Presentation to Forest & Bird on 5 Dec. 2005 in Auckland naturally!

1. CONSERVATION
IN SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa (SA) in Brief
KwaZulu-Natal (KZN)
Kruger National Park
(KNP)

2. Production & Infrastructure
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SA is the world's biggest producer and exporter of mohair.
Mines deeper than any other country, up to depths of 2.5 miles.
Largest hydro-electric tunnel system (Orange-Fish Rivers Tunnel).
Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) is 10th largest in the world.
Second oldest air force (SAAF) in the world, established 1920.
Durban is the largest port in Africa and 9th largest in the world.
SALT in the Karoo is the largest telescope in southern hemisphere
(3rd largest in the world).

3. Travel & Nature
• KNP supports the greatest variety of wildlife on the African cont.
At ca. 2 mil. ha it is roughly the size of Wales or Massachusetts,
making it the 8th largest nature reserve in the world.
• SA has one tenth (23,200 spp.) of the world's flowering plants,
80% of which are endemic, making it the richest region in the
world in terms of species to area – 1.7 times richer than Brazil.
• Cape (Fynbos) – one of the world's 6 floral kingdoms.

4. Floral Kingdoms

5. Travel & Nature
• Table Mountain in Cape Town is one of the seven wonders of the
geological world, over 1,000m in elevation.
• Kimberley's ‘Big Hole’ is the largest hand-dug hole in the world.
• Cango Caves, Oudtshoorn – largest complete limestone formation...
• Blyde River Canyon is the 3rd largest canyon in the world.
• Tugela Falls in KZN is the 2nd tallest (948m) in the world.
• St. Lucia-Kosi Bay Lake System – largest estuary system in Africa.

6. NATAL PARKS BOARD
EZEMVELO KZN WILDLIFE
Cadet Ranger – 1991
• Over 100 years of Wildlife Conservation in KwaZulu-Natal
(Zululand).
• Best known for bringing the white rhino (Ceratotherium simum
simum) back from the brink of extinction (cur. pop. est. 1,800).
• World Heritage Sites:
– Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park
– Ukhahlamba-Drakensberg Park
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More than 1,000,000 visitors annually.
Hosts the largest and most prestigious wildlife auction in Africa!
A third of KZN resorts under private conservation.
Traditional communities benefit by sustainable utilisation...

7. • Since the launch of ‘Operation Rhino’ in
1962, more than 4000 surplus white
rhino have been taken from the park to
game reserves and other sanctuaries
worldwide, removing the risk of
containing the species in a single area.
This achievement received international
recognition in November 1994, when
the white rhino became the first species
to be taken off the endangered list of
the World Conservation Union.

8. KZN
WILDLIFE
STATIONS
Umfolozi (39)
Mpenjati (8)
Oribi Gorge (17)
Rhino Bomas
(39)
Monks Cowl (25)
Sodwana Bay (1)

9. UMFOLOZI-HLUHLUWE
(404 bird species; 86 reptile and amphibian species)
• Main duties:
– Anti-poaching patrols
– Black rhino monitoring
• Black rhino (Diceros bicornis minor)
is threatened (cur. pop. est. 920; 350 in Umfolozi-Hluhluwe).
• Measuring 96,453 ha, it covers only about 6% of the area of
Kruger National Park, yet it sustains more than 1,250 plant
species, 68% of those found in the KNP, due to latitudal cover,
dramatic topography, and varied geology and climate.
• Reintroduction of elephants from Kruger during the early 1980s
(cur. pop. est. 170 in Umfolozi-Hluhluwe).
• Other reintroductions: wild dog, giraffe, impala, nyala, cheetah.
• Shaka Zulu’s royal hunting grounds.

11. MPENJATI-TRAFALGAR
• Main duties:
– Estuary monitoring
– Beach patrols
– Boat operations
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Coastal reserve 20 km south of Margate (south coast).
60 ha of wetlands, grasslands and dune forests.
Ipithi trail: blue, red and grey duiker; bushbuck.
Yengele trail: forest antelope and a host of bird species,
e.g. fish eagle.

12. ORIBI GORGE
(250 bird species)
• Main duties:
– Trail construction
– Public relations
• Reserve 21 km inland from Port Shepstone.
• Landscape feature: Umzimkulwana River.
• Mammalian species: bushbuck, common reedbuck,
oribi; blue and grey duiker (sometimes leopard)...

