Venetia elephants find a new home in Mozambique

Date: 29 July 2018 By: Andries van Zyl

The De Beers Group has begun to transport 200 elephants across 1 500km from its Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve (VLNR) near Musina in South Africa to Mozambique.

“The operation, one of the largest elephant translocations ever recorded in South Africa, is part of a major conservation initiative to protect the welfare of wildlife in South Africa and help restore Mozambique’s elephant population,” reads a press release by the mining company, issued on Monday.

According to De Beers, for the first phase of the project, approximately 60 elephants will be transported in July and August from the VLNR to Zinave National Park in central Mozambique. The remaining elephants will be moved to conservation areas that hold sufficient elephant-carrying capacity within Mozambique from next year.

“De Beers Group is partnering with Peace Parks Foundation, a leading not-for-profit organisation focused on the preservation of large, functional cross-border ecosystems to carry out the initiative. Through formal agreements with Mozambique’s National Administration for Conservation Areas, Peace Parks Foundation co-manages Zinave National Park, which is an integral component of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area,” says De Beers.

The Peace Parks Foundation will assist the De Beers Group with the translocation, ensuring the elephants’ social groups are not disturbed and that they flourish in their new habitat through ongoing monitoring of their wellbeing and enhanced protection efforts.

“There is no greater symbol of Africa than the majestic elephant. For us to be able to help secure their future in Mozambique, while also ensuring that other species at our Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve can flourish, is something every employee of De Beers Group is proud of. This translocation is born of a deep sense of responsibility and is part of our wider commitment to continue to invest in new and innovative ways to protect the natural world,” said the CEO of the De Beers Group, Mr Bruce Cleaver.

Covering 32 000 hectares and established in the early 1990s, the VLNR can accommodate around 60 elephants without adverse impact on the surrounding ecosystem. “Currently, however, there are more than 270 elephants on the reserve, as a result of natural population growth, with their presence risking extensive damage to an ecosystem that must sustain a diverse wildlife population,” said De Beers. By contrast, they added, wildlife populations in the Zinave National Park, which was founded in the 1960s, have been critically depleted following Mozambique’s 15-year civil war. The park offers significant carrying capacity for large numbers of elephants across its 408,000 hectares, and is currently home to only around 60 of them.

“Ecosystems require a range of fauna and flora to stay balanced. If you remove one species, such as elephant, it has a ripple effect on the whole system. The reintroduction of elephants to Mozambique will bring us one step closer to achieving our dream of restoring the landscape and establishing uninterrupted connectivity with seamless migration of wildlife across the parks within the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area,” said Mr Werner Myburgh, CEO of the Peace Parks Foundation.

As part of its investment in the elephant translocation initiative, De Beers Group is also providing Peace Parks Foundation with US$500 000 over five years towards anti-poaching support measures, which will include the hiring and training of new park rangers, and the opening of new access roads to increase patrol coverage.

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Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

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