Academic literature on the topic 'Private Game Reserves'

AbstractThe proposed legalization of international trade in rhinoceros horn is a hotly debated topic. South Africa is home to a large proportion of Africa's blackDiceros bicornisand white rhinocerosesCeratotherium simumpopulations. Private owners are custodians of c. 25% of the country's rhinoceroses, and the introduction of legal trade in horn harvested from live rhinoceroses may therefore have significant implications for the private conservation industry. This study explores perceptions of legal trade in rhinoceros horn, and its potential implications for reserve management, among rhinoceros owners and conservation practitioners from private game reserves in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Twenty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informants from 17 private game reserves (c. 37% of the total number of reserves with rhinoceroses). Whereas rhinoceros owners were mostly in favour of trade, opinion among non-owners was more nuanced. Owners expressed more interest in trading in live rhinoceroses, and stockpiled horn from natural mortalities, than in sustainably harvesting rhinoceros horn for trade. Informants therefore predicted that they would not change their practices significantly if the trade were legalized. However, most informants had little confidence that CITES would lift the trade ban. The perspectives of private reserve owners and managers should be taken into account in South African and international policy discussions relating to the legal trade in rhinoceros horn.

Purpose – After identifying those underlying consumer value dimensions associated with the private game reserve experience, and their contribution to visitors’ behavioral intentions, the purpose of this paper is to compare managers’ and visitors’ perceptions of value experienced and value delivered. Design/methodology/approach – Two similar questionnaires with five-point Likert scales gathered the perceptions of 30 managers and 162 visitors. Data analysis included factor analysis, multiple regression analysis and an independent-samples t-test. Findings – Consumer value comprises seven dimensions. Managers’ perceptions of value delivered exceeded visitors’ perceptions of value experienced on all seven dimensions. Statistically significant differences existed for emotional value, monetary price, behavioral price, novelty and social value, but not for reputation and quality. Research limitations/implications – Results cannot be generalized and must be interpreted with caution due to the small samples and the South African wildlife focus. The resulting measuring scale can be further refined and applied to a larger sample of reserves and visitors in an international environment, particularly in African countries known for wildlife tourism. Practical implications – The results suggest a need to align managers’ and customers’ perspectives to optimize consumer value. Identifying perception gaps will prevent resources being spent on elements not valued by customers, and closing gaps will help improve visitor satisfaction and retention. Originality/value – Few studies have examined consumer value in a wildlife context, or simultaneously from a manager and customer perspective. This study identified latent value dimensions and gaps in value perceptions associated with private game reserves.

The core of South Africa tourism industry is based on wildlife tourism. Private game reserves and game farms which forms part of wildlife tourism constitute most of the wildlife products in South Africa. On these private reserves and game farms, hunting is one of the major income generators for product owners. The aim of this study is to analyse the economic impact of hunting on the regional economies of three of South Africa’s most important hunting provinces. The study used economic multipliers, input-output analysis, and related modelling processes through input-output (supply-use) tables and social accounting matrices (SAM). The results differed significantly for the three provinces, with Limpopo receiving the biggest impact (R2.6 billion) and the Free State having the highest multiplier (2.08). The geographical location of the game farms, the number of farms per province and the species available all influenced the magnitude of the economic impact of hunters over and above the traditional determinants of economic impact analysis. The implication of the research is that it will help product owners in the development of game farms or hunting products, contribute to policy formulation, especially for government decisions on what products to offer where, and how to create more jobs.

The history of the imperial/colonial elite's preoccupation with saving a handful of specific ‘game’ species in reserves has come to stand for the relationship of all classes with all wild animals in both South Africa and the wider world of the British empire. The result is a narrative of process and periodization flawed in general and false in the specific case of the Cape Colony/Province, where economics rather than ideology was both the primary motor of game conservation and the mediating factor in human relationships with wild animal species. Here the general trend across the century from 1850 to 1950 was, contra MacKenzian orthodoxy, towards private not public ownership of game propelled by a rural rather than an urban elite. Public ownership was instead restricted to ‘vermin’ species in which the state created a market in which it became the chief consumer. The Cape's great tradition was refracted through its customary permissive legislation to yield a myriad of small traditions at the regional or local level. Rather than an argument for Cape exceptionalism, its wild animal history is a caution against glib generalizations from the elite archive and an indication of the need to broaden prevailing ‘game reserve history’ to include the full range of human and animal inhabitants as agents rather than as residual analytical categories in any narrative.

