Wild Dogs on Bikes

The 2010 edition of the Bonitas/Mondi iMfolozi Mountain Bike Challenge, now in its sixth year of operation, will be remembered for many years as riders were treated to one of the best events yet.

Before the start horn had sounded, riders were treated to sightings of Lion, Cheetah and most impressively a Wild Dog kill as they made their way to the start of the race.

The event takes place in the iMfolozi section of the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, one of the oldest game reserves in the world, and affords only 300 riders the opportunity to ride the event.  The event itself, part of the Bonitas Wild Series, has to be one of the most unique races in the world, as riders tackle the 55km route amongst Lion, Elephant and Leopard.

One of the key components of the event is the atmosphere in which riders take part, with the emphasis clearly on social riding and enjoyment, so much so that 15 riders bid for the opportunity to ride on Wild Dog suits to raise awareness for the Wild Dog Conservation Project that the event supports.

At the front of race, Dirk Barnard from Zululand Cycles took the overall win on a time of 2h37min and Jean Hackland from Jeep Cycles took first in the ladies section, amazingly in fourth place and only 11 minutes behind the Barnard in a time of 2h48min.

The event is sold out every year with a limited number of 300 riders.  The 2010 event managed to raise around R200 000 for the Wildlands Conservation Trust and conservation projects in the reserve.  A special thanks to Stewart Nolan and Guy Murray for raising the highest sponsorships.

Local businesses support cleaner and greener communities

Members of the Pietermaritzburg Keeping our Planet in Business Network (KOPIB) visited the Sweetwaters Indigenous Trees for Life and Recycling for Life projectlast week to get up-close and personal with one of the projects they support.

Local representatives from Hulamin, Rogue Steel, Pricewaterhouse Coopers and Intrepid Printers were taken to the homes of some of the project participants who grow indigenous trees and collect waste in exchange for goods. The KOPIB network aims to increase the involvement of small to medium size businesses in local conservation initiatives run by the Wildlands Conservation Trust, while providing networking opportunities such as golf days and cocktail functions for its members.

KOPIB member Trevor Cape from Intrepid Printers, said “It was wonderful to meet characters such as “Granny”, who, despite facing daily hardship, was happy, bouncy, and full of smiles and vigour. Also Mr. Dlamini, with his astounding, self-made, terraced growing area for his hundreds of plants. Many top people in industry could take a page out of his book, for tenacity and ingenuity. I think the concept of helping the community to uplift themselves, and at the same time, conserving and replenishing the environment, is brilliant,” he said.
In the Sweetwaters and SWAPO communities of Pietermaritzburg, needy individuals are identified in the community and facilitators then teach the “tree-preneurs” how to grow indigenous trees from seed and nurture them to a certain height, which can take three to six months, at which point they are traded for goods such as groceries, agricultural tools and building materials. The recycling programme has “waste-preneurs” collecting glass, paper, cardboard and plastic and receiving groceries and other goods in exchange for the recyclable material, based on its weight.

KOPIB member Bob Martin of Rogue Steel said “I can see why the waste-preneur programme took off so quickly, with them seeing the immediate effect of their labours while the tree-preneurs have a long wait for rewards. We look forward to a continued partnership with Wildlands Conservation Trust as we can see the benefit to the poor communities and the good it is doing for our environment with the replanting of indigenous trees into deforested areas.”

Andrew Venter, CEO of the Wildlands Conservation Trust, said: “Local businesses supporting our programmes in the Pietermaritzburg area reflects their commitment to the communities they operate in. They are making a difference through community development, but the projects are also greening and cleaning up the environment, which is a solid strategy for building sustainable communities into the future. The involvement of business networks like KOPIB is significant to the ongoing success of our many programmes.”

 

Picture: Pietermaritzburg Keeping our Planet in Business network members visit  the Sweetwaters Indigenous Trees for Life and Recycling for Life projects. From back left to right: Trevor Cape (Intrepid Printers), Rodney Klute (Pricewaterhouse Coopers), Bob Martin (Rogue Steel) and front left to right: Gertrude Khanyile (tree-preneur) and Noma Kanyile (Hulam

Community Conservation success builds expanded protected area network in Northern KwaZulu Natal

The Usuthu Gorge Community Conservation Area (CCA) is a 4000 hectare reserve situated in northern Maputaland at the foothills of the Lubombo Mountains. It has become a working model for community conservation and how people can benefit while still ensuring excellent, sustainable management of a conservation area.

Since 2001, massive investment by donors and government has seen the Mathenjwa community, comprising 33 000 households within the area west of Ndumo Game reserve, become involved in the establishment of the Usuthu Gorge Community Conservation Area. Working with Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife through the Biodiversity Stewardship Model since October 2008, negotiations were finalised with the Mathenjwa Tribal Authority in February this year for proclamation as a nature reserve, which is the highest status in the Biodiversity Stewardship model. With this set to happen before the end of 2010, the next planned step is for the dropping of fences with the adjacent Ndumo Game Reserve. The CCA has as its northern boundary the Usuthu River, which also forms the national boundaries with Swaziland and Mozambique, making the area a crucial link in the planned transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs) between the three countries.

