16881971 Kruger Park Etimes 1

Kruger Park e-Times

Bustards threatened

Canned hunting is everyone’s responsibilityHeritage site plaques in Kruger restored

200-bed hotel planned for Kruger

Clock ticks towards water scarcity

Krazies in Kruger

June 2009 - e1

Newsclips

Drug bust in Kruger Park

Mpumalanga police have arrested two suspected drug smugglers and con-fiscated 33kg of dagga in the Kruger National Park (KNP), Beeld newspa-per reported on Friday May 15. Police Inspector Oosie Oosthuizen stopped and searched the vehicle in the Kruger National Park, about eight kilometres from the Malelane gate, on Thursday, said Skukuza spokesperson Inspector Oubaas Coetzer.

He found three bags of dagga worth R68 000 in the vehicle. It is believed the men were smuggling the drugs from Swaziland to Gauteng. The pair appeared in a Skukuza court on Fri-day.Sapa

Elephant kills man in Limpopo

A man in his fifties was trampled to death by an elephant in the Madimbo area near Masisi in the Kruger Na-tional Park, Limpopo police said on Monday May 4, 2009.

Superintendent Ronel Otto said Nel-son Masikhwa and another man were walking in the area around 5.30pm on Sunday. Details were unclear but it ap-pears an elephant charged the two and trampled Masikhwa.

The other man ran to a nearby vil-lage to get help but when the man, residents and police returned Masikh-wa was already dead and the elephant gone. The elephant who trampled Masikhwa could not be identified and no elephants were shot due to the in-cident. An inquest into Masikhwa’s death was being investigated, said Otto.

www.iol.co.za

kruger park times - 2 - kruger park times

The Kruger National Park’s (KNP) acting managing executive Abe Sibiya officially opened the new, state-of-the-art R5,2-mil-lion Mopani Conference Centre on Friday June 12, 2009.

“I can proudly state at the official open-ing this facility at Mopani Rest Camp that the KNP has certainly arrived as a confer-ence venue with a number of world class options that will hopefully meet and exceed most clients’ needs,” Sibiya said.

“Kruger’s tourism business has always been seasonal with high season times coin-ciding with South African school holidays. Conferences are seen as one of the ways in which these huge drops during off peak times could be negated,” explained Sibiya.

Built with the assistance to Infrastructure Development Program (IDP) funding from the South African Government, the confer-ence centre can house up to 300 people cin-ema style in its main hall. The facility was converted from the camp’s shop and store-rooms and this work took nine months to complete.

“As I stand before you, I can proudly say that the establishment of this facility only had a negligible environmental impact and this was short term. All these buildings were already here and all they needed was to re-organise the interior and equip them for

conferencing,” said Mr Sibiya.In addition to the main conference hall,

the facility also includes three break-away rooms which can house 21, 30 and 45 peo-ple respectively (all cinema style) and a tea area which includes a wooden deck that overlooks the nearby Pioneer Dam.

The break away rooms also include 15 moveable panels that can convert the three separate rooms into either two larger rooms (one hosting 67 people cinema style and the other housing 45 people cinema style) or one large venue which can house 150 peo-ple cinema style. All four venues, the main hall and each of the three breakaway rooms include screens and full audio visual aids.

Mopani Rest Camp is one of the newer large camps in the KNP and can accommo-date 506 people. It is situated 74 kilometres north of Phalaborwa Entrance Gate.

In the KNP, other conference centres in-clude Berg en Dal Rest Camp, a small venue at the Elephant Hall in Letaba Rest Camp, a small conference centre at Shingwedzi Rest Camp and the conference facility in Skukuza Rest Camp, which is presently be-ing upgraded. For more information about the new Mopani Conference Centre, access the SANParks Website (www.sanparks.org) or contact Christa von Elling on (013) 735 6535.

New conference centre at Mopani Camp opened

Ben van Eeden, Abe Sibiyia and William Mabasa of the Kruger National Park

Garth Holt, hospitality man-ager of Mopani rest Camp.


Canned hunting, a public responsibility

Every year thousands of people visit facil-ities in South Africa where they can interact with lion cubs, young Cheetah and in some cases even tigers. But seldom do people ask what happens to the cubs when they grow too big for the facilities to manage them.

“There is substantial evidence to suggest that these animals are very often sold, or ‘returned’ to lion and other predator breed-ing facilities from which they are often sold on as trophies into the very lucrative canned hunting industry, which has thrived in South Africa for at least the past 12 years,” says Yolan Friedmann, CEO of the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT).

With the inclusion of lions in the Threat-ened or Protected Species Regulations, the hunting of a captive bred lion within a pe-riod of less than 24 months post its release into an extensive wildlife area is now pro-hibited.

Cubs are often taken away from their mothers to stimulate faster reproduction and so keep up a constant supply of pet-ting lions. Visitors pay to pet the animal and have their photograph taken with it, and ei-ther do not consider the animal’s situation and what will happen to it when it grows up, or they assume that there is a conserva-tion effort associated with petting lions.

Human imprinted

The lions are however human imprinted and have not grown up in a natural social group, making it impossible to release them into a natural habitat for the long term. This, coupled with the disease risk posed by captive bred animals, as well as their dubi-ous genetic lineage renders them a risk for release. They therefore have no conserva-tion value and are purely a source of in-come for those exploiting them.

Often the situation of a “paying volun-teer” is also exploited for further financial gain, with volunteers being told that the lion mothers are not able to care for their offspring and that once they are old enough hand raised lions are returned to the wild.

A recent report by the National Council of SPCAs suggests that many of these li-ons end up as targets for canned hunting. The report states that “the hunting of cap-tive bred lions is in fact at an all time high

and the South African Predator Breeders Association (SAPBA) estimated in January this year that about 1 050 lions were hunted in South Africa in 2008. Nearly all of these animals were raised in captivity. This is a more than 300% increase on the 322 lions the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) says were hunted in 2006 and a 35% increase on their 2007 fig-ure of 700.”

This raises the question: where do all these lions come from? In South Africa, a thriving canned hunting industry can in most cases be linked to an equally thriving industry based on cub petting and commer-cial captive breeding centres.

The EWT encourages the public to take an active role in putting an end to canned hunting by asking the following questions before taking an opportunity to play with a cub:

• Where is the cub’s mother?• Why is the cub not being raised by its

mother?• What happens to the facility’s cubs

when they grow up?• If they are released into larger wildlife

areas, where are these and can the facility provide documentation to prove a viable and ethical release process?

• If, and therefore once cubs have been re-leased, do they have the opportunity to live out their natural lives, or are they hunted?

• If they are sold to game reserves, is their future secure or is this a cover for simply being hunted?

• If they become part of a breeding pro-gramme, for what purpose?

• What happens to the facility’s surplus animals?

Some may argue that there is educational value in allowing people to handle wild ani-mals. However this kind of education pro-vides the incorrect message that wild ani-mals exist for human entertainment, that they can be petted like domestic animals, and that they have value only in captivity and not in their natural habitats. Moreover, lion cubs are naturally boisterous and even a young lion is capable of inflicting damage on a human being. Visitors are expected to sign indemnity forms that protect the fa-cility, but many people are hurt, sometimes very badly, through these interactions. It is also important to note that captive breed-

ing is not a conservation recommendation for any carnivore species in South Africa. Carnivores in fact breed extremely well in the right conditions and for almost all our threatened carnivore species, the conser-vation priorities include reducing human-wildlife conflict, securing suitable habitat, reducing poaching and illegal offtake and maintaining balanced, functioning eco-systems. Without these in place, captive breeding leads to an over-supply of non-releasable animals which often end up as trophies.

