Londolozi Private Game Reserve

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Londolozi Game Reserve is famous for its leopards population. Leopards of Londolozi (6619590395).jpg
Londolozi Game Reserve is famous for its leopards population.
Londolozi Game Reserve map and its surroundings. Map-to-Londolozi-scaled-e1608291953212-788x779.jpg
Londolozi Game Reserve map and its surroundings.

Londolozi Private Game Reserve is a large game reserve, with 15 000 hectares (150 km2) / 42 000 acres (58 sq mi) of land in South Africa. This means 1 bed per 167 hectares of land. Londolozi Rangers are not bound by Kruger Park rules and can therefore drive off-road on safari and conduct comprehensive bush walks into the wilderness.. [1] The reserve is part of the Sabi Sands Private Game Reserve, situated on the western border of Kruger National Park, which together with some other parks make up the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park. Londolozi is a Zulu word meaning "Protector of all Living Things". Wildlife in this reserve includes the Big Five of Africa (lions, leopards, black rhinoceros, African bush elephant and African buffalo).

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The reserve was established in 1926 by Frank Unger and Charles Boyd Varty. The land, named Sparta Farm, was bought from Transvaal Consolidated Investments (TCI). Sparta was used as a hunting farm until 1971 when Charles Varty's two sons, Dave Varty and John Varty, shifted the focus of the property to ecotourism and photographic safaris instead of hunting. Londolozi is part of the GLTFCA - the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Association

The game reserve has five camps situated next to each other along the banks of the Sand River. In 2014, Condé Nast Traveler [2] readers voted Londolozi as the best hotel and resort in the world. The reserve has been lauded internationally for its far-sighted and progressive land and wildlife management, [3] as well as its productive community involvement. In 1993, Londolozi became the first game reserve in the world to be accorded Relais & Châteaux status [4]

In 1992, Nelson Mandela visited Londolozi for a period following his release from prison. [5]

History of Londolozi Game Reserve - the major milestones

In 1926 Charles Varty met Frank Unger (great grandfather to the Taylor family) at a tennis party in Johannesburg. The men, both enthusiastic adventurers, discussed a wild tract of land bordering the Kruger National Park. It was a derelict cattle farm named “Sparta”, marked on a faded map. The two men made a decision to buy the farm. For five generations the families worked to create the Londolozi Game Reserve [6] .

The two men departed a booming Johannesburg and ventured to Komatipoort. There they boarded the Selati Railway Line, a 120km line venturing into the middle of nowhere For more information read about the Selati Rail scandal). Unger and Varty ventured into north-eastern Transvaal (now Mpumalanga province) with little clue as to how they would locate Sparta. Eventually they came across sliding 61, the closest rail marker to their destination. They disembarked at the marker with what they could carry and made their way through wild terrain. Eventually they came across a large Jackalberry tree and set up camp, the same jackalberry remains built into Varty camp and hosted Londolozi’s first campfire all those years ago.

Sparta at the time was a collection of makeshift tents in the middle of nowhere. The method of transport was on foot, baths took place in the Sand river and toilets were a hole in the ground. Over time tents gave way to mud huts that are still in existence today, Londolozi Game Reserve has now been constructed around these structures..

In 1948 conservation was a growing topic, interested parties knew more had to be done to conserve South Africa’s wildspaces. In 1948 a collection of landowners in the Sabi Sands gathered. They put forward the idea of a collaboration between neighbouring farms to protect wildlife in the Sabi Sands.

In 1950 this idea became reality and the Sabi Sand Wildtuin was established. This unified a collection of land and landowners under a common constitution. They all committed to wildlife protection in the Sabi Sands.

(map of the Sabi Sands)

In 1961 fences were established around the Sabi Sand game reserve. On the western boundary fences were constructed by the Sabi Sand Wildtuin to keep dangerous game out of communities living to the west of the reserve. This fence has now been upgraded to an electric fence and remains in place today.

