KUNENE REGION :: NAMIBIA
Before the heat of the day sets in, a black rhino covers her rough skin in a thin veneer of mud and seeks shade beneath an acacia tree. She spends most of her time alone, roaming Namibia’s arid savannas and flat-topped hills, where she’s uniquely adapted to thrive. But there are 2,187 others like her, meaning her kind is now less at risk of going extinct than it was a decade ago.
In March 2020, the southwestern black rhino, one of three black rhino subspecies, was reclassified from “vulnerable” to “near-threatened” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature after its population increased more than 11% between 2012 and 2017 (the year of the most recent count). This status change parallels a hopeful trend for all of Africa’s black rhinos, one-third of which live in Namibia: Although the species overall faces persistent threats from poaching and is still classified as critically endangered, its population has climbed steadily since 2012.