Runners of SA’s Best Ultra Running Race (for three years…running), contribute hundreds of thousands of rands towards conservation projects every year. This is just one of the projects the runners of the Mont-Aux-Sources 50k Challenge have helped make possible.
There is something special about standing in a cave in the Drakensberg mountains, looking at centuries-old paintings on the cave walls, while behind you these paintings are mirrored in reality. Those who’ve visited these cultural gems in the ‘Berg, will know that eland feature heavily. Revered by the San people, this majestic animal, the largest of the antelope species in Southern Africa, can still be found across the Drakensberg, thanks to conservation efforts that date back to 1903. Recently uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park authorities took action to restore the northern populations, in the hopes that they will flourish, as they once did, when the San people where watching and panting in the shade of caves.
The uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park is home to just under 2000 eland. For reason’s unknown to the staff, the populations have mostly populated the southern part of the park. Eland originally occurred in the northern parts of the park as well, so authorities took the decision to try restore these populations. Another aim was to help relieve pressure on the high eland density areas in the south. Research Technician for the Park’s Ecological Advice department, Rickert van der Westhuizen, managed the relocation of 92 eland, from Cobham and Garden Castle in the south to Cathedral Peak in the north. “In order to effectively monitor the success of the relocation, we fitted a portion of the animals with cellular collars”, he said. “These enable us to track the animal’s movements for around two years after the release.”
The collars transmit the coordinates and altitude of the animal, as well as its temperature, and speed and direction it is travelling, using cellular satellite technology (like our cell phones). Information from each animal is transmitted every three hours and is accessible 24 hours a day via a website. This saves a huge amount of manpower, as rangers are not required to track the animals on foot. This information can then be mapped with tools such as Google Earth. “The cellular collars are expensive but [conventional] telemetry work is difficult because of the mountainous terrain in the Drakensberg”, Rickert said. The six collars used for the animals cost a whopping R120 000! The reserve would not have been able to fund this were it not for the funds raised from the Bonitas Wild Series sporting events held in the Drakensberg, and an annual grant from the Wildlands Conservation Trust.
The capture, relocation and collaring of the eland took place in June this year. “We used a helicopter to drive the herds into a funnel-shaped chute which channelled them straight into KZN Wildlife’s Game Capture trucks”, said van der Westhuizen. “Pipes were cut and fitted over the animals’ horns to prevent them from hurting each other during transit.” Two males and four females were darted and collared and are currently being tracked by Rickert. Two of the collars have stopped transmitting, one is unfortunately believed to have been poached (not a common threat in this area) and the other’s whereabouts is currently unknown. This could be because the animal is out of cellular range or the collar has malfunctioned. If the collar stops transmitting data for more than a month on any of the animals, a search is launched. The other four eland are still in and around Cathedral Peak.
These studies are vitally important for the management of eland within the park but also to asses the technology for its usage in this type of environment. What will Rickert consider a successful result? “If most of the eland stay within Cathedral Peak’s boundary and if the population shows a healthy growth rate similar to the rest of the park within the next two years.” If the project is a success, eland will be happily grazing on the grasslands of Cathedral Peak and runners and hikers will be spoilt with sightings that the San would have been painting all those years ago.
WILDTRUST (registered as the Wildlands Conservation Trust - IT No: 4329/1991/PMB)