14. UMFOLOZI – RHINO BOMAS
• Main duty:
– Rhino capture procedures
• Early rhino capture techniques pioneered by Dr Ian
Player and Dr Tony Hawthorn involved large doses of
darting immobilisation drugs. The animal was then
followed with vehicles and horses before roping and
manhandling it to the ground. A breakthrough
occurred in 1963 with M99 (morphine). An antidote
enabled the team to walk the dazed animal to a waiting
capture crate...

16. • A breakthrough
occurred in the early
70's with the
introduction of
helicopters. In 1992
another step was taken
when helicopters were
used to airlift rhino
from the Umfolozi
wilderness area for the
first time.

17. MONKS COWL –
DRAKENSBERG
• Main duties:
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Alien plant control
Map compilation
Botanical identifications
Fence assessments
Burning procedures
Game censuses
• Monks Cowl, taking its name from the peak between the towering
mountains of Champagne Castle and Cathkin Peak, is situated in
the 260,000 ha Ukhahlamba-Drakensberg Park.
• The Sphinx and Blindman's Corner are further geological features
of this landscape.

19. SODWANA BAY
• Main duties:
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Law enforcement
Public relations
Beach patrols
Boat operations
• Named after an isolated stream known to the local tribes as
Sodwana (little one on its own).
• Coastal dune forest park proclamated in 1950.
• Situated within Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park (Maputoland) –
South Africa’s first World Heritage Site.
• Remote area (4x4 terrain).
• Occasional antelopes; wealth of birdlife.
• Coral reefs (whale sharks, manta rays).

20. Turtle Tours
• During the summer months
loggerhead and leatherback
turtles come out of the sea at
night to nest on the beaches.
• The Leatherback is the
largest sea turtle –
130-170 cm in length, cannot
withdraw its head, is a
specialist feeder on jellyfish,
and may dive up to 300 m.
• Survival rate is less than one
in 500.

21. SOUTH AFRICAN
NATIONAL PARKS
SANParks
Project Leader/Research Officer –
1994-2002
• Best known for conserving savanna
elephant (Loxodonta africana africana)
(cur. pop. est. 10,000 in KNP).

22. KRUGER NATIONAL PARK
Proclamated 1898/1926
• Main duty:
– Termite ecology
• Main management issues:
– Fire frequency / Elephant density / Water distribution
• Evidence of Bushmen (Koi-San) and Iron Age people from about
1,500 years ago.
• Many historical tales of the presence of Nguni people and
European explorers.
• The first motorists entered the extended park in 1927 for a fee of
one pound.
• Flora & Fauna: 336 trees, 507 birds, 147 mammals, 114 reptiles,
34 amphibians, 49 fish species.
• Malaria (quinine resistant strains).

23. Hornbill

24. Glossy Starling

25. Secretary Bird

26. OWN RESEARCH
Termites in northern KNP
• Distribution of mound
populations.
• Ecological density of
mounds.
• Intracolonial demography
of Macrotermes natalensis.
• Live and dry biomass.
• Food consumption
(nutrient cycling).

27. Number of termites
inside mounds
• Small mound –
5,000
• Medium mound –
45,000
• Large mound –
200,000

28. • A highly significant relationship between total
number of individuals and mound height
was found.

29. • I found that soldiers decrease proportionally
between the intermediate and advanced
colony stages.

30. • Geology, geomorphology,
elevation, local relief, soil patterns
and annual rainfall were the
abiotic factors shown to be most
influential in determining termite
biomass, either directly or
indirectly. Termite biomass is high
in undulating areas where the
elevation is 250 – 400 m, where
granitic and rhyolitic soils occur,
and where annual rainfall is high
(650 – 700 mm) in the context of
the region.

31. • I also developed a formula to determine
termite food consumption.

33. Fungus Comb

36. Royal Pair

37. Primary King

38. Primary Queen

39. Egg Factory!

40. Egg Deposition

41. Mound Repairs

42. Mound Excavations –
Woodlands 1995

43. Phalaborwa 1998

44. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
WEBSITES:
www.go2africa.com
www.kznwildlife.co.za
www.krugerpark.co.za
www.sanparks.org
FIELD ASSISTANTS:
– Alfred Nkuna; Richard Mashabane
– Zama Mhlongo & Brown Monyela
– Samuel Nkuna
SPONSORS:
– Wap SA; Whid Power Distributors (B&S)
– Hella SA & Kodak SA
OTHERS:
Tele Images Nature
Compiled by VW Meyer, PhD