South Africa’s decentralized approach to conservation entails that wildlife outside formally protected areas inhabit complex multi-use landscapes, where private wildlife business (ecotourism and/or hunting) co-exist in a human-dominated landscape matrix. Under decentralized conservation, wildlife is perceived to benefit from increased amount of available habitat, however it is crucial to understand how distinct management priorities and associated landscape modifications impact noncharismatic taxa, such as small mammals. We conducted extensive ink-tracking-tunnel surveys to estimate heterogeneity in rodent distribution and investigate the effect of different environmental factors on abundance patterns of two size-based rodent groups (small- and medium-sized species), across three adjacent management contexts in NE KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: a private ecotourism game reserve, mixed farms and traditional communal areas (consisting of small clusters of houses interspersed with grazing areas and seminatural vegetation). Our hypotheses were formulated regarding the (1) area typology, (2) vegetation structure, (3) ungulate pressure and (4) human disturbance. Using a boosted-regression-tree approach, we found considerable differences between rodent groups’ abundance and distribution, and the underlying environmental factors. The mean relative abundance of medium-sized species did not differ across the three management contexts, but small species mean relative abundance was higher in the game reserves, confirming an influence of the area typology on their abundance. Variation in rodent relative abundance was negatively correlated with human disturbance and ungulate presence. Rodent abundance seems to be influenced by environmental gradients that are directly linked to varying management priorities across land uses, meaning that these communities might not benefit uniformly by the increased amount of habitat promoted by the commercial wildlife industry.

Fynbos is a unique endemic vegetation type belonging to the Cape Floral Kingdom in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, representing the smallest of the six floral kingdoms in the world. Nowadays, only a few game reserves in this region support populations of African elephants (Loxodonta africana), and thus, little information exists regarding the suitability of the nutritionally poor Fynbos vegetation for these megaherbivores. Using already established non-invasive methods, the monitoring of individual body conditions and fecal glucocorticoid metabolite (fGCM) concentrations, as a measure of physiological stress, was performed to examine a herd of 13 elephants in a Western Cape Province Private Game Reserve, during two monitoring periods (April and June 2018), following a severe drought. The results indicate that overall median body condition scores (April and June: 3.0, range 2.0–3.0) and fGCM concentrations (April: 0.46 µg/g dry weight (DW), range 0.35–0.66 µg/g DW; June: 0.61 µg/g DW, range 0.22–1.06 µg/g DW) were comparable to those of other elephant populations previously studied utilizing the same techniques. These findings indicate that the individuals obtain sufficient nutrients from the surrounding Fynbos vegetation during the months monitored. However, a frequent assessment of body conditions and stress-associated fGCM concentrations in these animals would assist conservation management authorities and animal welfare practitioners in determining ways to manage this species in environments with comparably poorer nutritional vegetation.

White-tailed (Odocoileus virginianus) and mule deer (0. hemionis) currently use Devils Tower National Monument and adjacent private agricultural lands year round or migrate from the Monument to other areas. In 1989, a game fence was constructed on the west and north borders of the Monument. Enclosure of the Monument by additional fencing could alter habitat use of deer substantially and create many of the problems associated with island reserves. National Park Service management policy directs the Monument to predict changes in the natural resources under its stewardship. Because current deer use of the Monument is not well documented, the Department of Zoology and Physiology and the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, in cooperation with the Devils Tower National Monument, initiated a study in June 1990 to document current population numbers and habitat ecology of white-tailed and mule deer on the Monument as a baseline for monitoring long-term changes in the deer herd.