The Endangered Wildlife Trust is not against legal, ethical forms of sustainable use and recognises the role that hunting plays in many conservation programmes. We do not however support the intensive breeding of wild animals for canned hunt-ing. It must be noted that other species are also hunted under condtions where they have no chance of escape and thus are also victims of canned hunting.

While we urge the government to ad-dress captive lion breeding situation in South Africa, and all canned hunting, we similarly urge members of the public to recognise their role in supporting or put-ting an end to both the cruel treatment of lions in some captive facilities, and the practise of canned lion hunting.

The EWT is working with many other NGOs to develop an ethical, humane pro-posal which may avert the continuance of cruelty being meted down to Africa’s King of the Beasts.

Author and democracy activist Frances Moore Lappé says we already know how to solve the pressing issues of our time, such as climate change and world hunger.

But she says our own pre-conceived ideas about how things should work – our mental map of the world – is actually preventing us from taking action.

In a speech at Ottawa’s Carleton Univer-sity as part of the 78th Congress of the Hu-manities and Social Sciences, Lappé called for a wholesale revamping of the way we view government, the economy and democ-racy. If we manage to do it, she says, we can save ourselves from our own demise.

Lappé, made famous in the 1970s by her bestselling vegetarian cookbook Diet for a Small Planet, is an activist, author and co-founder with her daughter Anna Lappé of The Small Planet Institute. She says many people today are frightened by the potential for disaster, ecological and otherwise, and fearful that nothing can be done to prevent it. Lappé says we can do something – if we challenge five assumptions about the way the world works.

The first is that going green means “pow-ering down,” or reducing our consumption of energy. Lappé says all we have to do is stop getting energy from fossil fuels and start getting it from renewable sources like the sun.

“Every day the sun supplies us with 15,000 times the amount of energy we’re now using in fossil fuels,” she says. If every-one had a solar panel or windmill on their roof, we wouldn’t be dependent on oil com-panies – and as individuals we’d feel more in control of our own destiny.

The second idea to dispense with, she says, is that going green means an end to economic growth. What we have to do, she says, is change our idea of what growth is. Right now, she says, the Walton family – owners of Wal-Mart – controls as much wealth as the bottom 40 per cent of the U.S. population. Is it growth if the wealthy families just get wealthier?

There’s plenty of room for growth, she says, if we learn to do things more efficient-

ly. For example, she says various estimates show that between 25 and 50 per cent of all food produced in the United States is wasted. And that every year, Americans throw out some 300 pounds of packaging material.

The third idea she wants to challenge is the notion that humans are by nature greedy, self-centred and materialistic.

Under certain conditions, she said, we can be monsters. But there wouldn’t be 6.8 billion of us on the planet today if we didn’t also have positive qualities such as empathy, cooperation and fairness. As a society, she said we should simply try to make sure our rules try to bring out the best, not the worst in us.

The fourth idea she disputes is that we dislike rules. She says humans crave struc-ture, particularly rules that make sense to us as individuals and which foster a sense of inclusion. We will accept the right rules, she says, citing as an example a German law that enables individual citizens to sell power they produce at home, through renewable sources such windmills or solar panels for example, to utilities at a guaranteed price. People there have embraced the idea, she says.

The final concept she wants to challenge is the idea that our problems are so pressing there’s no time for democracy, and only an authoritarian regime can save us. She be-lieves the only hope for the planet is to trust in people and set rules that bring out the best in us.

“The mother of all issues is who makes the decisions,” she says, adding that if de-cisions are taken by people with the most money, we all suffer.

Lappé says she’s not against a market economy – just the idea that there’s only one way to run the economy.

She also wants to challenge the idea, she says, that change is impossible. Recent his-tory has shown that seemingly insoluble problems have in fact been solved.

“It’s not possible to know what’s pos-sible.”

GoiNG GreeN doesn’t have to mean slower economic growth

Newsclips

Lions maul suspected poachers

Rangers rescued two suspected rhi-no poachers who were mauled by lions in the Kruger National Park. The two men were hospitalised and charged with trespassing and the possession of an unlicensed AK47 assault rifle and pistol. Emmanuel Ngobeni, 34, and Mtlakavaka Matose, 35, of Masingeri in Mozambique appeared in Skukuza circuit court on Wednesday, May 13, 2009. Skukuza branch commander Inspector Willie Broodryk said rang-ers who were on patrol at the Nwanet-si concession near Satara camp on March 17 heard the two men calling for help.

“They found the two suspects crawl-ing along the ground as they couldn’t walk after being attacked by lions the previous night,” said Broodryk.

He said the men are believed to have fired the two weapons to chase the lions away as there were spent cartridges on the scene. There was no evidence that the lions were injured, however. The men denied the weapons belonged to them, so police have sent the weapons for forensic tests. The men are believed to be rhino poachers, as rhino poach-ers are known to use AK-47s to kill the animals. The two men were flown to hospital where they were treated for two weeks before being discharged.

African Eye

New name for international park

An international conservation park, sprawled across Botswana, South Af-rica and Zimbabwe, the Limpopo-Shashe Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA) was renamed Mapun-gubwe National Park on June 19, 2009. The Limpopo-Shashe TFCA was created in 2006 by an agreement between South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe.

The Ministers said the decision to change the name of the TFCA was to choose a name that accurately reflects the uniqueness of the TFCA, adding that the name Greater Mapungubwe TFCA was preferred because all three countries already have sites called Ma-pungubwe.


The Kruger Park e-Times is published regularly to keep you uodated on conserva-tion, science, sustainable development and tourism issues in and around South Africa’s national parks, transfrontier parks and other environmental hotspots.

READ THE REST of THE JuNE iSSuE AT WWW.KRuGERPARKTiMESoNLiNE.CoM

The clock is ticking for South Africa’s stretched water supply, and in another five years demand will have caught up with supply, according to a top official.

Jones Mnisi, acting chief operating of-ficer at Johannesburg Water, the public utility overseeing supply in the country’s economic hub, told a recent conference on water security that the tipping point where demand outstripped supply may not be far away.

South Africa is chronically water-stressed. Although growth has slowed, an expanding economy, a growing popula-tion, and increased evaporation caused by climate change are conspiring to put addi-tional pressures on water resources.

Yet leading experts at the conference said the situation could be addressed if the country curbed demand and improved wa-ter quality to facilitate reuse. A paper by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said South Africa’s water surplus had been dangerously low since at least 2000 - four years after the country began buying bulk water from the multi-dam Lesotho High-lands Water Project, built on the Senqu-nyane River in neighbouring Lesotho.

Although the next phase of the project, expected to be in place in 2019, could re-lieve some of the pressure on South Afri-ca’s water supply, it was likely to be too late, said Chris Herold, chairman of the water division of the South African Institute of Civil Engineering (SAICE).

Quantity and quality

Experts said the quality and quantity of the water supply should be better man-aged, and called for more investment in in-frastructure. “The national water resource strategy has assumed that water demand management will happen,” said Herold, “On the implementation side, some of the local authorities have not come to the party.”

Anthony Turton, a former researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, who now works as a water man-agement consultant, predicted that South Africa would soon have to start reusing ef-

fluent, which would entail revamping in-frastructure, with waste treatment plants a priority.

Water treatment plants would have to produce effluent clean enough for reuse in the in-dustrial sector, for exam-ple switching to buying cheaper, recycled wa-ter for cooling plants, he said.

