Hunters Care / Safari Club International
A Success Story
It all started some years ago with the support and development funding financed by Safari Club International (SCI).
I am always amazed at the at all the people, organisations and political parties that come out of the woodwork to take credit when a vision comes to realisation and the unsung heroes are overlooked. The central figure and driving force behind this particular project was Inkosi (Chief) Daniel Hlabisa of the Mpembeni Community, near the small town of Hlabisa in KwaZulu-Natal, who had the vision to establish an ecotourism enterprise.
It all began in the year 2000, when Nic Vaughan-Jones, a professional hunter took up the challenge of initiating the project having secured finance to fence off the Mpembeni Community Conservation Game Reserve (MCCGR). Without financing from SCI this project would never have seen the light of day. Let it never be said, “What do hunters do for conservation?”
The 750ha (1,850 acres) of land set aside by the community consisted mainly of abandoned agricultural lands and three koppies adjoining the original Hluhluwe Game Reserve (HGR) at the time administrated by the then Natal Parks Board (NPB).
The Natal Parks Board had their own vision of creating buffer reserves around HGR on the surrounding community the land adjoining the Park. This initiative was headed up by Paula Morrison and Ernest Tshabalala. The idea was to encourage the communities in the region to become involved in the business opportunities that ecotourism offered and at the same time improving the public relations between the reserve and its neighbours.
Nic raised the money from Safari Club to game fence the property to the specification as required by the State Veterinary Department to allow for the introduction of buffalo to the property. This was very important as the founder population of game introduced to the newly fenced reserve would include a number of buffalo. These animal populations would need to establish themselves and the trophy animals would be hunted to service the reserves running costs. Any profits would be used to develop the reserve.
The reserve was financially self-sustaining but it was always the intention to build a lodge in the second phase of this development. However, it soon became apparent that as a stand-alone project, a property of this size could not sustain itself as there were just not enough trophy animals that could be harvested to follow through with Inkosi’s dream, of the community owning their own lodge.
Nic got the Umbono Foundation involved. This was a foundation established by Pastor Terence Rose and Nic Vaughan-Jones. Umbono is a charitable organisation to aid and assist rural communities in Africa. This partnership with the church was a major turning point and through their efforts we gained the trust and support of the community at large.
Another factor was the influence that the late Albert Ngcobo had on the project. He worked tirelessly changing people’s opinions on the advantages of having such a reserve with an ecotourism lodge.
Ernest Tshabalala digging the first hole for the game fence in 2001
There were many hurdles and sceptics to be overcome. Unfortunately, he passed away before the lodge was built and would never see the completion of the project. There are not many community people who are (were) prepared to voluntarily work on a project for the benefit of their fellow citizens.
The Umbono Foundation built a clinic and a crèche for the community under the auspice of the MCCGR project. Soon after this, Nic moved to southern Mozambique to continue the work of this Foundation.
Up to this point, I had undertaken all the marketing and trophy hunting conducted at the reserve and we had built up a little nest egg but did not have anywhere near enough money to build a lodge. The responsibility was now mine to oversee the project. So, we continued without a lodge and this made marketing hunts at the reserve very difficult.
Hunters used accommodation near Hluhluwe or at St. Lucia town when hunting in the reserve. This meant we had to drive for an hour to get to the reserve before we could hunt, not ideal, making the marketing of these hunts very difficult and off putting to many potential clients.
My management input was also limited as I lived four hours from the reserve and I also noticed that the game numbers were starting to dwindle and trophy animals becoming few and far between. Was this the start of the end?
Unbeknown to me, Inkosi had asked the local section manager from HGR to shoot him a few animals for a ceremony. By this time the Natal Parks Board had been replaced by Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife. This provincial conservation body now administered the Park and had their fair share of problems. One of them being the section ranger in question, who was dismissed by the organisation. We were never given the reasons for his dismissal but still very suspicious that he was running a bush meat business at the local market. Many of these animals being poached at Mpembeni. His demise came after eight Rhinos were found poached in one incident in his section of Hluhluwe Game Reserve. We can only speculate if he was involved or not.
Top: The Mpembeni Clinic now operated by the government Health Department
Middle: Little Bird Crèche
Bottom: Wheelchairs donated by the “One Shot Antelope Hunt” Foundation
However, after his dismissal there was a definite increase in the game numbers at the MCCGR. Buffalo, leopard, giraffe, zebra, nyala, kudu, wildebeest and impala were hunted in order to achieve our goals and pay the bills. Nobody showed any interest in helping us to develop the reserve.
Many of the well-known non hunting private reserves established in South Africa initially started off as hunting areas and through the process of evolution changed their emphasis to non-consumptive ecotourism usage. What were our options?
Enter Wellman Khumalo, a local politician based in the area. At the time he was a school deputy principal at Mpembeni. Being young and having great aspirations to become a successful politician he took up the cause with the government, community and KZN Wildlife. Seen as a local mover and shaker, he made it happen albeit in African time.
I recommended to the Mpembeni Tribal Authority and reserve steering committee that we re-approach them to see if they might be interested in building a lodge. They dually accepted the challenge and it has without doubt been a mighty challenge.
They sourced the majority of the R25 million funding for the lodge from the National Empowerment Fund and also spent a large chunk of their own development capital. Khumalo kept up the heat from his side and I worked alongside him smoothing the way for things to materialise. I will not bore you any further with the details but all sorts of people and department now became involved and all taking credit for this project being launched. I would like to thank all those who genuinely made an effort to contribute to the success of this project.
Today, Rhino Ridge Safari Lodge is operated and managed by Isibindi Africa (Brett Gehren, from Dundee), a tourism company with a successful record of working with rural communities. Khumalo continues to play a role in the project while following his political career.
I became Chairman of the Professional Hunters Association of South Africa Empowerment and Conservation Fund in 2014 a year in which the fund experienced it most successful fund raising gala dinner ever, raising R 2.4 million.
During my term in office, we initiated a program called the “Hunter’s Care Programme” and there can be little doubt that my contribution to conservation is but a drop in the ocean of what my Professional Hunting colleagues have achieved over the years and will do in the years to come.
Today, the guns are silent at Mpembeni as Rhino Ridge Safari Lodge and a hunting operation cannot coexist. So from a hunter’s point of view, let the question never be asked, “What does hunting do for conservation?”
Rhino Ridge Safari Lodge