The primary aim of this research study was to determine the current state of practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) within the ecotourism based private game reserve (PGR) industry in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. According to Carroll (1991) four kind of responsibilities constitute total CSR, namely economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities. Given the context of this research a fifth responsibility concerning environmental responsibilities was added to Carroll 's (1991) pyramid ofCSR. A descriptive and illustrative case study approach, within the phenomenological research paradigm, was used for the purpose of this research. The unit of analysis is the Indalo group, the Association of Eastern Cape Private Game Reserves, made up of 12 ecotourism based PORs. As the current research focused on eight of the twelve PGRs a mUltiple case study was employed. To give effect to the aim a number of research objectives were identified. Firstly to desclibe and assess the current practice in implementing CSR within the ecotourism based PGR industry in the Eastern Cape Province. Secondly, to assess and evaluate the involvement of ecotourism based PGRs in the Eastern Cape Province in each of the five responsibilities comprising CSR. Thirdly, to identify the challenges faced by ecotourism based PGRs in the Eastern Cape Province with regard to the implementation of CSR initiatives. Lastly to provide pertinent conclusions and recommendations with regard to CSR strategies within the ecotourism based PGR industry in the Eastern Cape Province. Data were collected by means of in-depth interviews with the managers of each reserve. In addition the researcher conducted focus interviews with administrative employees at each of the member reserves of the Indalo group. Additionally the managers of each reserve were requested to respond to a structured five point Likert scale questionnaire based on the research by Aupperle, Carroll and Hatfield (1985). This research study found that the current practice at the Indalo group is towards a strategic, long term approach to CSR that aids in the development of a 'sustainable organisation.' The aspect of ' empowerment' emerged as the essence of the current practice ofCSR of the Indalo group. Based on the current practice it was concluded that the Indalo group is actively involved in the specific components of CSR namely, environmental, economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities. With regard to the environmental responsibilities it was concluded that the environment is the foundation upon which all other components of CSR rest. In addition it was concluded that the economic responsibilities, if managed well, are key to unlocking the CSR potential of a reserve as well as ensuring widespread economic development. In terms of the legal and ethical responsibilities it was concluded that tourism policies both at the national and international level have not aided in the development of a CSR agenda of the Indalo group. Furthermore managers of the reserves have been instrumental in cultivating their own legal culture of CSR based on their experience in the tourism industry and their ethical stances. In terms of the philanthropic responsibilities it can be concluded that charitable activities that are long term and strategic in nature allow for direct and indirect benefits to all parties involved. Overall, it can further be concluded that despite Hudson and Miller's (2005:5) view that the "tourism industry is well hehind other industries in terms of CSR" the Indalo group is moving forward in terms of rooting CSR into their everyday operations.

