Game & Wildlife

Few farming enterprises can offer the returns of a well-managed buffalo breeding operation.

South Africa’s stud game industry is making great strides in breeding genetically superior stock, but are the high prices being paid at auctions healthy – or the start of a big problem? Heather Dugmore investigates.

Spanish hunters expect comfortable accommodation, Germans want value for money – Roelof Bezuidenhout breaks down a recent survey into what foreign tourists want from safaris, and how operators can cater for them.

Two wildlife ranching experts call for more support from the authorities but warn that over-regulation could kill the industry.

The Garingboom Guest Farm near Springfontein in the southern Free State has had 15 000 guests pass through it in the past 14 years, many of whom came to catch a glimpse of two new bird species discovered as late as the 1990s. Mike Burgess visited the farm.

The fierce debate around alien and invasive species regulations highlights the conflict between long-term sustainability, sought by conservation authorities, and short-term financial gain, important to game ranchers. Roelof Bezuidenhout reports.

When stocking game in the Little Karoo, farmers must be aware of the fragility of this veld. Careful monitoring of veld, starting with the right species, as well as the animals already on a farm, should all be considered, so says Ken Coetzee of Conservation Management Services. Glenneis Erasmus spoke to him about how to get stocking rates right.

A scientific analysis of price trends at last year's game auctions indicates that despite the economic downturn, demand for certain species was high and more animals were being sold directly to game capturers.

Parasites play an important part in natural ecosystems, and wildlife can bear their tick burdens and still stay healthy - if humans stop interfering. So says Professor Ivan Horak (left) of the University of Pretoria's Onderstepoort campus. Cornelia du Plooy investigates.

Ron Thomson has written a refreshing and hard-hitting book to remind hunters, game ranchers and ordinary nature lovers where they fit into the bigger conservation picture. Roelof Bezuidenhout reviews a book that pulls no punches.

The mention of hunting brings to mind pictures of men with guns posing proudly amid a sea of animal carcasses. But the truth is somewhat different. Roelof Bezuidenhout reports on a study that found that often being merely outdoors is a greater consideration than actually killing animals.

Looking after South Africa's dams could be more important than finding new sources, but the country's pool of reservoir science has degenerated within a decade from being world-renowned to being almost non-functional. If the situation isn't corrected soon, the freshwater system could collapse, with catastrophic consequences. Roelof Bezuidenhout reports.
Issue Date: 30 March 2007