This may be harder than it sounds. Turton pointed out that 12 waste-water treat-ment plants, none of which func-tion prop-erly, were d u m p -ing efflu-ent into the Hart-bee spoor t Dam on the Crocodile River, 20km southwest of Johan-nesburg.

He and others have also begun to con-clude that if water could be stored in un-derground man-made aquifers, he said, it could save a vast quantity of water from evaporation annually.

When the democratic government came to power in 1994, an estimated 14 million people lacked access to a formal water sup-ply, and about half the population had no formal sanitation, according to the Depart-ment of Water and Environment.

Water and sanitation remain contentious issues, and government has assured South Africans that it will commit more funds to improve water infrastructure, deploy per-sonnel to local government to oversee op-erations, build capacity, and ensure proper financial management.

A recent progress report card on the UN Millennium Development Goals said the country was on track for achieving access to safe drinking water and sanitation by 2015.

“Water service provision is critical, and it is a sensitive issue,” Turton said. “We have

to give people everything that the struggle was about,

like dignity. If we don’t, we’re going to have a lot of angry

people.”SAICE’s Herold said government

should crack down on hun-dreds of farm-ers who used water illegally

from the Vaal River, 100km

south of Johan-nesburg, which supplies the city. The department of water affairs has established a unit, known as the “Blue Scorpions”, to police illegal bulk water use.

© IRIN. All rights reserved.

Clock ticks towards water scarcity


DAM fACTS AND fiGuRES* According to the World Commission on Dams there are an estimated 48 000 dams worldwide over 15 m high. About half of these are in China.* There are about 1 500 dams under construction worldwide at present.* it takes about four years to build one dam.* The highest dam in the world is the Rogun Dam in Tajikistan which is 335 m high.* The Three Gorges Dam, which is being built in China, will be the larg-est concrete dam in the world. When it is completed in 2009, the dam will stretch almost two kilometres across the Yangtze River and soar 183 m above the valley floor. The reservoir will be 563 km long.Source: World Wildlife fund

Newsclips

Three Kruger camps for 2010

SANParks’ managing executive tourism and marketing, Glenn Phil-lips According to Phillips, said the Kruger National Park has dedicated three of its camps to the 2010 FIFA World Cup - Skukuza, Berg en Dal and Pretoriuskop.

New mobile tented products with-in above camps at Kruger National Parks will also be utilized. This will add an additional 420 beds to the in-ventory contacted for 2010.

“The tents will be used as a con-duit to address the legacy issue – as they will be used to provide addi-tional inventory to parks in other lo-cations around the country that lack sufficient accommodation inventory during high season or specific events such as the flower season in Na-maqua National Park.”

“The exciting part with 2010 is that approximately 15 000 people will be introduced to the national parks. We want to use this event to optimize marketing opportunities, while we continue to build our brand.”

Phillips went on to mention the de-tails of the contract with MATCH a professional services company select-ed by FIFA to provide ticketing, ac-commodation and event information technology during the 2010 World Cup event in South Africa.

“If all goes according to plan, it means the value of inventory sold to MATCH per day is in the region of R1.4 million and this over the event period will amount to an impressive R 52.5 million based on two people per unit inclusive of dinner, bed and breakfast and activity.”

Other contracted parks closer to the World Cup matches are Addo El-ephant National Park, Garden Route National Park which incorporates formerly Wilderness, Tsitsikamma and the Knysna Lake Area, Mar-akele, and Golden Gate Highlands National Parks.

South African National Parks (SAN-Parks) will auction twenty white rhino from the Kruger National Park (KNP) as well as eland bulls from Mountain Zebra Nation-al Park at the annual Kirkwood Auction on June 20. SANParks earned the highest price for a single adult white rhino bull which went for R640 000 at last year’s auction.

Proceeds of the sale of SAN-Parks wildlife on the game auc-tion are ploughed into SANParks’ Park Development Fund, a fund which is used to expand and develop the national park system.

The Kirkwood Wildlife auction, which raised R11 million in 2008, is now the sec-ond largest auction in the country. Bidders from far and wide will converge at the Kirk-wood Wildlife Festival grounds for the auc-tion.

Addo buffalo

Twenty-two Addo buffalo will be up for sale at the auction. The buffalo will be sold in four family groups consisting of a bull and several cows as well as six individual breeding bulls and one individual subadult bull. The buffalo have already been cap-tured and are being held in the bomas at

Addo Elephant National Park for the test-ing necessary to confirm their disease-free status.

Addo buffalo are traditionally much sought-after as breeding stock due to the absence of diseases such as bovine tuber-

culosis, corridor disease and foot-and-mouth dis-ease in the herd. Addo Elephant National Park is home to the largest disease-free buffalo herd in South Africa.

other game

Also on auction for the first time will be

four family herds of the endangered Cape mountain zebra. These family herds will be captured in Mountain Zebra National Park which now boasts over 500 of the endan-gered zebra. They will be sold on catalogue at the auction.

Bushveld Game Capture will host a fam-ily herd of Burchell’s zebra as well as bles-bok family groups and breeding rams in Addo’s bomas. Breeding groups of various antelope as well as giraffe will also be sold on catalogue at the auction.

Bidders can view the wildlife on auction before the sale at Addo Elephant National Park, RiverBend and Shamwari bomas. For further information on the auction, contact Jan Pienaar on 082 5721516 or John Aden-dorff on 082 9084160.

SANParks to auction rhino, buffalo

Scientists are a step closer to making environmentally-friendly ‘magnetic’ refrig-erators and air conditioning systems a real-ity, thanks to new research published in the May issue of Advanced Materials.

Magnetic refrigeration technology could provide a ‘green’ alternative to traditional energy-guzzling gas-compression fridges and air conditioners. They would require 20-30% less energy to run than the best systems currently available, and would not rely on ozone-depleting chemicals or green-house gases. Refrigeration and air condi-tioning units make a major contribution to the planet’s energy consumption - in the USA in the summer months they account for approximately 50% of the country’s en-

ergy use.A magnetic refrigeration system works by

applying a magnetic field to a magnetic ma-terial - some of the most promising being metallic alloys - causing it to heat up. This excess heat is removed from the system by water, cooling the material back down to its original temperature. When the magnetic field is removed the material cools down even further, and it is this cooling property that researchers hope to harness for a wide variety of cooling applications.

Researchers are still looking for improved materials that provide highly efficient cool-ing at normal room temperatures, so that the technology can be rolled out from the lab to people’s homes and businesses.

researchers closer to the ultimate green ‘fridge magnet’


South Africa’s bustards are in trouble, with six of the country’s ten species listed in the South African Red Data Book. “They are threatened by a variety of factors”, says Mark Anderson, executive director of Bird-Life South Africa “…with some of the most important threats being habitat destruction and power-line mortalities”.

BirdLife South Africa is concerned about the precarious conservation status of the country’s bustards and korhaans. At a work-shop in Johannesburg in May, the status, threats and necessary conservation mea-sures relevant to these birds were discussed by the country’s bustard experts.

Populations of Ludwig’s bustard and Denham’s bustard are probably in decline due to a single mortality factor, collisions with the cables of power-lines. “These birds fly in groups during low light conditions and due to their limited manoeuvrability are not able to avoid electricity cables in their flight path”, says Jon Smallie, manager of the En-dangered Wildlife Trust’s (EWT) Wildlife Energy Interaction Group (WEIG) and the Eskom-EWT Strategic Partnership. Studies by Anderson and the University of Cape Town’s Dr Andrew Jenkins, have found that on average across six patrolled sites, about one Ludwig’s bustard collides per kilometre of power-line per year at these sites.

