Goal:

Buffelsdrift Game Lodge want to ensure the existence and increase of free-roaming cheetah population in their natural habitat and to contribute to the genetic variation of free-roaming cheetahs.

Challenge:

Despite all the projects conserving the cheetah bloodline, there are still many other challenges to overcome. The biggest challenge is habitat destruction due to farming and development. Cheetahs, like all other large predators, are heavily persecuted by livestock farmers.  To conserve habitat for species such as the cheetah are a massive challenge to overcome.

Meta population reserves are small and can only accommodate between two to thirty cheetahs. They, therefore, must be managed to ensure genetic integrity, to prevent inbreeding. We prevent inbreeding by means of exchanging cheetahs to other Meta population reserves. Wild cheetahs are particularly susceptible to translocation complications, especially when subject to stressful capture. Currently, for every ten transfers, you unfortunately, lose one cheetah.

Strategy:

Our main focus currently is

• To relocate Cheetahs between Meta population reserves to prevent inbreeding.
• To increase the resident range of Cheetahs in South Africa through reintroductions into free-roaming fenced reserves.
• To educate tourist and voluntourism about this magnificent predator, who can easily become compromised without active conservation efforts.

Opportunity:

This project offers the opportunity to be part of the research of free roaming cheetahs. It is necessary to understand demographic responses (e.g. the cheetah’s dietary response to new habitats and prey response to the introduction of the cheetah) of predator and prey in closed systems. Monitoring this species in closed systems allows for a better understanding of how cheetahs behave in fenced reserves. This contributes to improved cheetah management and to establish the minimum requirements for sustaining cheetahs on smaller fenced reserves.

Goal for Buffelsdrift

Buffelsdrift Game Lodge aims to educate visitors about this magnificent unique specie, enabling people to come close to this gentle giant and during the visit learn to understand the circumstances endangering the specie, as well as the reality of challenges surrounding the size and devastation caused by the elephant.

Challenge for Buffelsdrift

The elephants need to be managed twenty-four hours a day by trained rangers. The elephants eat a lot of food that must be bought monthly. The elephants also easily cause harm to the sensitive habitat it roams during their daily walks.

Opportunity for Buffelsdrift

• To give the elephants a second chance of life, because their parents were killed by poachers.
• To give people the opportunity to be educated about the elephants and experience these incredible gentle giants.

Strategy for Buffelsdrift

To educate people about elephants and make them aware about the damaged caused by elephants in the natural habitat and the dangers of poaching.

Goal:

To give carnivores that have previously been abused, injured, abandoned or had no certainty about their future a permanent home and to make their health our priority.

Challenges:

Habitat destruction and human-lion conflict have led to a catastrophic drop in wild lion numbers in Africa, declining from around 50,000 in the 1950s to around 20,000 today. In recent years the number of lions in South Africa has been increasing but not for reasons that promote the conservation of lions. Currently, lions are bred or in captivity for petting, human interaction or canned hunting. The challenge is to promote sanctuaries that are truly contributing to conservation and where there is no petting, human interaction or breeding in captivity and where the welfare of the animals is a priority.

Strategy:

• We advocate against canned hunting, human interaction or petting of lions.
• The welfare of the animals is our highest priority
• To have a strong educational focus

Opportunity:

Nearly 200 captive lion facilities exist in South Africa, many of which allow the petting of lion cubs and walking with young lions by tourist.  We use this project to educate tourists and the local community and spread awareness of lion conservation and to support ethical tourist trade in South Africa. As we have a strong educational focus, we visit local schools and teach children about conservation.

African Wildcat Conservation

At Buffelsdrift Game Lodge, we are positioned within an area that is home to the remarkable African Wildcat. In line with our commitment to wildlife conservation and responsible management, we have integrated domesticated cats into our ecosystem to aid in pest control. Recognizing the potential risks of genetic contamination and inbreeding between domestic cats and the native African Wildcat population, we have taken proactive measures by collaborating with a local organization to spay all our domestic cats. This strategy not only safeguards the genetic purity of the African Wildcats but also ensures a harmonious coexistence between the two species. By preserving the African Wildcat’s natural habitat and responsibly managing our domestic cat population, we are contributing to the conservation of our local biodiversity while providing a unique and ecologically sustainable experience.

Goal:

To understand the way of the meerkat clans in the Little Karoo and to ensure their existence in our area.

Challenge: 

Farmers are converting hectare by hectare into commercial farmland at a very fast rate. They do so to increase production and for their financial benefit, this is good for our economic state, but this habitat destruction comes at a cost. The result is that the natural habitats for the little karoo meerkats are disappearing at a fast rate. Meerkats are very sensitive to their habitat and have a very complex way of living.  The smallest disturbance can trigger the family to move to a different area. Destruction of the habitat also removes their food source, insects. Farmers use pesticides to protect their crops from insects eating them. By removing insects from the system, you are removing the food source of the meerkat. With continued destruction of natural habitat, the little karoo meerkats will eventually be extinct. The challenge is to educate people and to learn from the meerkats, to promote their role in the ecosystem and how they can help farmers with insect problems.

Strategy:

• To do intensive research on meerkats in the Little Karoo
• To locate meerkat families in local areas and to give locations to farmers
• Working hand in hand with neighbouring farmers to protect the meerkat habitat

Opportunity:

We can now, for the first time, learn how the meerkats live and operate in the Little Karoo. With research and scientific evidence, we can make life-changing decisions and even change laws in the long run to protect the habitat for the meerkats. This project offers the opportunity to get the local farming community involved and to be part of something that has long-term value. We could prevent that the meerkat specie becomes endangered in the Little Karoo and to ensure their continued existence before it is too late.