A plan to restock Rwanda's Akagera National Park with lions from Kenya has been abandoned following protests from conservationists and tourism players.

Rwanda, which is famed for its mountain gorillas, will now import the cats from South Africa.

Relocation of the seven lions, two males and five females, to Rwanda starts today South Africa.

Opponents to the relocation of the animals had argued that the Kenya's lion population was diminishing and that it would be counter-productive to take away the endangered cats.

Rwanda is restocking its 112,000- hectares park that borders Tanzania after the initial population was wiped out during the 1994 genocide.

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"It a breakthrough in the rehabilitation of the park," said Yamina Karitanyi, head of tourism at the Rwanda Development Board in a statement seen by The Standard yesterday.

She added: "The rehabilitation of the park is under the public private partnership,'' she said.

The exercise is spearheaded by African Parks, a conservation and park management organisation, in partnership with RDB's Tourism and Conservation Department.

During the 1994 genocide, the country's lion population was decimated as masses tried to protect their livestock, and some of those displaced settled in the parks.

RDB said in the statement added that the five lionesses were donated by & Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve while the two male lions were provided by the Tembe Elephant Reserve. The two reserves are located in Kwa Zulu Natal.

Tracking devices

RDB said as a part of measures to monitor their movements, all the animals will have tracking collars, a radio beacon that indicates an animal's location. All seven were selected for being in their prime and sub-prime and offering the best chance of rapid restocking as the females are about to start to reproduce.

The African Parks CEO Peter Fearnhead described the return of lions to Akagera as a conservation milestone for the park and Rwanda.

The park is named after the Akagera River and it was founded in 1934 to protect animals and vegetation in three ecoregions: savannah, mountain and swamp.