There are approximately 16,000 km of transmission (>132000volts) power-lines crisscrossing the Karoo indicating the po-tential severity of this problem. The Es-kom-EWT Partnership’s Central Incident Register documents no less than 265 con-firmed Ludwig’s bustard mortalities from power-lines. In response, Eskom is currently funding research into bustard collision rates, movement patterns and visual acuity – all critical aspects if we are to mitigate this threat.

According to David Allan, ornithologist at the Durban Natural Science Museum and a world authority on the biology of bustards, “The global population of Ludwig’s bustard

has been estimated to only number between 56,000 and 81,000 individuals. The thought that we could be potentially losing them at a rate of over 10,000 birds killed annually by this factor alone is terrifying”.

The blue korhaan, which mainly inhabits grasslands in the central and eastern regions of South Africa, is severely threatened by afforestation, crop farming, overgrasing, burning, urbanisation and mining. Analy-ses of information from the Coordinated Avifaunal Roadcount Project (CAR) suggest that this korhaan has “…declined in both numbers and range during recent years”, stated Donella Young, the CAR coordina-tor at the University of Cape Town’s Ani-mal Demography Unit. The blue korhaan is only found in South Africa and margin-ally in western Lesotho, so we have an im-portant obligation to protect this localised species.

The white-bellied korhaan, another spe-cies that is restricted to the grasslands and open thornveld, is listed as vulnerable in

the South African Red Data Book. It pre-fers tall, undisturbed grassland, and is thus threatened by human population pressure and inappropriate farm management. The white-bellied korhaan is also found in cen-tral, west and east Africa, but there is some debate about whether the South African population is a separate species (Barrow’s korhaan). If genetically distinct, there is even more pressure on South African con-servationists to attend to the numerous threats which are impacting on this threat-ened species.

It was decided at the bustard workshop, which was made possible through funding from E. Oppenheimer and Son, that a bus-tard working group would be formed under the auspices of BirdLife South Africa. The group will have several aims, but will focus, at least initially, on disseminating informa-tion about bustards to the relevant authori-ties and stakeholders, prioritizing research needs, and determining urgent conserva-tion interventions.

South Africa’s bustards threatened

The Denham’s Bustard has a spectacular display (photog-rapher: Mathew Prophet).

The Bustard/Korhaan Workshop was attended by South Africa’s bustard experts (photographer: Geoff Lockwood).


Zimbabwe de-horns rhinos to curb poaching

The Zimbabwe government has launched a massive exercise to de-horn rhinoceroses so that these ani-mals do not have any value for poach-ers, a media report said.

Environment and Natural Re-sources Management Minister Fran-cis Nhema said the de-horning exer-cise would remove the “incentives” for poaching.

Rhinos are reportedly poached for its horns that are used in traditional Chinese medicines. Some people be-lieve the horn contains aphrodisiac properties.

He said the black rhinos are most vulnerable to poaching. “We are de-horning some of the rhinos so that there would not be any incentives for poaching,” the minister was quoted as having said by the Daily Mail.

Nhema said the exercise is among the preventative measures in place af-ter reports that more than 80 black rhinos fell prey to poachers in the past 12 months. The government has also relocated some of the rhinos to en-sure protection.

The de-horning process must be repeated every few years as horns grow back, he said, while calling for harsher punishments against poach-ers.

“The fines that are in place now are not deterrent enough to stop people from poaching and there is a need to impose heavy fines,” he said.

The wildlife sanctuaries have en-tered into a strategic joint manage-ment partnership with the police and the army to combat poaching, the minister added.

Zimbabwe has an estimated 800 black and white rhinoceroses.

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/n/zimbabwe-de-horns-rhinos-to-curb-poaching-68177/

Newsclips


South African vultures are facing ever-increasing threats. Of the nine vulture spe-cies that occur in South Africa, seven are listed in the Eskom Red Data Book of Birds of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. The main cause of the demise of this im-portant raptor group is a declining food source, although other issues such as loss of foraging areas, electrocution on electricity pylons, and inadvertent poisoning also have a strong influence on their numbers.

The Kruger to Canyons Birding Route, a BirdLife South Africa project, has recently been involved in developing a number of infrastructure development projects in the Lowveld including the establishment of a vulture restaurant and hide on the Grietjie Private Nature Reserve, 20 km south of Phalaborwa. The reserve forms part of the Greater Kruger National Park.

The purpose of this new viewing hide is threefold. Its main purpose is to provide exceptional, close-up views of these mag-nificent birds, but more importantly it will serve as an educational facility highlighting the plight of vulture populations in south-ern Africa which are in a drastic state of de-cline. As well as reaching birders, BirdLife South Africa plans to bring school groups to the hide to show them the importance of vultures in the ecology of the Lowveld, as well as to dispel the myths surrounding the birds. Lastly the hide will also be used by sister organisations, such as the Endan-

gered Wildlife Trust, who play a critical role in monitoring vulture populations in the Lowveld.

Carcasses are normally only put down at the weekends, ensuring that the birds do not become dependent on the additional food source. This vulture restaurant is one of just a few that are located within the re-serve and hyaena and other carnivores fre-quent the carcasses.

Spotted Hyaenas are particularly useful in breaking up the remaining bones from old carcasses, and vulture restaurants such as this have been proven to increase the breed-ing success of vultures by providing bone fragments which substantially increases the calcium content of their diet.

Mark Anderson, executive director of BirdLife South Africa, officially opened the vulture restaurant on 20 March 2009. Since then all five locally occurring vulture species have become regular customers. The visitor book also reveals that it is not uncommon to find yourself surrounded by more than 150 vultures during feeding time.

The vulture restaurant is easily accessible and open to the public. Reservations can be made through Ian Owtram [email protected] or 0832868281, or through the re-serve warden on 0788758722. A small fee of R30/person is charged which will go di-rectly back into maintenance and providing carcasses for the vultures.

New vulture restaurant and hide in Phalaborwa region

The vulture restaurant is easily accessible and open to the public. Reservations can be made through ian owtram [email protected] or 0832868281, or through the reserve warden on 0788758722.

The small town of Wakkerstroom is fa-mous for its endemic grassland and wetland birds, and ecotourists come from far and wide to experience the area’s well known birdwatching opportunities. Although the special birds mainly include smaller species, such as Rudd’s and Botha’s lark and yellow-breasted pipit, one of Wakkerstroom’s main attractions is its cranes.

Three species of crane, grey crowned crane, blue crane and wattled crane, occur in South Africa, and all are found at Wak-kerstroom.

Some of Wakkerstroom’s birds migrate to warmer climes during the winter months, but others remain. The grey crowned cranes is one species which remains in this area, sometimes in large numbers.

As an additional tourist attraction, Bird-Life South Africa now lures cranes to its winter feeding site using life-size wooden decoys. Maize grain is put out regularly for the cranes in front of BirdLife South Africa’s

crane hide at the Wakkerstroom wetland.Four wooden crane decoys have been

made from alien, invasive trees obtained from local farmers. The decoys are very re-alistic and similar in size and colour to grey crowned cranes and, at first glance, they fool most bird-watchers.

The decoys were made by the very tal-ented Muzi Makhubu, who is from the Indalo Carving Project. Muzi is a local en-trepreneur and his wood-carving business is supported by BirdLife South Africa. His wooden art-work has become a sought-after souvenir by visitors to Wakkerstroom.

