Ndumo Game Reserve

Information & Discussion on Ndumo
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Flutterby
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Ndumo Game Reserve

Post by Flutterby »

Ndumo Game Reserve is situated near the Tembe Elephant Park on the Mozambique border in northern Kwazulu-Natal. The Usuthu River forms its northern boundary and the Pongola River flows through to its confluence with Usuthu. Ndumo boasts many beautiful pans set about with yellow fever trees and extensive wetlands and reed beds as well as acacia savannah and sand forest.

Image ©places.co.za

Ndumo Game Reserve is perhaps best known for its magnificent bird life with the highest bird count in South Africa, some 430 species. The varied habitat hosts an astonishing range of aquatic birdlife such as black egret, pygmy geese and flocks of pelicans. The prolific birdlife includes many tropical East African forms at the southern limit of their range. Special ticks for birders include Pell's fishing owl, the broadbill, and southern banded snake eagle.

Image ©ahoy.tk-jk.net

With game species such as nyala, bushbuck, impala, red duiker, suni, black and white rhino, hippopotamus and a very large population of crocodiles, Ndumo is a most rewarding area to view wildlife with its wetlands and pans, thick bush and savannah and extensive forests. Ndumo is of particular interest to entomologists with a very interesting array of insects including 66 recorded species of mosquito. Visitors may drive through certain areas of the reserve in their own cars, or participate in landrover tours to interesting areas in the company of a tour guide. Depending on the demand, morning and afternoon tours are conducted and arrangements to participate in these tours are made at the reception office.

Image ©safarinow.com

Image ©game-reserve.com

For the more energetic, day walks in the reserve may be taken in the company of a guide and, here too, arrangements to participate in these walks should be made at the reception office the day before the intended walk.

Ndumo Camp consists of 7 two-bed rondavels, each equipped with a hand basin with cold water, a table and three chairs and a refrigerator. Bedding, cutlery and crockery are provided. These seven units have been upgraded and now have a verandah and an airconditioning unit inside. The camp is served by a kitchen and ablution block with hot and cold water. The camp is equipped with mains electricity and has a swimming pool. There is a shop that sells firewood and charcoal together with basic provisions.

Image ©ridingforhorses.co.za

Ndumo Campsite accommodates a maximum of 48 people in eight shady campsites. The campsite caters for both caravans and tents and is situated in a beautiful setting under the trees near the main hutted camp. Campsites have cold water taps and barbecue facilities. The modern ablutions have hot and cold running water, flush toilets, showers, baths and basins. A communal kitchen and dining area is also available.

Image ©landloversafaris.co.za


For accommodation enquiries go to: http://www.kznwildlife.com


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Toko
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Re: Ndumo Game Reserve

Post by Toko »

Map of Ndumo Game Reserve

Image


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Sprocky
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Re: Ndumo Game Reserve

Post by Sprocky »

Thanks for these maps Toko.

One request, do you maybe have a legend for them? I would really like to know what the difference is between the red and orange dotted no entry roads.


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Re: Ndumo Game Reserve

Post by Toko »

I don't know if it is still like this, but the orange dotted tracks used to be open for 4x4's and the red ones only for guided drives.


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Re: Ndumo Game Reserve

Post by Dindingwe »

Two views of Nyamthi Pan :

1O4A6616.jpg
IMG_1194.jpg

Ezulweni Hide, on Nyamthi Pan :

1O4A6685.jpg

In the north of the reserve, the Maputo River, which is the border with Mozambique :

IMG_1188.JPG

The fever tree forest at sunset :

IMG_1197.jpg


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Re: Ndumo Game Reserve

Post by Flutterby »

Wow, it looks lovely!! \O


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Re: Ndumo Game Reserve

Post by Richprins »

X#X X#X X#X Dingwe!