The uniqueness of the wildlife and the luxurious nature of South African private game reserves could be seen as a valuable niche in the South African tourism market and for this reason make South Africa a desired destination. Due to complex visitor needs and demands regarding price, service, social connection, authenticity, quality or image, value perceptions will differ in terms of visitors’ experiences. If managers do not understand these value requirements, differences might exist between consumers’ and service providers’ perceptions of value. To maintain visitor satisfaction, loyalty and intention for return to the reserves, managers should continue to provide valued offerings and improve their visitors’ wildlife experience. This research investigated visitors’ perceptions of the value delivered by private game reserves in South Africa and compared these with reserve managers’ perceptions of the value delivered. The results of this research study could contribute to a better understanding of perceived value, which in turn could enhance the success of the private game reserves. The literature contextualised the South African private game reserve as part of wildlife tourism, the wildlife tourism offering and the characteristics of wildlife visitors. An overview of customer value, customer value models showing their development over time, and the conceptual framework of the current study was provided. The resulting conceptual model was used to evaluate managers’ and visitors’ perceptions of Quality, Monetary price, Behavioural price, Reputation, Emotional response, Social value and Novelty value delivered by South African private game reserves. The empirical data was collected by means of a survey, using two structured self-administered electronic questionnaires administered to the managers of, and the visitors to, private game reserves. One hundred and sixty two visitors and 30 managers participated in the survey. By performing exploratory factor analysis it was found that the seven value factors were consistent with the value dimensions reported in the literature. These were labelled as Quality, Emotional response, Monetary price, Reputation, Novelty value, Social value and Behavioural price. Most of managers’ perceptions of value provided exceeded visitors’ perceptions of value received. Both managers and visitors rated value items related to Emotional response highly. Considerably more managers (17 percent) thought that the reserve experience can be associated with good service, opposed to only 4 percent of visitors who perceived the service to be good. On the other hand, a larger proportion of visitors (29%) than the managers (20 percent) perceived the reserve experience as relaxing. Managers rated eleven of the thirteen game reserve attributes more positively than what the visitors did. Of these attributes, accommodation services, protection of the natural environment, game drives and service delivery, showed significant differences. It is recommended that South African private game reserve managers: • conduct market research to get a better understanding of what delights visitors. Research should be conducted on a regular basis to ensure management stays current with visitors’ changing needs; • determine whether the prices charged reflect the quality of the physical offerings, service delivery and the time and effort visitors spent to obtain the offering; • use the adventurous activities offered at the reserves as part of their promotional campaigns to attract adventure tourists; • train service delivery staff and game drive guides to educate visitors on the history, culture and eco-friendly practices related to their reserve; • always deliver superior service to ensure memorable wildlife experiences, value for money and exceed visitors’ expectations; • continue using websites, social media and magazines to inform the target market about the reserve offerings; and • stay in regular contact with visitors through social media, newsletters, blogs, follow up emails/calls or face to face discussions at the reserve.

Social media has become one of the defining features of the technological advances known as Web 2.0. As social media has increased in popularity, so businesses are expected to participate. Social media platforms enable businesses to widely broadcast a message as well as interact directly with individual customers. Customers are also able to interact directly with one another and share information and reviews about products and services offered. This suits the tourism industry particularly well. Internationally, research has shown that individuals use social media and other online tools to research potential holiday destinations. In addition social media is used during travel to share snapshots and commentary as well as after travel, through reviews and recommendations on platforms such as TripAdvisor. However, few studies have investigated how tourism destinations use social media to attract new clients and retain existing clients. Very little research has been done on tourism and social media in South Africa despite the importance of this industry to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This study focused on four-star establishments within the photographic wildlife tourism industry in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. An initial survey of social media participation was carried out within the framework set out by Chan and Guillet (2011); this was then followed up with interviews with selected managers. Results showed that, in general, Private Game Reserves (PGRs) had embraced social media as a communication and marketing platform; despite concerns raised about the lack of control over content as well as poor understanding of the influence social media might have on the bottom line. TripAdvisor, Facebook and Twitter were the most commonly used platforms due to management familiarity with the platform and their ease of use. Few lodges utilised blogs or content sites such as YouTube and management cited time commitments associated with this type of platform as a reason for non-participation. However, although most PGRs or lodges had a profile on social media, this did not always mean active participation. Frequently, lodges began updating but gradually stopped after a few months. It was noted however that only one of the lodges interviewed retained an individual whose sole responsibility was social media; generally lodges did not feel that a dedicated person was necessary. This may result in a lack of time available on the part of the individual responsible or simply be a case of not understanding the platform or how to use it effectively. However, none of the PGRs with poor social media participation responded to interview requests and therefore it was not possible to determine the reasons for their poor participation. Among those lodges that actively participated, most succeed in retaining fans and followers through consistent posting of relevant and interesting content as well as customised responses that encouraged fans or followers’ interaction. However, there did not appear to be any evidence of using social media to learn about fans and followers in order to better customise the lodge offerings. This may not be necessary in this type of industry as PGRs sell a specific product and have a limited ability to customise offerings. In addition, there may be other sources of market information which lodges prefer to use. Special offers, competitions and promotions had limited success on social media. Generally, lodges used social media to promote links to a dedicated competition or promotions page. In conclusion, the managers interviewed felt strongly that social media had made a measureable impact on the tourism industry and was a channel that was here to stay. Further research around the best practice and most effective use will enable PGRs to develop and maintain effective strategies for social media participation.