Muzi says that “I never thought that carv-ing could be linked to tourism and bird con-servation, but this example is evidence that it can”.

Muzi’s workshop is at Bird-Life South Africa’s Wakkerst-room Centre and it is visited by many birders and other ecotourists. “For the commu-

nity of Wakkerstroom to benefit from bird tourism, it is important that they align their activities to the needs of the birders” said Hansco Banda, who is the Wakkerstroom project site manager for BirdLife South Af-rica’s Community Based Conservation Di-vision.

BirdLife South Africa is also engaged in a farm-worker outreach programme, in collaboration with the Endangered Wild-life Trust’s South African Crane Working Group, which educates farm workers and farm schools about conservation issues, in-cluding bird conservation.

Wood carvings used to attract cranes to bird-watching site

Muzi Makhubu carving a Grey Crowned Crane from an alien species tree.

A Grey Crowned Crane (right) inquisitively dis-plays to the wooden decoy at the feeding site in front of BirdLife South Africa’s Crane Hide.



South African National Parks (SANParks) has called for proposals in respect of Pub-lic Private Partnership projects for the pro-posed Malelane Hotel development close to the Malelane gate in the Kruger National Park (KNP).

The proposed development is set to pro-vide a new facility in the park that is differ-ent from the existing rest camps. The new development is within the approved KNP Management Plan and the Commercializa-tion Strategy which has already delivered seven concession lodges in the KNP.

“SANParks is primarily focussed on bio-diversity conservation and is dependent on government funding to perform the envi-ronmental public good.

With government priorities being fo-cussed on providing health services, edu-cation, municipal service-delivery, hous-ing and other pressing needs, conservation grant funding is static and diminishing in real terms. SANParks has, over the past few years, supplemented the shortfall in funding through its successful ecotourism business without deviating from its core mandate.

As such, SANParks needs to continually keep abreast with the top tourist destina-tions by improving its product and appeal-ing to a wider range of visitors in the 21st Century.

The inbound tourism market and the emerging middle class have repeatedly de-manded a product that provides a full ser-vice in addition to the safari experience without “Disney-fi-cation of the park”, according to a SAN-Parks press state-ment.

“The KNP cur-rently offers self-catering facilities throughout the park which are hugely popular but falls short in meeting the expectations of the current genera-tion who want a full service safari experi-ence that includes modern conference and support facili-ties.

The proposed “hotel” will be a full-ser-vice facility that will be constructed on the periphery of the park at the Malelane Gate Precinct.”

Dr David Mabunda, chief executive of SANParks said that this was in line with the peripheral development policy which allow for development on the periphery of the park rather than within the park where there will be a greater ecological impact.

The geographical location of the facility will make it accessible for 24 hours and elim-inate the undesirable risk associated with late arrivals driving to the nearest camp.

“The 200 bed facility is not going to be a high-rise building in the mould of the gen-eral perception of a hotel with the “bells and whistles” of a city hotel but a develop-ment in line with the hall-mark SANParks environmental ambience that will compli-ment its surroundings. It will provide full meals, laundry services as well as regular tours through the park. There will be no de-marcated traversing area for the hotel as is the case with the luxury lodges.”

“This “hotel”, which is what we are call-ing it for want of a better word, will have a much smaller footprint in the park as com-pared to the existing camps that have be-tween 300 and 600 beds,” said Dr Mabun-da.

He also emphasised that guest to the hotel will not be driving in the park as guests of the camps do, they will be offered a “park-

and-ride” ser-vice very simi-lar to that of private game lodges. “So in-stead of hav-ing a typical N1 Highway traffic conges-tion with at least two oc-cupants driv-ing through the park, we will have these cars neatly tucked away and fill up ex-isting park game drive vehicles which are running at 50% occupancy to enhance the game-viewing experience in the most ap-propriate style and help towards reducing the menace of traffic on the park’s roads,” he explained.

The proposed facility will not be built on pristine land, because the area identified for the development is an old road construction camp and a quarry , but SANParks, has specified in its call for proposals that the re-quired EIA’s must be conducted.

“We had to design the concept and pro-vide specifications first before weighing its possible impacts on the ecology.

All applicable environmental scrutiny will be applied indepen-dently and we are confident that all EIA’s will reflect its ecological feasibil-ity.

Its impact will definitely be far less than the sprawling towns of Skukuza and Satara.

Who knows this might be the be-ginning of a new era – the camps in the core of the park moving to the pe-riphery by 2059?” concluded Dr. Mabunda.

200-bed luxury hotel proposed for Kruger National Park

?What do you

think about this proposal. E-mail

your view to [email protected]


New 4x4 eco-Trails open at Karoo National Park

Two new 4x4 eco-trails have opened at the Karoo National Park near Beaufort West.

The new trails provide an opportunity for visitors to experience a new area of the al-most 90 000-hectare Karoo National Park. Routes are open only to visitors with 4x4 vehicles.

The Nuweveld Trail follows a 90-kilo-metre route into the western section of the Park, starting off the relatively new Potlek-kertjie Loop which was opened in October 2008. Approximately 50 kilometres of this trail is a Grade one 4x4 trail with some steep, rocky sections and sandy dry river crossings.

The first section of the Nuweveld Trail travels through riverine thicket before head-ing onto the plains and then climbing onto the foothills of the Nuweveld Mountains. The route then heads onto the lower plains in the Sandrivier area, before linking up again with the Potlekkertjie Loop via the Afsaal Trail.

About 20 kilometres from the start of the trail, visitors will find the Embizweni Cot-tage which provides an ideal place for an overnight stay in a remote and tranquil lo-cation.

Embizweni Cottage has spectacular views of the Nuweveld Mountains to the east and the area is frequented by large herds of eland, gemsbok and individual black rhino. Cape mountain zebra, red hartebeest and kudu can also be seen as well as Verraux’s eagle and kori and Ludwig’s bustard.

The cottage provides fully-equipped ac-commodation for six people with a gas-powered stove, fridge and geysers as well as solar-powered lights. A fireplace in the living room provides a cosy atmosphere in winter.

The shorter Afsaal Trail is a 13-kilometre route which provides a challenging drive in wet conditions. The trail, commencing off the Potlekkertjie Loop, travels south and then east before linking up with the Potlek-kertjie Loop again.

Visitors can enjoy both the Nuweveld and Afsaal Routes free of charge. A stay in Embizweni Cottage is very affordable with rates starting from R600-00 for four people.

For more information, please telephone Karoo National Park on 023 4152828 or Email [email protected]


Honorary rangers (HR), Johan and Col-leen Kotze, restored 55 heritage sites in the Kruger National Park to their glimmering best.

Under the auspices of the HR Higveld Region, the Kotzes started the project on September 4 last year. First on the agenda were 31 plaques in the southern region camps – Crocodile Bridge, Lower Sabie, Pretoriuskop and Berg-en-Dal.

On February 3, 2009, the Kotze team inspected and cleaned 12 sites in Skukuza, Satara and Olifants camps.

On May 19, 2008 they began the north-ern leg of their project, which included eight sites from Letaba to Pafuri.

“A full report was submitted to Thanyani Madzhuta of the heritage division in the Kruger National Park,” says Johan.

“The exercise revealed that a number of

plaques are missing or have deteriorated over the years. Sanparks will put a program in place under the leadership of Thanyani as to how these plaques will be replaced.”

The HR Higveld Region is chaired by Willie de Beer, Hoffie Sutherland Vice Chairman, Dennis Botha Treasurer and Anja Botha Secretary.

