Conservation
Conservation is very much about managing the impact that humans and human made ‘things’ have on what was and should still be wild, open and naturally balanced.
The conservation of naturally wild open spaces ideally means that the biodiversity and landscape should exist as it would have without any human interference. Toward this grand ideal the aspired approach to conservation amongst South African Private Parks is driven by large format principles and an integrated approach accepting that no single component can exist in balance without the influence of every other component.
Least interference conservation management through:
- responsive threshold monitoring which determines when to intervene
- accept and respect the ‘rules of nature’
- allow nature’s natural course accepting all levels of cycles
- when and only when the ‘natural order’ shows signs of imbalance due to human induced parameters then management intervention may be necessary
- zones of impact managing the amount of human made infrastructure and services present
- high impact zones (5% of park) – e.g. housing, workshops, offices, accommodation, services and main access roads
- medium impact zones (10% of park) – e.g. road and trail networks
- low impact zones (85% of park) – e.g. wilderness areas
- a water wise approach
- water scarce areas are a natural biodiversity requirement
- ideally no artificial water sources for animals
- use and return of water via human consumption to be pollution free
- fire friendly approach
- fire is part of the natural cycle
- if started naturally let it stop naturally
- human safe fire management
Safe guarding the natural biodiversity through:
- free to migrate and move i.e. removing intra and inter-park fences
- clearing out and keeping out alien species
- creating endangered species safe zones
- being open and responsive to broad-based independent research
It’s grand, it’s idillic, it’s an exceptional journey!
