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Thula Thula Private Game Reserve | |
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Location | KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa |
Nearest town | Empangeni, South Africa |
Coordinates | 28°35′24″S31°45′27″E / 28.59000°S 31.75750°E |
Area | 4500ha |
Established | 1911 |
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Thula Thula Private Game Reserve is a private game reserve situated in Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa. It is part of the Royal Zulu Biosphere.
Thula Thula means ‘peace and tranquility’ in Zulu.
Thula Thula was once the private hunting grounds of the mighty Zulu Warrior, King Shaka. The first historic meeting between Shaka and his father, Senzangakhona, which set the stage for the creation of the Zulu Nation, [1] took place at the Nseleni River at Thula Thula.
The land became a game reserve in 1911 and is believed[ by whom? ] to be the oldest private game reserve in KwaZulu-Natal.
The reserve has two lodges.
Thula Thula was owned and operated by international conservationist and founder of the Earth Organization Lawrence Anthony, and by his wife Francoise Malby-Anthony. The reserve is the setting for Lawrence's books The Elephant Whisperer (2009) [2] and The Last Rhinos (2012). [3]
Following Anthony's death in 2012 the Earth Organization was separated from Thula Thula; Francoise Malby-Anthony founded the South African Conservation Fund [4] and continues to run the reserve.
In 2018 Francoise Malby-Anthony published a sequel to Lawrence's books titled An Elephant in my Kitchen (2018) [5]
Thula Thula is home to a wide variety of animals, including African bush elephant, Cape buffalo, southern white rhinoceros, African leopard, South African giraffe, zebra, nyala, hyena, Nile crocodile, kudu, wildebeest as well as other indigenous species. Over 350 species of birdlife has been identified, including a breeding population of white-backed vulture.
Since Lawrence's death in 2012, his wife Francoise has started various conservation projects including a Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and a Conservation Volunteer Camp. For her effort in conservation Francoise was awarded the French Abroad Award at the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs in Paris in March 2019. [6]
In 1999 Lawrence Anthony was asked to accept a herd of 'rogue' wild elephants from Mpumalanga onto Thula Thula which were destined to be shot unless alternative arrangements could be made. The herd was housed in a boma on Thula Thula but managed to break free and escape. The elephants were successfully tracked, recovered and transported back to Thula Thula. The story of their rehabilitation and Lawrence's subsequent relationship with the herd is told in his book The Elephant Whisperer. The elephant herd, including Nana, Frankie and Mabula are still at Thula Thula as of 2018. The herd had grown to 29 elephants as of 2018. The matriarch Frankie died of a liver failure in January 2021, leaving 28 elephants remaining at Thula Thula. [7]
Zulu people are a native people of Southern Africa of the Nguni. The Zulu people are the largest ethnic group and nation in South Africa, living mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal.
KwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu and Natal Province.
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KwaZulu-Natal is one of the most diverse provinces in South Africa in terms of its fauna and flora. Many of its wide variety of ecosystems have been preserved as parks and reserves, which are popular tourist attractions. Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife is a governmental agency that maintains the wildlife conservation areas in the province.
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The Maputaland coastal forest mosaic is a subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion on the Indian Ocean coast of Southern Africa. It covers an area of 29,961 square kilometres (11,568 sq mi) in southern Mozambique, Eswatini, and the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa. Mozambique's capital Maputo lies within the ecoregion.
Lawrence Anthony was a South African conservationist, environmentalist, explorer and author. He was the long-standing head of conservation at the Thula Thula animal reserve in Zululand, South Africa, and the Founder of The Earth Organization, a privately registered, independent, international conservation and environmental group. He was an international member of the Explorers Club of New York and a member of the National Council of the Southern Africa Association for the Advancement of Science.
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The Zulu Kingdom, sometimes referred to as the Zulu Empire, was a monarchy in Southern Africa. During the 1810s, Shaka established a standing army that consolidated rival clans and built a large following which ruled a wide expanse of Southern Africa that extended along the coast of the Indian Ocean from the Tugela River in the south to the Pongola River in the north.
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An Elephant in my Kitchen, published in July 2018 by Pan Macmillan in London, is the first book written by South African author and conservationist Françoise Malby-Anthony along with author Katja Willemsen.
The South African Association for Marine Biological Research (SAAMBR), is a non-government, non profit company and public benefit organisation which contributes to the conservation of marine and coastal resources in the Western Indian Ocean, founded in 1951.