Mali: The Ostriches are back

For years they went extinct but Mali’s Ostriches are back.

They have been victims of poaching and many seasons of drought in the Sahel, but they are back to reclaim their rightful spots on the mainland.

Malian entrepreneur 15 years ago, had hoped to begin a revolution to keep them safe.

“In the 60s, the president of the Republic of Mali had offered a male and female ostrich to China.

“We took back some off-springs which we are raising. We are trying to ensure that the ostriches become numerous as they are being breded in an enclosed area, followed by a little freedom before they are allowed to run around freely,” Mamadou Coulibaly, ostrich farmer said.

Coulibaly has helped in the coming-in of North Korean experts who are helping with latest technology.

He is hoping to turn his farm and the country into the next ostrich farming destination and with world-wide demand for ostrich products rising, he is positioning himself to be the top supplier.

“Right now we have a certain number of chicks who are there, who are hatching … You see one is coming out from the egg. This is the one that comes out first “ Coulibaly added.

More than 3,000 ostriches are raised in a three-hundred-hectare farm.

Ostriches thrive in arid and semi-desert areas, making Mali, which extends into the Sahara desert an ideal place to rare the big bird.

Before their extinction, the birds lived in the regions of Kayes, Timbuktu and Kidal.

_Africanews Correspondent in Mali, Abdoulsalam HAMA _