Last year, about 17 mountain bongos were repatriated from the Rare Species Conservation Foundation in Florida. The first repatriation to Kenya was in 2004 when 18 mountain bongos were flown into the country.
According to the foundation, about 400 mountain bongos live in captivity in North America. Others are held in European zoos.
Before being introduced to the wild from captivity, the bongos go through a series of adaptation phases for them to build the immunity needed to survive.
Ahead of their repatriation to Kenya, Prague Zoo said each animal would undergo “acclimatisation and detailed monitoring before being gradually integrated” at the MKWC’s breeding programme.
It said they would help strengthen the population’s genetic value and are expected to help produce viable offspring to be introduced into the wild in future.
On Wednesday morning, KWS posted images of the antelopes, saying they had arrived safely at the conservancy at the foot of Mount Kenya, and were “now settling in under close care”.
“This marks a quiet but vital step in strengthening their population and securing their future,” it added.
In 2022, the conservancy told local media that some mountain bongos previously repatriated had successfully been integrated into the wild and started breeding. Others, however, had died from tick-borne diseases.
Kenya aims to raise the mountain bongo’s wild population to about 700 by 2050, through a national recovery plan led by the KWS.