Heritage sites in Kruger restored

BEfoRE AfTER

Bruce Brydon passed away on the 16 May 2009 due to malaria.

Bruce was born in Johannes-burg, RSA and was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of the Witwa-tersrand, followed by Honours in Wildlife Management at Pretoria University. In

1971 he started his career in the Kruger National Park as a gradu-ate assistant biologist.

He progressed through the ranks as a Section Ranger, District Ranger, Park Warden of Karoo National

Park (1977-80) and Regional Ranger to become Chief Ranger in 1983 (in the meantime he man-aged to successfully complete his Masters in Wildlife Management in 1976). He became Head of Conservation

Support Services and held vari-ous positions until his retirement in 2001. Since then until his untimely death, he and his wife Helena have been living in Knysna.

He is the author of the bestseller

book “A Game Ranger Remem-bers” (2005). It is a collection of stories about the life of a bushveld conservationist as it is lived at the ground level by that elite band of men and woman who guard the Kruger National Park – at the cost of much sweat and tears and, not infrequently, quite a bit of blood.

They have two children – Annie, now married to Glen and Robert – and a grandson, Bryden.

It is with great sorrow that we heard the news of the passing away of Bruce. He will be remembered with fondness and respect by his former colleagues and friends in Conservation and in the GRAA of which he was a Professional Mem-ber (209). On behalf of the Afri-can Committee of the GRAA and the membership of the GRAA we would like to extend our deepest condolences to the family during this very difficult time.

Source: Game Rangers Asso-ciation of Africa (Cleft Stick, May 2009)

obituary: BRuCE RoBERT BRYDEN

Mokala was announced the winner in the Parks and Nature Reserves category of the 2008 Welcome Awards at an awards ceremony held at South Africa’s premier tourism showcase, INDABA in Durban in May.

The park is situated approximately 80 kilometers south-southwest of Kimberley, and west of the N12 freeway to Cape Town.

The Welcome Awards were founded four years ago with the express intention of improving service levels in the tourism sector. The judging process includes pre-arranged visits and interviews by the Welcome Awards project team, as well as mystery visits by trained in-dividuals posing as customers. Winners are chosen based on the value they add to customer expectations; on their commitment to excellence in serving custom-ers; and on exceeding visitor expectations…. “and it is clear that Mokala has outdone itself in ensuring that our customer experience value for their hard earned cash - we really pride ourself with this achievement,” says SANParks, general manager media, events and etakeholder relations, Reynold Thakhuli.

Mokala is the Setswana name for ‘Camel Thorn’, named after the trees that occur in the dry woodland and arid sandy areas of the desert regions of Southern Africa. The Camel Thorn is a great resource to both the wildlife and humans who inhabit these areas, with the gum and bark of the trees often used by the local tribes to treat coughs, colds and nosebleeds.

Mokala walk away with Welcome award


The influence of fire on mopane and red bushwillow trees in Gonarezhou

The influence of fire on mopane and red bushwillow trees in Gonarezhou

A paper on the “Influence of fire frequen-cy on Colophospermum mopane and Combretum apiculatum woodland structure and compo-sition in northern Gonarezhou National Park, Zimbabwe” appears in the latest issue of the SANParks journal, Koedoe.

in shortWe investigated the long-term effects of

fire frequency on Colophospermum mopane and Combretum apiculatum woodland structure and composition in northern Gonarezhou National Park (GNP), Zimbabwe. Fire fre-quency was categorised as high (every 1–2 years), medium (every 3–4 years) and low

(every 5–6 years). The following variables were measured or recorded: plant height, species name, canopy depth and diameter, basal circumference, number of stems per plant, plant status (dead or alive) and num-ber of woody plants in a plot.

There was a positive correlation (r = 0.55, P = 0.0007) between annual area burnt (to-tal from January to December) and annual rainfall (average over two rain stations per rain year, July to June) between 1972 and 2005.

A total of 64 woody species were record-ed from C.mopane and C. apiculatum wood-lands. Mean plant height increased from 4.5 to 8.2 meters in C. mopane woodland and from 4.5 to 5.1 meters in C.apiculatum wood-land in areas subjected to high and low fire frequencies. In C. mopane woodland, low fire frequency was characterised by a sig-nificantly low density of woody plants (P < 0.001), however, with a significantly high mean basal area (P < 0.001). Fire frequency had no significant effect on species diversity (P > 0.05).

Our results suggest that C. mopane and C. apiculatum woodlands are in a state of struc-tural transformation. Fire frequency effects, however, appear to be woodland specific.

Fire management strategies in GNP should take into consideration annual rain-fall and the different vegetation types.

Conservation implication: This study pro-vides valuable information on fire frequen-cy effects on woody vegetation in northern GNP, which can be used in fire management programmes for the park. The positive rela-tionship between annual rainfall and annual area burnt emphasises the need for wildlife managers to consider annual rainfall in fire management.

“We hope that you will visit us soon at www.koedoe.co.za and be enlightened by the articles we will be publishing through-out 2009,” says title operations coordinator, Liezel Grunewald.

For more information on this article visit http://www.koedoe.co.za/index.php/koe-doe/index

Avid birders should hurry to make their bookings for the Sasol Addo Bird-ing Weekend which will be held in Addo Elephant National Park from 23 to 25 October 2009.

The weekend of birding will offer a wonderful opportunity to experience the diverse biomes of Addo Elephant Na-tional Park and the chance to spot over 400 bird species.

Organised by the Addo Honorary Rangers, birding activities will feature a choice of excursions which include trips to the marine area of the Park around St. Croix Island and the arid Karoo area around the large expanse of Darlington Dam.

Birders will join groups birding in sev-en different areas of Addo Elephant Na-tional Park. A 4x4 excursion will explore the Nyathi area of the park while another group will visit the Sundays River estuary

and adjacent coastline with its good tern and wader sightings. The group visiting the marine area around St. Croix Island by boat will view the African penguin col-ony on the island as well as pelagic birds such as skuas, petrels and shearwaters.

Birders based in the park’s main game area can count on thicket species such as the southern tchagra as well as Denham’s bustard and blue crane in the grassland patches. Fitter participants can explore the forests and fynbos of the Zuurberg Mountains on foot to sight birds from Afri-can crowned eagles to longtailed wagtails. Those based in the Park’s Woody Cape area near Alexandria will explore the in-digenous coastal forests which are home to trumpeter hornbill. Birders visited the Park’s northern-most Darlington area will look for birds such as the Namaqua war-bler on the arid land and spoonbills and lesser flamingo on the vast lake.

Prizes will be presented at an evening braai function and there is an optional afternoon training session on birding and identification. A variety of accommoda-tion units, as well as camping facilities will be made available in the Addo Elephant National Park.

Sasol has provided sponsorship for logistics and prizes while Glendower whisky has also sponsored some prizes. Funds raised by the Honorary Rangers birding weekend will go towards funding conservation support work, research and upgrade of facilities for the benefit of all visitors to the Park.

Bookings for the birding weekend close on 31 July 2009. For more information, contact Deon and Mileen De Vos on [email protected] or Tel: 041 966 1297 or 082 775 4998.

Bookings open for Addo Birding Weekend


Singita Game Reserves announced a number of key managerial appointments. Jason Trollip has taken over from Tony Romer-Lee as general manager of Sin-gita Sabi Sand, comprising Singita Ebony and Boulders lodges, and Castleton Camp. Romer-Lee has taken up the position of re-sort manager with One&Only Cape Town after three years with Singita in the Sabi Sand.