Please check Needs Attention pre-booking: https://africawild-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=322&t=596
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Re: Ndumo Game Reserve

Post by Pumbaa »

WoW, Looks extreme nice \O

Thanks Dindingwe 0()


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Re: Ndumo Game Reserve

Post by Lisbeth »

The fever tree forest at sunset is sublime ^Q^ ^Q^

Also the other sceneries are not bad ;-) O\/ O\/


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Re: Ndumo Game Reserve

Post by Lisbeth »

WILDLIFE AND WELLBEING
Ndumo Game Reserve: The complicated balancing act of subsistence farming and nature conservation in KwaZulu-Natal

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There are just some of the extensive fields of maize, vegetables and other crops now growing in the heart of the wetland sanctuary. (Image: Supplied)

By Tony Carnie | 06 Dec 2021

As cultivated fields expand and grazing cattle explore ever further in the Ndumo Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, researchers worry about unresolved efforts to address human poverty while also trying to protect the ever-shrinking spaces left for wildlife and nature conservation.
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This has included the extensive clearance of riverine forest for crop cultivation, gill-netting of abundant fish stocks and the poaching of antelope and other wildlife.

At times, several hundred cattle also graze in the eastern part of the reserve, raising further fears about the transmission of foot-and-mouth disease.

Writing in the latest issue of the international conservation journal Oryx, researcher Dr Simon Pooley suggests that Ndumo is “facing an existential threat and may not make its 100th anniversary in 2024”.

Mozambican nationals are also entering the reserve to farm, hunt and fish via an unfenced river bed in the northern section of the reserve.

Pooley, a herpetology lecturer at Birkbeck, University of London, and researcher at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), notes that Ndumo protects just 10% of the much larger 13,000ha Phongolo River floodplain – one of the main reasons why this reserve is a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance.

“This floodplain has the richest fish fauna of any river system in South Africa. Fishes breed there and migrate into the surrounding pans, where an estimated 500,000kg are harvested annually, sustaining cultural traditions such as fonya basket-fishing.”

Image
A map of the eastern section of Ndumo Game Reserve showing the approximate extent of the current farmed areas (orange) within the reserve, based on an analysis of recent Google Earth imagery.

With more than 400 species of birds, Ndumo is also listed as an Important Bird Area and one of only three sanctuaries for wild Nile crocodiles in South Africa.

“The main crocodile nesting area is now disrupted by farming and gill-netting,” Pooley warns.

Commenting on disputed land-claim settlements going back almost two decades, he says: “There are allegedly two agreements: one confers co-management with benefits but no occupation, the other [which cannot be located] allegedly grants [the] right to occupy reserve land.

“Apparently, compensation remains unpaid. Exacerbated by poor relations between conservation authorities and communities – causes of which include historical evictions and violent encounters in poaching incidents – agreement on co-management has proved elusive.”

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Pelicans and water birds feed in a pan beneath Ndumo’s iconic fever tree forests. (Photo: Tony Carnie)

Several efforts had also been made to resolve disputes and to support local livelihoods outside the reserve.

“However, failure of one funded plan, continuing lack of resources, local disagreements and political interference with re-establishing the fence mean conflict persists. There is a danger this long-running occupation will become accepted as the status quo.

“In the face of political instability, apparent immunity for expanding illegal land conversion, local poverty and an untenable conservation management situation, the reserve’s future is threatened, with potentially negative consequences for other protected areas in KwaZulu-Natal.”

In an article in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation, UKZN researcher Camille Fritsch and colleagues note that the area most affected by human incursion is also the best and most widely used hippo habitat in Ndumo.

The researchers collated hippo census data from 1951 to 2021 and revealed a significant decrease over recent decades. The current population of hippos had almost halved compared to previous census data from 2008.

They suggest that recent human impacts inside and along the periphery of Ndumo, combined with climate change-induced environmental changes, the unravelling and reduced capacity of the management entity, particularly in the wake of Covid-19, have put increased pressure on the protected area. This was jeopardising its value ecologically, and bringing into question its long-term persistence as a protected area and hippo sanctuary.

