KNP wildlife translocated
2002-08-13 21:04
Phalaborwa - Hundreds of Kruger National Park (KNP) animals travelled to a new home in Mozambique on Tuesday as part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park (GLTP) wildlife relocation project.
The opening of Africa's "Super Park" would not only usher in the world's greatest animal kingdom, but also ensure a major tourism boost in the region, Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Valli Moosa said.
"The GLTP is a demonstration of what can be achieved through
regional economic co-operation, the vision behind the New
Partnership for Africa's Development," he said in a statement.
The 35 000 square kilometre nature reserve will be the biggest on the continent when it opens in the near future. Tuesday's move was part of a three-year programme to translocate about 6 000 animals to the GLTP in Mozambique.
SA National Parks chief executive officer Mavuso Msimang and
senior officials from the Department of Environmental Affairs and
Tourism officially handed over hundreds of animals to Mozambican
representatives on Tuesday.
Dirk van Schalkwyk, chief director of transfrontier conservation and protected areas in the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, said this year's relocation project started about a week ago and would be completed on Friday, before the start of the KNP census.
Before the move, wildlife is caught in a boma in and around the Setara Camp and then chased onto trucks and sedated. The animals wake up before they arrive near Massingir in Mozambique's Maputo province where they are released.
The relocation process started in October last year when the
first 40 of 1 000 elephants were taken to Mozambique.
The first agreement on the new nature reserve, formerly known as the Gaza-Kruger-Gonarezhou Transfrontier Park, was signed in
November last year by ministers from Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa.
The park includes the Kruger National Park, Zimbabwe's
Gonarezhou - known for its geological splendour - and a wildlife
area in Mozambique, Coutada 16.
Tourists will able to travel across international boundaries in the park without having to show their passports.
The establishment of the GLTP is the first phase in the creation of a bigger transfrontier conservation area (TFCA) covering 100 000
square kilometres.
A transfrontier park is formed when the authorities responsible for bordering areas, where the primary focus is wildlife conservation, formally agree to manage the areas as an integrated unity. They also undertake to remove all human barriers within the park so that the animals can roam freely.
The park respects ecological systems across political boundaries and strives to re-establish historical animal migration routes and other ecosystem functions disrupted by fences and legislation, according to a departmental statement.
The more natural ecosystem is jointly managed according to
"harmonised" wildlife management policies, promoting the return of
a larger and more resilient ecosystem with greater chances of
long-term sustainability.
- SAPA