Baby giraffe born in Iona NP is a major milestone in conservation success

African Parks has announced the first birth of a giraffe in Angola’s Iona National Park - the latest milestone on Iona’s biodiversity conservation journey.

The giraffe calf was spotted alongside its mother by a wildlife monitoring team in Iona in early August, just over three years since the first group of giraffe were reintroduced into the National Park.

This reintroduction was the result of a partnership between Giraffe Conservation Foundation, Instituto Nacional da Biodiversidade e Áreas de Conservação (INBAC) and African Parks.

The young giraffe and its mother have been seen again more recently, and both appear to be in good health. These sightings of Iona’s first giraffe calf since the reintroduction strongly suggest that the small giraffe herd has adapted well to its new surroundings, and validate the research-based approach taken to re-establishing the species in this area.

On a more personal level, spotting this calf was a hugely rewarding moment for the monitoring teams, and for everyone at INBAC, GCF and African Parks who was involved in the original translocation.