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Large stretches of riverine forest have been cleared by the farmers. This tree was chopped up with a chain saw. (Photo: Tony Carnie)

The researchers cite a separate study suggesting that the human population living along the Phongolo River (which stretches up to Jozini Dam and beyond) had grown from 30,000 to more than 400,000 from 1980 to 2020.

Another research paper suggests that in communities surrounding Ndumo Game Reserve, more than 70% of the population survives on less than R800 a month, provided by government grants and a small informal economy, and that up to 70% of residents are under the age of 18.

Fritsch and his colleagues say the Ndumo impasse is a prime example of the need to incorporate local social issues into conservation management plans.

“Because of an exploitative political history and present continued political instability, impoverished communities surrounding Ndumo Game Reserve are socioeconomically reliant on the resources provided by the natural systems surrounding them… We recommend that the conservation management authority, sections of the South African government like the Department of Land Affairs, and local communities work together to reinstate the boundary of Ndumo to protect hippos and other wildlife in this globally important protected area.”

When DM168 asked the provincial wildlife conservation agency to comment on what it was doing to resolve the situation, spokesperson Musa Mntambo said: “Ezemvelo has been attempting to address the agricultural activities on the eastern boundary of the Ndumo Game Reserve, which is mainly restricted to land east of the Phongolo River.

“This land is part of a land-claim settlement that was settled in February 2000, and several social programmes have been implemented since then to address the agriculture activity within the reserve on community claimed land.

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Local farmers pole their home-made boats along the Phongolo River to reach crop fields inside the game reserve. (Photo: Tony Carnie)

“Ezemvelo is very aware of the biodiversity importance of the Ndumo Game Reserve, and the listing as a Ramsar site because of [its] international importance. The expansion of these agricultural activities on the eastern bank has continued to expand and we are also very concerned about the impact these have on the Phongolo floodplain. This expansion has happened despite the number of community programmes that have been implemented.

“Whilst there has not been any reversal of the area being transformed, we believe that some of our interventions have limited what could have resulted in a total invasion.

“Ezemvelo continues to work with other government departments and non-government organisations to seek alternate solutions. The agricultural practices are mainly on the eastern bank. There have been some limited activities on the west bank that have been sporadic and we have successfully been able to prevent or reduce them.

“All protected areas with land occupation and/or agriculture encroachment have been listed in a national programme which looks at the risk and possible impacts on biodiversity.

“These complex issues of encroachment require a multiagency intervention and, as such, Ezemvelo has requested that Ndumo Game Reserve be identified as the KwaZulu-Natal priority for a national support and intervention programme.”

DM168 also contacted the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention in Switzerland for its views. The convention’s mission is to work towards “the conservation and wise use of all wetlands through local and national actions and international cooperation, as a contribution towards achieving sustainable development throughout the world”.

A spokesperson responded that “we are currently undertaking investigations before any comments can be made”.

The convention, however, provides that, where a Ramsar site’s ecological character is threatened, the member nation can request a Ramsar Advisory Mission (RAM).

This mechanism enables both developed and developing countries to apply global expertise and advice to the problems and threats that could lead to a loss in ecological character to a wetland. After a site visit, the team’s draft report is submitted for review by the contracting party, and the revised final report is then published.

“The findings and recommendations in the report can provide the basis for action at the site, and possibly for subsequent financial assistance,” Ramsar says.

The national Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment had not responded to a request for comment at the time of going to press.

Writing in the Canadian Journal of Development Studies in 2013, social and gender researcher Talia Meer and environmental geographer Matthew Schnurr argue that tensions at Ndumo Game Reserve result from several interrelated factors, including the local community’s “historical and current feelings of loss of land, autonomy and ‘home’ as a result of colonial and neoliberal conservation initiatives”.

They argue that there has been a lack of transformation governing community-based natural resource management, compounded by frustrations related to the establishment of transfrontier conservation areas.

“We argue that the destruction and violence at Ndumo are best understood as an example of communities trying desperately to engage with state- and private sector-led conservation in the face of continued exclusion.” DM168


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