• by Danielle Oster , April 2, 2025

Leading global express service provider DHL Express helped transport some truly precious cargo over 7,000 miles, across continents.

DHL Express company partnered with Tusk, a nonprofit focused on accelerating the impact of Africa-driven conservation efforts, to transport 17 critically endangered Mountain Bongo Antelopes, bred in Florida, from the state’s Rare Species Conservatory Foundation to the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya.

The species is considered on the verge of extinction, with fewer than 100 of them estimated to be left in the wild, due to issues including poaching, deforestation and habitat fragmentation.

The logistics of such transportation aren’t simple, of course, and DHL deployed its “expert and specialist logistics services to provide point-to-point air transfer for the Bongos,” according to a release about the effort. DHL provided  a dedicated aircraft to meet the requirement that the entire herd of 17 antelopes be transported together. The animals were transported in custom-built crates, along with some six tons of pelleted feed, a veterinarian, and two Bongo specialist animal care staff from the U.S.

In its announcement, DHL positioned the collaboration as part of its “long-standing commitment to safely transporting endangered animals.” The effort was also a timely one ahead of Earth Month (April). DHL celebrated the success of the “Special Delivery” in an Instagram post last week.

The 17 Mountain Bongo Antelopes were released into a 20-acre sanctuary in Kenya, where they will remain in paddocks to safely breed, with their offspring subsequently reintroduced into the forest ecosystem of Mount Kenya -- where they have reportedly been absent for more than 40 years.