GRAAFF-REINET NEWS — Elephants have returned to Samara Private Game Reserve after a 200-year absence, a conservation milestone for this well-known reserve near Graaff-Reinet.
Sarah and Mark Tompkins, owners of the reserve, explained that when they first established the reserve in 1997, their aim was to restore the area to the wildlife haven it had been before species like cheetah, rhino, Cape lion, springbok and elephant were eradicated by early farmers and settlers.
"This is an extremely important area from an ecological point of view," Sarah explained, adding that the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Thicket, where Samara's 27 000 hectares of scenic wilderness is located, has been designated as one of the world's 36 Global Biodiversity Hotspots.
The reserve has long held the goal of reintroducing elephants back to the Plains of Camdeboo, made famous by Eve Palmer's 1966 book of the same name.
This goal was even more significant given that the population of African elephants has dropped by an alarming 30% in just ten years. Sarah cited the recent Great Elephant Census, funded by Paul G Allen, which shows that numbers continue to decrease because of poaching for ivory, human-wildlife conflict and habitat loss.
To safeguard the future of the species, there is a need to manage elephants as part of meta-populations – a group of spatially separated populations between which translocations can take place to ensure genetic diversity and establish founder populations where elephants previously occurred but have since been eradicated.
"It's a significant moment for so many reasons, not least of which is the fact that the introduction symbolically recreates ancient elephant migratory routes from the coast," said Sarah.
The translocation of Samara's elephants was undertaken by wildlife capture specialist Kester Vickery. The vet team in attendance was led by experienced wildlife vet Dr William Fowlds.
The founder herd that has been introduced to Samara comprises a small family group of six individuals from Kwandwe Game Reserve near Grahamstown. Once they are settled, they will be joined by a mature bull. In time, another small family group may also be introduced to the reserve.
The initial translocation was partially funded by the NGO Elephants, Rhinos & People (ERP) and by the generosity of Friends of Samara. ERP also funded the satellite collar on one of the adult females. This will allow the Samara team to monitor the herd's movements and their use of the vegetation on the property. An elephant monitor sponsored by ERP will track their behaviour and provide learning opportunities for two interns from the SA College for Tourism Tracker Academy, which is partly based at Samara.
"Samara is delighted and privileged to welcome these gentle giants back to the Plains of Camdeboo, as part of our vision of recreating a fully-functioning Great Karoo ecosystem. Thank you to everyone involved in this historic translocation" said Isabelle Tompkins of Samara.
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