Many large carnivores are declining globally; most threatened or risk extinction due to a loss of habitat, resources, and direct removal; often the later as a result of conflict with humans. Although leopards and many meso-carnivore species are still free roaming in South Africa, few data are available on these species outside large protected areas as they are often elusive, wide ranging and found at low densities. More data are needed on the population dynamics, ecology and biology of species such as leopard, if we are to implement evidence-based approaches to their conservation within small reserves and surrounding unprotected areas. Camera traps are being increasingly utilized in research, as they can record data on a species or a whole community at relatively low cost. Here we used a network of camera traps to monitor species presence at Thaba Tholo Wilderness Reserve, Mpumalanga, South Africa. We found that camera trap efficacy varied between species, with smaller carnivores significantly under-recorded more frequently than larger predators. However, leopards were successfully captured by camera trap when compared with more traditional monitoring methods (i.e. spoor). Small reserves may play an important role in the conservation of carnivores, but often these reserves are surrounded by farmland and the successful separation of livestock and game using a fence can affect vegetation composition, fragmenting the land further. However, these effects may be limited by the free movement of wild browsers and grazers through holes in the fence which may also decrease the negative effects of fencing while supporting endangered and highly mobile species such as the leopard Panthera pardus. Leopard densities were found to be 3.04 (S.E. +/-1.55) to 4.97 (S.E. +/-2.14) leopards per 100km2, which was lower than other estimates from South Africa, however the population was stable throughout the study suggesting the reserve was a source for leopard and offspring were dispersing. Although there was no evidence of habitat preference by the leopard, habitat was found to be more significant in influencing relative local abundances of meso-carnivores than potential associations with leopard and other larger carnivores. However abundance may have been affected by factors outside the reserve as conflict with humans was evident. Negative actions towards leopard and other carnivores in retaliation to the predation of animal stock occurred in the farmland surrounding the study site, with a significantly higher percentage of commercial game farmers responding that they would take action against one or more species of carnivore compared to livestock owners. The financial loss sustained with increasing game prices in South Africa could therefore increase the conflict between humans and carnivores across the country, which in turn could have detrimental effects on local leopard and other carnivore populations. The relatively high numbers of the extremely rare erythristic leopard occurring within the relatively low density leopard population is likely to be the result of genetic drift, which may have been a result of this conflict; highlighting that although small reserves may play an important role in the protection and propagation of threatened species it is human acceptance of carnivores which is likely to be vital in the successful conservation and long term survival of predators outside protected areas.

The reintroduction of lions, cheetahs and African wild dogs to Kwandwe Private Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa created the opportunity to study the biology and behaviour of these large carnivores in an enclosed system. The research focused on space utilisation and feeding ecology of the predators, using standard observational methods. Changes in the structure of the carnivore guild, and changes in the prey base that occurred during the study were used as natural experiments to examine factors affecting space use and diet. In general, the diets of the predators were similar to previous studies and prey abundance was more important than prey species size in determining prey selection. Changes in the abundance of certain prey species was matched by a dietary switch in lions from kudu to warthog and an increase in the proportion of springbok kills by the cheetahs. There was no significant difference in the proportions of prey species detected by ad hoc or continuous observations. Core areas occupied by the predators were significantly smaller than home ranges except when females were denning. Home ranges overlapped both within and between species, but there was very little overlap of core areas. An increase in the number of lion prides in the area during the study resulted in an increase in overlap of home ranges of lions and cheetahs, but did not result in a change in home range size. Space use by female cheetahs with cubs increased as the cubs grew older. The use of thicket vegetation by cheetahs decreased with an increase in the number of lion prides. Minimum Daily Energy Expenditure, energy intake and net benefit were calculated for the predators using data from continuous observations. All predators exhibited a large net benefit and the net benefit for single female cheetahs was greater than for the members of the coalition. Net benefit for the alpha pair of African wild dogs was lower than that of the pack.

