Project to Save South China Tigers in South Africa Lost in Wilderness

(South Africa) – The Free State Province of South Africa lies in the heartland of the country. About 200 kilometers from Bloemfontein, the provincial capital and South Africa's judicial capital, on a rolling flat plain sits the Laohu Valley Reserve.

The reserve got its name from the South China tiger, "laohu" being the name for "tiger" in Chinese. In September 2003, two South China tigers were sent to the reserve from a Chinese zoo. What began as an effort to save the species from the brink of extinction evolved into a "rewilding" training project, the goal of which is to release the big cats back into their natural habitat.