#WhiteElephantSafaris
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White Elephant Safaris
Newsletter September 2015
Dear friends of White Elephant,
How time flies. It has certainly been a while since our last newsletter.
We have had a busy winter. Because of severe drought we have had to capture and sell more than our usual quota of impala, kudu, zebra and nyala. The extreme lack of food has caused high numbers of animal deaths. We hope that capturing and moving the large numbers of drought sensitive species, will have saved many of these animals from starvation.
South Africa has a unique game farming and trading economy. Although sometimes quite controversial, millions of Rand's are spent on breeding and trading with endangered and colour variant species such as sable and roan antelope, black, white, saddle back impala, golden gnu, just to list a few.
The positive spin off from this unique industry, is that we have more wildlife in South Africa today than we did 50 to 100 years ago when game farming did not exist.
The 'downside' is that many extensive farms are being fragmented and divided into small intensive breeding camps for the controlled breeding of superior trophy animals and specific colour variants for a return on investment and NOT for the conservation of biodiversity.
The pros and cons of this intensification of game farming is a discussion on its own, but the benefit to us at White Elephant is that the good demand and prices for our surplus game funds and motivates one to further conserve and manage the wildlife even better.
The exact opposite scenario is currently being experienced with rhino. With restricted trading of live and dead rhino, and the total ban of any trade in rhino horn, the illegal horn trade is thriving. Poaching for rhino horn has now reached a critical stage where the rhino population is in a decline. If we do not find a solution to this poaching onslaught, rhino are destined to become extinct.
White Elephant Safaris recently hosted two African Wildlife Veterinary Safari groups who assisted, physically and financially, with the darting (chemical immobilization) of black rhino for data collection and dehorning, and elephant re-collaring. We hope that these drastic measures will deter the poaching syndicates from targeting our rhino.
You may ask yourself, what does the trade in wildlife and rhino horn have to do with White Elephant Safaris?
Firstly, without funding we cannot conserve our wildlife and conservation area. We need rhino (and other wildlife) to attract guests to travel to Africa on safari to experience and enjoy nature and wildlife.
At White Elephant, we are privileged to be able to offer our guests on safari an inside glimpse into the management of our wildlife, including the 'heavy four' - elephant, rhino, hippo and giraffe - all weighing more than 1 ton. Blessed with exceptional vista's of the Lebombo mountains and shimmering lake Jozini, White Elephant Safari Lodge offers exceptional character, genuine friendliness, dirt roads, natural gardens, good food, open fires, guided walks, rhino tracking, tiger fishing, sundowner cruises, old fashioned safari tented accommodation with big baths, outdoor showers, private verandas and 5* service.
Family owned and managed, White Elephant's location is ideal for small groups and couples on safari travelling to or from KZN and the Mpumalanga lowveld (Kruger National Park).
Warm Regards
The White Elephant Team
#WhiteElephantSafarisNews
White Elephant Safaris
Newsletter September 2015
Dear friends of White Elephant,
How time flies. It has certainly been a while since our last newsletter.
We have had a busy winter. Because of severe drought we have had to capture and sell more than our usual quota of impala, kudu, zebra and nyala. The extreme lack of food has caused high numbers of animal deaths. We hope that capturing and moving the large numbers of drought sensitive species, will have saved many of these animals from starvation.
South Africa has a unique game farming and trading economy. Although sometimes quite controversial, millions of Rand's are spent on breeding and trading with endangered and colour variant species such as sable and roan antelope, black, white, saddle back impala, golden gnu, just to list a few.
The positive spin off from this unique industry, is that we have more wildlife in South Africa today than we did 50 to 100 years ago when game farming did not exist.
The 'downside' is that many extensive farms are being fragmented and divided into small intensive breeding camps for the controlled breeding of superior trophy animals and specific colour variants for a return on investment and NOT for the conservation of biodiversity.
The pros and cons of this intensification of game farming is a discussion on its own, but the benefit to us at White Elephant is that the good demand and prices for our surplus game funds and motivates one to further conserve and manage the wildlife even better.
The exact opposite scenario is currently being experienced with rhino. With restricted trading of live and dead rhino, and the total ban of any trade in rhino horn, the illegal horn trade is thriving. Poaching for rhino horn has now reached a critical stage where the rhino population is in a decline. If we do not find a solution to this poaching onslaught, rhino are destined to become extinct.
White Elephant Safaris recently hosted two African Wildlife Veterinary Safari groups who assisted, physically and financially, with the darting (chemical immobilization) of black rhino for data collection and dehorning, and elephant re-collaring. We hope that these drastic measures will deter the poaching syndicates from targeting our rhino.
You may ask yourself, what does the trade in wildlife and rhino horn have to do with White Elephant Safaris?
Firstly, without funding we cannot conserve our wildlife and conservation area. We need rhino (and other wildlife) to attract guests to travel to Africa on safari to experience and enjoy nature and wildlife.
At White Elephant, we are privileged to be able to offer our guests on safari an inside glimpse into the management of our wildlife, including the 'heavy four' - elephant, rhino, hippo and giraffe - all weighing more than 1 ton. Blessed with exceptional vista's of the Lebombo mountains and shimmering lake Jozini, White Elephant Safari Lodge offers exceptional character, genuine friendliness, dirt roads, natural gardens, good food, open fires, guided walks, rhino tracking, tiger fishing, sundowner cruises, old fashioned safari tented accommodation with big baths, outdoor showers, private verandas and 5* service.
Family owned and managed, White Elephant's location is ideal for small groups and couples on safari travelling to or from KZN and the Mpumalanga lowveld (Kruger National Park).
Warm Regards
The White Elephant Team
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