Over the past fifteen years there has been an extensive conversion of land use from traditional farming practices to conservation and private game reserves. It has been suggested by Langholz and Kerley (2006:2) that privately owned preserved areas can engage in ecotourism initiatives by protecting biodiversity, succeeding financially and contributing to social upliftment. However, ecotourism has to operate within the context of historical land dispossession of the majority black population and current land reform initiatives to address this problem. In view of the economic, social and environmental importance of ecotourism based private game reserves (PGRs) in South Africa, particularly the Eastern Cape, the main goal of this research is to examine the Indalo association of private game reserves in the Eastern Cape Province’s development model for ex-farmworkers and adjacent communities. This was done through a literature survey and analysis of existing studies and by interviewing the managers of the Indalo PGRs and a few farmworkers to get their opinions of the tension between what they are doing and the imperatives of land reform. This involved an exploration of their community development work, particularly around issues of job creation, participation in decision-making, capacity building and sustainability. The thesis comes to the following conclusions. The first is that the establishment of PGRs have a significant positive impact on the local areas in which they are established. As a land-use, ecotourism based game reserves are an economically and ecologically desirable alternative to other land uses. Therefore the ecotourism based private game reserve industry with its extensive community development focus for farmworkers and local communities is a viable and sustainable alternative to conventional land reform. The second is that the Indalo PGRs development work has built capacity in the communities it has served. However, community participation, particularly in decision-making is limited and needs more attention if productive and sustainable development is to be achieved. Lastly, communities rely heavily on external support for their development and upliftment. However, the majority of the PGRs have/or are putting measures in place to ensure the continuation of community development projects to ensure the long-term sustainability of projects.