On the Eastern border lay the Kruger National Park. Due to the threat of foot and mouth travelling through these wild areas, the South African government constructed a fence on the eastern border of the Sabi Sands (known as the western fence as it lay to the west of Kruger National Park) [7] . This stopped the natural migration of Wildebeest, elephant and other game that travelled vast distances between the unfenced reserve areas. Droughts in 1962 were devastating for animal populations. Wildebeest, unable to migrate north, died in their thousands along the fence separating the Sabi Sands and Kruger National Park. Whilst much is being done, the wildebeest populations have still not recovered to their previous numbers.

In 1992 Londolozi successfully campaigned for the removal of the western fence that separated the Sabi Sands and Kruger National Park. This allows animals to return to roaming their once vast territories that have been restored.

Boyd Varty Snr (son of Charles Varty) raised Dave and John Varty on Sparta; the boys would visit the farm every winter. They grew up hunting lions, which was seen as the norm at the time, but this was not the path they were to take. On the 30th of August in 1969 Boyd Varty passed away. The boys, still teenagers, were unsure of how they would continue to manage the farm. Maiddie Varty, Boyd’s wife, was left in a predicament and was advised to sell Sparta.

John and Dave Varty detested this suggestion and Maiddie turned down lucrative offers on condition that the boys covered their costs on the game reserve. John and Dave pursued tertiary education and proposed that Sparta be converted to a photographic safari business.

For all hunting to be deceased and conservation of animals to be prioritised.

A quote from Dave Varty’s the full circle: “The night before our first year business administration exams, John pulled the word ‘Londolozi’ (‘the protector of all living things’) out of a Zulu dictionary and our safari business was born. We had no doubt that this was where our future lay”.

John and Dave set up a ‘rough it’ safari. The guests would pay R3 per day for their safari experience.

Ecotourism at Londolozi Game Reserve

The Conservation Development Model

Londolozi Mission Statement in 1972 was to create a model in wise land management by using the many qualities of the natural system and by integrating our visitors with the environment and the local people to the benefit of all. The primary objective was to demonstrate that man and wildlife can interact on a sustainable basis.

In 1976 Dave, John and Shan Varty established the conservation development model. It was established on the basis that a mutually beneficial partnership can be constructed between the land, the people and wildlife.

Ken Tinley, a wildlife management specialist, studied Londolozi’s systems and introduced conservation practices. His report, Management of the Sabi-Sand Wildtuin [8] , was released in 1979 and detailed how Londolozi could instill better landcare practices.  

In 1979 Londolozi and SANParks pioneered the capture and safe transportation of live elephants from Kruger National Park to the Sabi Sands. This proved conclusively the potential for relocating and establishing new populations and gene-pools in other reserves throughout Africa.

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References

  1. ↑ "Londolozi Location & Directions, Kruger National Park Official Website".
  2. ↑ "Top 100 Hotels & Resorts in the World: Readers' Choice Awards 2014." 20 Oct. 2014, https://www.cntraveler.com/gallery/top-100-hotels-and-resorts-in-the-world-readers-choice-awards-2014
  3. ↑ "Londolozi: Towards a Sustainable Business Model and Ecological Integrity in Southern Africa", by Rawi E. Abdelal and Thomas Koelble (January 2009). https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=36233
  4. ↑ "Londolozi Game Reserve, Relais & Châteaux partner page".
  5. ↑ "Remembering Madiba" - Londolozi Blog Post in tribute to Mandela.https://blog.londolozi.com/2013/12/06/nelson-mandel/
  6. ↑ "Londolozi Impact". londolozi.africa. Retrieved 2022-06-15.
  7. ↑ SAfari, G. O. "Sabi Sands Game Reserve shares a non-fenced boundary of 50 km (31 mi) with the Kruger National Park to its east". gosafari.co.za. Retrieved 2022-06-15.
  8. ↑ "Thesis_Hum_2008_hendry_j.pdf - University of Cape Town" (PDF).
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