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South African game reserves face hardships from pandemic

Tuesday, January 5, 2021

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Within a few hours from Johannesburg, Nambiti Private Game Reserve is home to a wide species of animals and ecosystems. Similar to many nature reserves, the reserve allows endangered species to live comfortably in a specific environment, serving as a balance to help restore populations of animals that might have been adversely affected by hunting or loss of their habitats.


The staffs at Nambiti are currently dealing with difficult decisions, namely, those about culling some of the animals residing there. This is due to COVID-19’s devastating effect on tourism — something that Nambiti and other game reserves depend on for the revenue that keeps them operational.

Nambiti’s chairman, Clarke Smith, described the issues that the reserves face. “Reserves like ours went from quite a nice income supporting 300 jobs and a massive conservation project to literally nothing, ”said Smith. South Africa has around 500 private game reserves — all of them going through distressing times.

The assistant manager of Nambiti, Njabulo Hodla said, “I’ve never seen a season like it.”

The effects on the region surpass the fate of the wildlife on the reserves. Many reserves play a pivotal role in the regional economy. With the decline in tourism, the payments to nearby communities have dropped, bringing in enough reason to worry.

The future of some reserves is in doubt, with the land being used for farming instead. It would definitely be a blow both for people at work in these reserves and to the cause of conservation as a whole.

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