Eco-tourism activities specifically, sometimes have very negative environmental impacts. One such activity which has been observed to have severe negative impacts is driving in dirt tracks (ungravelled natural soil) by game drive vehicles in private game reserves and some National Parks (Nortjé 2005; Laker 2009). It has also been observed that the severity of the impacts and the resilience (recovery potential) of the affected areas differ widely between different areas. It is strongly linked to the properties and qualities of different soils. This study has shown that off-road driving (ORD) has the same effects, and to a greater extent, if it is not well managed and judiciously controlled. Wild animals tend to concentrate in areas with the most nutritious en most palatable vegetation. Consequently these are also the areas where predators, e.g. lion, leopard and cheetah are most likely to be found. It can be expected that these will be the areas with the highest frequencies of ORD in order to get close to these animals. In many landscapes these are the areas which are the most vulnerable to negative impacts by actions like ORD and have the lowest resilience. It has also been observed during game drives and personal communications at several occasions that there is tremendous ignorance amongst tourists regarding the negative environmental impacts of certain activities. This study proved that ORD have strong negative impacts on vegetation recovery, soil resilience and root density distribution through soil crusting and sub-soil compaction. An important finding is that these negative impacts are during both dry and wet soil conditions. Game drive vehicles driving off-road damages the surface soil structure, which lead to soil crust formation and sub-surface compaction. A highly significant result is that most crusting and sub-soil compaction occurred during the first pass of the game drive vehicle, irrespective of the soil type and tyre pressure, thus rewriting the current guidelines for ORD of the South African National Parks, SANParks. Furthermore, results of this study indicated that a significant area in the flood plains of the Makuleke Contractual Park is impacted by ORD. The impacts are serious if one looks at the amount of land that an ORD vehicle can disturb. One of the recommendations would thus be to drive in the same tracks when driving off-road, and lower the tyre pressures. Driving in the same tracks is known as "controlled-traffic" in the agricultural industry. Controlled traffic is very important to minimize compaction. Driving in the same University of Pretoria etd Nortjé, G.P. (2013) tracks during off-road incidents does not significantly affect the degree of compaction under the tracks, but greatly reduces the compacted area. Further results indicated a strong lateral effect of the vehicle tracks, in most cases the whole area between the two tyre tracks as well as up to a distance outside of the vehicle tracks, thus increasing the total area disturbed by ORD. Comparing these vehicle impacts with animal path resulted in some important findings. Animals only caused a soil crust with soil strength values much lower than that of vehicles. The effects of animals are also much more vertical than lateral as with vehicles. Another important finding is the role that historical human activities play in such study areas and how it may influence results. The results in this study are aggravated by the historical human activities in this study area, as indicated. These historical activities were the main cause of the surface crusting, and the resultant low vegetation growth in the area. This, therefore, explains partially the relatively high control values and also the soil’s higher susceptibility to compaction due to vehicle ORD. The root density trials had very interesting and important results. Significant differences occurred between mean root density fractions across all tyre pressures at all three trial sites. The trend is that an increase in tyre pressure causes a decrease in root density distribution. These results show clearly that even lower tyre pressures are harmful, but are more environmental friendly than higher tyre pressures. Results of the second part of the study with regards to tourists' perceptions on ORD, and the impact of their activities on the environment, showed that the majority of tourists areignorant when it comes to the impacts of their activities on soil and vegetation. Tourists' had significantly variable demographic characteristics. Tourists' environmental perceptions varied, but a significant majority of tourists agreed that ORD has a negative impact on the environment. Contradictions exist between what they know or perceive as being damaging and what they prefer to act on. Results indicate a need for improved visitor education on the possible negative impacts of demands for ORD, and a need for government intervention with regards to the enforcement of legal measures to control ORD. The results also indicate that game guides and tourism operators can play a major role in educating the tourists. The results demonstrate that both an understanding of the chemical and physical factors influencing soil compaction, as well as tourists' environmental views are important in formulating a management strategy to control and manage these impacts.
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2014.
gm2014
Animal and Wildlife Sciences
unrestricted

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-98).
Worldwide, nature conservation paradigms have changed markedly since the turn of the 19th century. These changes have affected the way that conservation has been practiced in the eastern lowveld of South Africa. At the same time sociopolitical conditions in South Africa have also undergone enormous shifts which have affected the distribution of rural people and land use practices in the rural lowveld. This study examines private nature conservation and its relationship to local rural people in the lowveld using Londolozi Private Game Reserve as a case study. Various methods of data collection were used. These included focus group interviews with local rural people, a survey questionnaire with lodge staff, informal interviews with land owners, and visits to rural homes and schools. In addition the author drew on eight years of work and research experience on private game reserves in and around the study area. The application of fortress conservation in the lowveld resulted in the removal of black people from Crown and privately owned land, land that they were living on. They were removed to the western borders of the current Sabi Sand Wildtuin (SSW). This complete exclusion of local people from the conservation land in the Kruger National Park (KNP) and SSW remained the status quo until Londolozi, in 1976 and almost at least a decade before the rest of the conservation world began to engage with local black people on its borders. Londolozi paid particular attention to the rural staff working at the lodge. In the 1990's fortress conservation was replaced with community conservation approaches which sought to use market-based strategies to demonstrate the value of conservation to rural people bordering conservation areas. Londolozi retracted from its essentially bottom-up approach and implemented a number of infrastructural, management devised, top-down community projects in the local areas. It did this through the Conservation Corporation Africa (CC Africa) Rural Investment Fund. These projects, although more obvious to the wider community outside the reserve, were inefficient and wasted money in some cases. In 2007, Londolozi returned to focussing on individual rural staff members rather than on infrastructural community development projects. The effect has been very positive for the 200 or so rural staff at Londolozi, but the wider community outside the fences sees little benefit or point to this approach. The community lodged a number of land claims on the SSW and Londolozi. The merits of the only gazetted claim on Londolozi would seem to be tenuous at best.