A private game reserve in the Great Karoo is bringing back the Big Five to the conservation area.
Mount Camdeboo Private Game Reserve has announced that it will be furthering its long-term conservation vision with the introduction of elephant and lion onto the 14 000ha reserve in 2018. This means that the reserve will become home to the famed ‘Big Five’ as rhino, Cape buffalo and leopard are already present on the property.
These species all historically occurred in the Great Karoo region and forms part of the reserve’s long-term plans to reintroduce historically occurring species in the area.
“We are thrilled to welcome back these majestic creatures to Mount Camdeboo, which will undoubtedly add great value to our safari experience” says owner Iain Buchanan. Records show that elephant have always been indigenous to the area, being an animal that can live in habitats ranging from deserts to forests, as long as there is clean fresh drinking water and shade. We are delighted that Mount Camdeboo meets all their habitat requirements and are confident that they will thrive on the reserve.
In addition to the elephant, we will also introduce lion later during the year, which will complete our Big Five safari offering.”
Since the reserve’s inception in 1995, when the late Logie Buchanan purchased several properties making up the current 14 000 ha Mount Camdeboo private game reserve. The family’s long-term conservation vision included developing the property for the conservation of fauna and flora sustained by eco-tourism, with the view to expanding this further into the Karoo region.
The recent approval by the Department of Environmental Affairs of the region’s Mountain Zebra-Camdeboo Protected Environment’s proposed management plan – which will see approximately 286 343 hectares of both private and public land in the Great Karoo protected and preserved for generations to come – was a feather in the region’s land conservation cap.
Mount Camdeboo Private Game Reserve has played a pivotal role in this initiative, being the first property to sign into the Protected Environment in 2012.
“We are proud to continuously be working towards achieving our long-term conservation vision of ensuring sensible and sustainable utilisation of natural resources as a foundation for eco-tourism and wildlife conservation. With the introduction of elephant and lion, we are one step closer to realising our vision” says son Iain Buchanan.
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