Rwanda 1965, Check out the wildlife at the (A)Kagera National Park

The wildlife of the Kagera National Park as ebbed and flowed due to disease, poaching, and farmer intrusion. Numbers are flowing again thanks to an investment from a Warren Buffet heir and the leadership of an NGO with the artist formerly known as Prince Harry at the helm. What could go wrong? So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This is a particularly well drawn and printed wildlife at Kagera National Park issue especially when you consider it dates from 1965. It is the work of J van Notem and printed by De La Rue.

Todays stamp is issue A17, a 20 Centimes stamp issued by independent Rwanda on April 28th, 1965. It was a 10 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused as this one.

The Kagera National Park was set aside for protection by the then Belgian colonial authorities in 1934. It is named for the Kagera River that runs through it. In the time since this stamp, the park has added an A to the beginning of it’s name. The park is over 970 square miles and thus is the largest protected wetland in central Africa.

At first wildlife in the park was most famous for a huge herd of African wild dogs sometimes called painted dogs or Lycaon. They were so numerous the Belgians thought them a pest. In the 1970s the herd was gradually thinned by disease and the dog was last seen at the park in 1984. They were still numerous enough to earn a stamp in this 1965 issue.

The next big challenge for the park came in the aftermath of the 1994 civil war between the Hutu and Tutsi tribe. As refugee farmers returned to the country, apparently they chose not to return to their own farms but rather set up shop in the park. This was the end of the lions and the rhinos. All the herds took a hit and by 2010 the park was in pretty pathetic shape.

At that point a deal was struck to subcontract out the park to a non government organization called the African Parks Network based out of South Africa and since 2017 having former Prince Harry has President. The group got a 10 million dollar contribution from Howard Buffet, an heir of Warren. The group employs 1100 park rangers to work in the 18 parks they run in Africa. You can guess that this is mainly about offering safaris to tourists but tourists want to be able to see some animals so the group as arraigned the donation of lions from European zoos. In the politically correct fashion, this is marketed as returning lions from where they were stolen. The Parks Network also managed to get some rhinos from South Africa.

Tourism to the park has gone up 8 fold since the Parks Network took over Akagera not so National Park. This makes them 80% self sufficient. They can’t ever get to 100% because how then would they get another donation from Howard Buffet so he can see his name up there with Warren and Jimmy.

This stamp is about the still existing zebras so I thought you might like to see an embroidery by a group of female artisans from the Rwandan village of Rutongo. You can check out and buy more of their work at http://rutongoembroideries.com.

Well my drink is empty and I suppose I should be toasting former Prince Harry for his work with the African Parks Network. I will hold off, it smells like a bunch of rich boys who just enjoy Safaris. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.