Trollip joined Singita in 2003 and has for the past six years held the position of general manager Singita Kruger National Park, situated on Singita’s private conces-sion that comprises Singita Lebombo and Sweni lodges. With a genuine passion for conservation, Mpumalanga born Trollip has played an important role in the estab-lishment of the Singita concession, and has displayed a unique understanding of the re-quirements of guests and staff alike.

Singita welcomed Caroline Burke who took over as general manager of Singita Lebombo and Sweni lodges. Burke is well-known in the travel and safari industry for her professionalism and customer care ex-cellence, bringing with her extensive expe-

rience, that includes 12 years in key man-agement positions with CC Africa (now re-branded &Beyond).

Singita is also proud to announce that af-ter just over three years with Singita Game Reserves, Moses Nkuna has been promoted to lodge manager at Singita Sweni lodge in the Kruger National Park. Nkuna has proved himself here as a competent and caring host, and also brings with him expe-rience gained at the Coach House Hotel in Tzaneen, Grande Roche Hotel in Paarl, as well as The Queens Hotel in Leeds, Eng-land.

In Tanzania, Singita Grumeti Reserves has appointed Mandy Cloete as lodge man-ager Singita Sasakwa. Having taken time off to complete her MBA degree, Cloete re-turns to Singita where she previously served as lodge manager Singita Sweni. Hence she not only has a complete understanding of the Singita ethos and its guest profile, but also brings with her experience gained at other exclusive private game reserves, as well as enthusiasm for East Africa and the offerings of Singita Grumeti Reserves and the Serengeti.

Staff changes at popular Kruger concession

Jason Trollip

Umlani Bushcamp in the Timbavati Pri-vate Nature Reserve in South Africa was presented with The Wilderness Foundations sought after Green Leaf at an awards cer-emony at the Indaba International Travel Trade Show in Durban.

Marco Schiess, owner of Umlani Bush-camp says “Ian Player has been an inspi-ration to me all my life, my association with the Wilderness Leadership School has formed the principles by which we run Umlani. It is a great honour for me to be certified by the Wilderness Foundation as the Green Leaf standard is everything that Umlani stands for”.

“With global warming and climate change a reality. The tourism industry has the responsibility in protecting the integrity of our environment and has the opportu-nity to educate their guests. The Wilderness Foundations Awards encourages tourism role players to reduce the effects of con-sumption on our environment and improve upon environmental management and awareness in an eco friendly manner”, adds

Schiess.The Wilderness Foundation, founded in

1972 by Dr. Ian Player and Magqubu Ntom-bela, is a conservation organisation that encourages, plans and manages wild lands and wilderness areas, uplifts the knowledge and lives of historically disadvantaged citi-zens, and stimulates an environmental ethos among current and future leaders.

Umlani is also a member Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa. “Everything we do is influenced by our commitment to respon-sible tourism. This means that we take great care to treat people and the environment with respect by actively minimising the neg-ative impact on our surroundings and make a positive contribution whenever possible” states Schiess

Umlani Bushcamp based in the heart of world famous Timbavati, which is now part of an open system with the Kruger National Park, is becoming well known as a specialist in providing visitors with a close to nature wilderness adventure in a responsible way.

environmental consciousness recognised

Tree identification in the Lowveld

Eugene Moll will facilitate a five day (six nights) tree identification course at The Southern African Wildlife Col-lege (SAWC), taking place from Sun-day evening 30th August to Saturday morning 5th September 2009. The course will also focus on some of the plant ecological issues facing the KNP and Timbavati area in particular.

The cost of this course is R5,500.00 per person inclusive of food and ac-commodation at the SAWC, transport for fieldwork and armed guard, and two night drives.

The SAWC is some 10km west of the Orpen Gate to the KNP on the north-ern side of the tarred road and some 70km from Hoedspruit. The SAWC is 2km off the tarred road and the 30ha campus has an electric perimeter fence. A minimum of 10 and a maximum of 20 people are required to make this course possible.

Should you be interested in joining the group please contact Alice Moll on [email protected] for further de-tails.


The 2009 SANParks Amateur Photographic Competition winners

Daniel Myburg - Can you feel that

SANParks announced the winners of the 2009 SANParks Amateur Photogrpahic Competition in 12 categories.

The photographs were submitted accord-ing to the type of camera used, that of the the DSLR and Compact and categorised into sections of landscapes, portrait, ani-mals and insects, human activity, plants and black and white.

The winners are:

DSLR• Portrait: Jaycee Rousseau - Grubs Up!• Animals & Insects: Daniel Myburg -

Can you feel that?• Black & White: Mario Moreno - Zebra

Family in Plains Camp• Human Activity: Karlwim Heese - Re-

turning home with the sunset • Plants: Valerie Blanca - KTP • Landscapes: Katja Soehngen - Kalahari

cloud

CompaCt• Portrait: Nico Steenberg - Pied king-

fisher• Animals & Insects: Ken Mackay - Sec-

retary Bird• Black & White: Trevor Lagerwall - El-

ephant• Human Activity: Marijke Arends-Meir-

ing - Hyena versus Yellow Ribbon• Plants: Corli Meiring - Yellow flowers• Landscapes: Muhammad Mia - Sabie

River SunriseDuring the course of the

2009 Amateur Photographic Competition, 1 046 submis-sions have been received, com-pared to last year’s 420 submis-sions:

DSLR SubmissionsLandscapes - 95; Portrait -

185; Animals and Insects - 173; Human Activity – 57; Plants – 51; Black and White - 84.

Compact SubmissionsLandscapes – 69; Portrait-

86; Animals and Insects – 100; Human Activities - 54 ; Plants – 41; Black and White - 42

For more information log on to www.sanparks.org

Valerie Blanca - Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

Ken Mackay - Secretary Bird


In the Sunday Independent of May 17, 2009, David Mabunda, chief executive of-ficer of SANParks (South African National Parks) commented in hunting in South Af-rica,

The business of conservation is one that lends itself to a number of contestations ev-ery now and then as everyone sees their im-portant role in protecting or owning mother nature.

As a business and a science it is still very young, in most countries no older than a 100 years or so. Because of this relative newness of this area you find that there are any num-ber of stakeholders who have diverse and differing views on how business should be conducted by conservation authorities in order to ensure continued income.

The recently revived debate on hunt-ing on the borders of the Kruger National Park, our national and international icon, is one that is also squarely based in this public discourse of who has the environment’s best interests at heart. Unfortunately nobody ever wins this debate because it often de-generates into emotional and unconstruc-tive speculations.

Hunting in South Africa is a sport that is legal and regulated by law. The legisla-tion that regulates the establishment and management of protected areas makes spe-cific provisions for sustainable resource use, which includes hunting.

The National Environmental Manage-ment Act: Protected Areas Amendment Act 31 of 2004, clause 50 (1) allows the manage-ment authority of a national park to enter into a written agreement with a community resident inside or adjacent to the park to al-low members of the community to use in a sustainable manner the biological resources in the park.

This is aimed at promoting sustainable utilisation of protected areas for the benefit of people, in a manner that would preserve the ecological character of such areas. The NEMA: Biodiversity Act 10 of 2004 also makes provision for the use of biological re-sources in a sustainable manner.

Hunting is also recognised by the IUCN (World Conservation Union) as a sustain-able form of use of natural resources which is able to generate a high level of income.

