An incro
number of privately-man
aged wildlife reserves are
emerging in South Africa
Among the bigger names are
Shamwari in the eastern
Cape region and the four
wildlife reserves run by the
Johannesburg-based conservation Corporation.
Adrian Gardiner, the
mastermind behind Shamwari, set about his mission
investing his own money and
borrowing a low interest ecotourism loan fron-r the
Independent Development
Corporation into a derelict
farm in Shamwari. Gardiner
derived inspiration for setting up the reserve from the
appalling rates of extinction
that some animals like the
black rhino, the lion and the
African elephant faced.
The Conservation Corporation, on the other hand,
takes a more hard-headed
approach to conservation. Its
objectives are to buy up
degraded land and nurture
the area and its animals back
to normalcy, eventually
making it a commercially
viable prospect by attracting
tourists. Les Carlisle, regional development manager of
the Corporation's Phinda
reserve candidly describes it
as a "brutally commercial
approach to conservation".
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