A small start in 2001 with a grant from the Ford Foundation, allowed rangers to be trained and some water points were established. In 2004, with R6.5 million funding from the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT,now DEA, Department of Water and Environment) through their Expanded Public Works programme, Wildlands Conservation Trust and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife began working with the Mathenjwa Community through the Tribal Authority, and an area of 500 hectares was fenced off, with community members employed to erect the fencing and as field rangers. Training was given to the rangers and a camp-site was built, and the area stocked with game. After that beginning, a second phase began in June 2006 with a further R8 million from DEAT. Water points were set up and vegetable gardens established as part of the programme, and through a Global Environment Small Grant, administered by the United Nations Development Programme, a permaculture course was provided and the registration of a co-operative meant that a group of women growing vegetables were able to supply their crops to the local Spar.

Much of these initiatives to supply infrastructure, training and support to communities, were done in conjunction with the introduction of the community conservation area ideas, in order for communities to derive tangible benefits from involving their communal land in conservation and tourism. Between June 2006 and January 2009, over 250 people a year were employed through the projects and the CCA, with R3.5 million having been paid in wages. R 250 000 has been spent on training, and there is now a 40km 4×4 track in the reserve. The larger area has now been fenced and the CCA will be proclaimed a nature reserve.

There has been less success with communities in this respect to the east of Ndumo Game Reserve. In 2008, the Bhekabantu and Mbangweni communities living on the eastern border of the Reserve pulled down the 11km fence separating them from the game reserve in order to access the more arable land there, and have cleared areas within the reserve and planted crops. Claims of a lack of service delivery, unmet promises by government and land claims issues, all surround this complex dispute. Illegal trade across the border with Mozambique is also a factor, and there is little incentive amongst this community to become involved in conservation efforts. Ndumo Game Reserve is a Ramsar site containing a wetland of international importance, and the continued lack of a fence on the eastern boundary (it is yet to be re-erected) has led to further encroachment for crop planting, a huge increase in poaching, and hostility towards the reserve staff by the two communities.

This scenario highlights the need for community to be engaged with in order to prevent land invasions on protected areas, and if tangible benefits can be felt such as employment, profit sharing and infrastructure delivery as a spin-off to conservation and tourism activities, community support for protected areas can be realised, and be constructive in preserving the protected areas we have as well as add further to the space for conservation.

The proclamation of Usuthu Gorge Community Conservation Area as a Nature Reserve and the future dropping of fences with Ndumo Game Reserve have far reaching implications for the future of the Usuthu-Tembe-Conservation Area initiative which forms part of the long-term vision for southern African cross-border conservation, linking areas of biodiversity and tourism. Underpinning these initiatives is the need for community involvement and socio-economic development, to ensure the continued support of the people living in and around protected areas. This is the only way conservation areas can survive and expand in southern Africa.

Pictures:
1. View of Usuthu River. Usuthu Gorge Community Conservation Area.
2. The Asithuthuke Permaculture Project near Usuthu Gorge Community Conservation Area.

A family story of an entrepreneurial spirit and a father’s legacy

Jabulani Ntuli has left a legacy for his family. The Ntuli’s were living solely on a child grant from their son Nkosinathi, until the Indigenous Trees for Life Programme, run by NGO the Wildlands Conservation Trust, came to their community of eSikhawini near Empangeni. The project aims to give the opportunity to those most in need, to grow a future for themselves, by training them to grow indigenous trees from seed, showing them how to nurture them until they reach a certain height. The trees are then traded back to Wildlands for goods such as groceries, agricultural goods and building materials, and the trees are planted back into the community or into reforestation programmes run by Wildlands.

Planting out the growing seedlings into containers such as potting bags, or using plastic bottles and yoghurt tubs, is one of the constraints that limits these “tree-preneurs” from growing large amounts of trees, as these are difficult to come by in large quantities. The Ntulis embraced the project and the whole family started growing trees, mother Zanele Ndlozi, nine year old Nkosinathi Ntuli as well as his older sister Thandeka who is now 18 years old. Jabulani was unemployed for a long time and while he was looking for work, he saw an opportunity to help the family grow many more trees. He designed and made a machine to make potting bags.

Zanele Ndhlozi plugs in the home-made wooden machine, wires extending in all directions, takes the square plastic sheeting and places it on the wire that is now heating up… to demonstrate how she and her two children make potting bags for the indigenous trees they are now growing in the thousands in their back yard. Sadly, Jabulani died in March 2010, but not before showing his family how to use the machine, and they continue to produce the bags for the huge amounts of trees they are growing.

They have about 5000 trees in their yard in June 2010, having traded in 2000 trees at the last collection in November 2009. Most trees have a value of about R 5, depending on how tall they are and which species of indigenous tree they are. The family has purchased bicycles, wheelbarrows and cement with their tree growing income, as well as groceries. With Jabulani’s death in March, they were able to buy the many groceries needed for his funeral. They are now saving trees in order to send Thandeka to the University of Zululand.

Ndhlozi speaks gently of her husband and the hopes and plans he had for the machine: “I hope that one day we can make a lot of potting bags and supply them to other tree-preneurs. Jabulani wanted to make this a business but he died before fulfilling this dream. We need to get more waste plastic in order to make this dream come true as we cannot afford to buy the plastic.” she said.

Charmaine Veldman, Programme Manager for the Indigenous Trees for Life Programme, explains that this family’s story illustrates how the project creates opportunities for an entrepreneurial spirit to thrive, which is why the people growing trees are called tree-preneurs. “We are hoping to find another supply of waste plastic to help the Ntuli’s reach their dream, especially as Wildlands now has a recycling department – I am sure we can match a waste supply with this family’s plans,” she said.

Picture: The Ntuli family and the machine that Jabulani made, surrounded by their trees. From left Zanele, Nkosinathi and Thandeka who are tree-preneurs and use the machine to make potting bags for the indigenous trees they grow