It is practised in many parts of the world around national parks which act as the source for natural resources, much in the same way that sustainable fishing around marine protected areas can occur in perpe-

tuity if those areas are properly protected and fishing is controlled professionally and sci-entifically.

South African Na-tional Parks (SANParks) is not opposed to hunt-ing in buffer areas as long as it is done trans-parently and accord-ing to the management plans and protocols that have been agreed to between the adjoin-ing land owners and SANParks.

It is important to note that there is a marked difference be-tween protected areas and game reserves - most of which are pri-vately owned - as well as between different types of protected areas.

Simply put, a protected area is a recogn-ised geographical area that will be protected by whatever means for its ecological, historic or cultural value over a long period of time and may also include a tourism element.

Within the suite of protected areas there are various levels of protection accorded to a range of parks, varying from national parks, to provincial reserves and right at the bottom protected environments. Game re-serves are specifically designed for tourism and as such, may include activities such as hunting of the wildlife kept in the areas.

Because of the high status of protection accorded to national parks, extractive forms of resource-use, such as hunting and min-ing, are not permitted within the boundar-ies of the national park.

Buffer zones

In this context it should be understood then that land on the buffer zones of na-tional parks, though legally contracted to or entered into formal agreement for the drop-ping of fences, is not national park land.

The hunting occurring on the borders of Kruger National Park is actually tak-ing place in the buffer zones - private land which is largely managed by the provinces, communities or private individuals.

Because hunting is regulated in SA one needs to have a specific hunting permit in order to practice such. Applications for

hunting permits are evaluated and issued by the respective provinces.

SANParks does not have the mandate or the jurisdiction to regulate hunting in any area, be it private land or provincial man-aged land. The former Minister of Environ-mental Affairs and Tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, started a process which sought to further regulate the hunting of wildlife.

At present the current draft Norms and Standards for Hunting Nationally have been developed, which would put a stop to undesirable forms of hunting such as canned hunting.

Although hunting is not one of the activi-ties on offer to visitors to national parks (and we do not envisage that it will become one any time in the future) we support the game farming and hunting industry as a form of land use that is sympathetic to biodiversity conservation.

The fact that land-holders in buffer zones to national parks may derive income from sustainable hunting, is one of a range of in-centives for them to keep the land in a state that is compatible with the maintenance of wildlife.

Contractual national parks

In the case of contractual national parks, we accept that our contractual partners may derive income from sustainable use of wild-life, including hunting, if they so wish.

continues on page 17

Hunting can help protect wildlife in South Africa

Hunting can help protect wildlife in South Africa

continued from page 16

It is important to further note that of South Africa’s 122 million ha, only 7.5 mil-lion ha consists of state protected areas with 17 million ha of protected land in private hands.

In its bid to increase land under protec-tion from the current six percent to 10 per-cent by 2012, the government may rely a lot on the contributions of the private sector.

One must realise that the private sector re-lies a lot on the optimal, though sustainable, use of the land under its management.

In a number of these private establish-ments trophy hunting brings in a substantial amount of revenue which is put back into managing the area to make the industry self-sustainable. Some revenue is also allocated towards community outreach programmes.

For example, the Professional Hunters’ Association of South Africa (Phasa) has established a Wildlife Conservation Fund that, according to them, seeks to sustain the hunting industry and to assist with the regu-

lation of professional hunting.The funds are also used to finance ac-

credited research projects, and most private game reserves supporting hunting are com-mitted to establishing proper wildlife man-agement techniques in order to maintain the area’s ecological balance and therefore to sustain their own industry at the same time.

As to the wild claims that the animals be-ing hunted in these buffer areas are those belonging to national parks, wildlife is de-clared res nullius (nobody’s property) and as such, one cannot speculate on this matter.

Animals are territorial by nature and are not prone to wander unless under extreme circumstances. The likelihood of these be-ing national parks animals is minimal. Most of the animals in the private reserves were part of these reserves before the fences were removed. The only effect of removing the fences was to create more land for the ani-mals.

With all of this in mind, it should be noted, however, that all hunting within the

boundaries of national parks where fenc-es have been dropped is done only under agreed conditions.

Hunting off-takes usually come to less than one percent of annual population re-production. This is not nearly enough to create a vacuum that would draw game from the national parks.

Due to the extensive boundary of the Kruger National Park and the myriad of streams of all sizes that it has to cross, it is virtually impossible to keep all animals in the park all the time.

As long as the sanctity of national parks is maintained according to the laws of the country, SANParks cannot dictate or con-trol the activities of its neighbours.

Although unpalatable to some, it is pru-dent to note that regulated trophy hunting is the one avenue through which wildlife can create substantial revenue for the sustain-able management of some small protected areas and environments as well as the uplift-ment of adjacent communities.

Sunday Independent


The Blue Crane has found an unlikely haven on farmlands in the Western Cape, but climate change threatens to put an end to this. The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) is keeping a close eye on the situa-tion so that it can act timeously to avoid a major loss.

“The mosaic of wheat farms and pastures in the agricultural areas of the Western Cape has given Blue Cranes an opportunity to live in an area where they weren’t found before,” says EWT crane conservationist Kerryn Morrison. “While we’re not sure how they got there, the unnatural grassland setting in this man-made environment has become home to 60% of South Africa’s to-tal Blue Crane population.”

Climate change is expected to affect the western parts of the country most severely, and the current land use practices are like-ly to change to something more viable for the changed climate and its impacts on the economic drivers. This will affect the Blue Cranes, which don’t seem to be comfortable in the indigenous Fynbos habitat that sur-rounds the agricultural areas.

The EWT’s crane conservationists have been monitoring cranes across South Africa since the 1980’s and have the only compre-hensive database on cranes in the country. While the Blue Crane population is cur-rently stable, predictive models show that too many adult losses could cause the popu-lation to crash. “Blue Cranes are long-lived and slow-breeding,” says Morrison. “The chicks also stay with the parents for at least eight months, and a Blue Crane pair will rarely have more than one chick in a year. This means that losing one adult crane has a severe impact on the breeding success of the population.”

Numbering around 25 000 individuals, the Blue Crane (Anthropoides paradiseus) is a near endemic to South Africa. It is found mainly in the Western Cape and Karoo, with lower numbers spread across the grasslands of the country. Between the late 1970’s and 1990’s, Blue Cranes declined by up to 80% across much of their grassland range, resulting in their current Red Data List Status of Vulnerable.

Climate Change Threatens Blue Crane Stronghold

Migratory Soaring Birds Project - Regional project manager

BirdLife International requires a dy-namic, self-starting individual to man-age a cross-regional project that will mainstream biodiversity conserva-tion, and especially the conservation needs of migratory raptors, within ec-onomically important sectors across the countries of the Middle East and East Africa. Further information about the project can be found here.The position will be based within the BirdLife International Middle East Division office in Amman, Jordan. Ap-plications comprising a CV and cover letter should be sent to Taghreed Abu-jwied ([email protected]) via email before 03 July 2009. For the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the position click here http://www.birdlife.org/jobs/jobs/2009/soar-ing_birds_regional_manager.html or write to Taghreed Abujwied via email.

Kruger Krazies’ Claim to Shame

These photos of transgressors of Park rules are published in an attempt to as-sist in restoring basic respect for others and the Park. Entries are sent by visitors, rangers and all people concerned wit the welfare of the Park and its visitors.


Photos 1 ,2, and 3 were taken by Roli Bosch from Switzerland in May this year.

Near Berg-en-Dal At Pretoriuskop rest Camp

Near bridge over Letaba River.

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Documents

16881971 Kruger Park Etimes 1