became a conservation success, while also being able to observe these and other majestic animals with our own eyes.