Ted Reilly was familiar to me long before I actually met him; as one of the legendary figures of wildlife conservation in Southern Africa; spoken of with respect and reverence alongside other greats like Ted Davison, Ian Player, John Hanks and Clive Stockil. Just as Ian Player is credited with almost single-handedly saving South Africa’s…

If the right to choose our government is the one leg that keeps our democracy upright and stable, the other leg is the right we all have to participate when the government makes laws. We all know how important the right to vote is, right? We will all most probably reply if asked, that the…

Securing wildlife populations and their habitat can help reverse land degradation. The sustainable use of stable game populations can help improve the livelihood options of local communities. A Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA) is defined as a component of a large ecological region that straddles the boundaries of two or more countries encompassing one or more protected areas as well…

Dr. Salomon Joubert is the ex-director of the Kruger National Park in South Africa and spent 40 years in the service. Since the mid-1960’s when elephant censuses were initiated the recorded calf percentages have remained remarkably stable. The only exceptions were 1967 and 1995 when they were 11.3% and 10.1% respectively. In both cases this…

In music circles the 3rd of February 1959 will always be remembered as “The Day the Music Died” with the tragic death in an aircraft crash of Buddy Holly (That’ll be the Day), Ritchie Valens (La Bamba), “The Big Bopper” Richardson (Chantilly Lace) and their pilot Roger Peterson. In conservation circles what date will we…

Towards the end of the 1950’s a small group of cattle ranchers, who were also committed wildlife conservationists, pioneered the game ranching industry in Zimbabwe. The idea developed from the theory that a spectrum of wild animals is ecologically more efficient at producing meat and by-products than a single domestic species. The theory was untested…