Brad and Alice Preserve near Alexandria linked to Tanglewood Conservation Area in rewilding project
A key new nature reserve has been unveiled and fences have been lowered in a pioneering conservation corridor on the Bushman’s River which has the backing of a powerful US investor.
The two events were celebrated at a muddy but joyous ceremony at the new Brad and Alice Preserve in the rolling Albany thicket terrain northwest of Alexandria.
The preserve is now linked to the Tanglewood Conservation Area, forming the core of the fledgling Bushman’s River Biodiversity Corridor.
The 286ha preserve was purchased six months ago for the Global Humane Society by Florida-based board member Brad Andrews and his wife, Alice.
Tanglewood is owned by the Gqeberha-based Wilderness Foundation Africa.
The foundation is driving the corridor project with Conservation Landscapes Institute, under the auspices of the environment department.
Global Humane Society president Dr Robin Ganzert said the event marked the launch of the society’s first rewilding project in SA.
It was also an opportunity to honour the Andrews couple who, with other members of the Global Humane board, flew from the US to be there. Ganzert said the occasion was both a landmark moment for the society and “a bold and beautiful step forward for the future of our planet.
“This is a key step towards creating a protected environment which fosters biodiversity resilience and facilitates the natural movement of wildlife.”
She said the world had witnessed large-scale biodiversity loss in recent years, caused by climate change, erosion of habitat, overhunting and overfishing.
About one-million species were threatened with extinction, with many more at risk of disappearing within decades.
“So this is about legacy and demonstrating that conservation is not just a dream.
“It’s a movement built on action, compassion and science, which says yes to a future where humanity lives in harmony with the wild.”
The powerful Global Humane Society is the international arm of American Humane, which in 1877 became the first unified organisation of its kind in the US focusing on the prevention of cruelty, abuse, neglect and exploitation of children and animals.
Ganzert has become a regular visitor to the Eastern Cape in recent years since linking up with local eco-tourism pioneer Adrian Gardiner, who was also at the event on Thursday.
The Global Humane Society boss voiced her admiration for the work of Wilderness Foundation Africa chief executive Dr Andrew Muir and Conservation Landscapes Institute head Peter Chadwick, whose teams are driving the corridor.
“Thank you for showing the world what visionary conservation looks like,” she said.
Earlier, the guests were welcomed by the African Drumbeat musical troupe from Gqeberha, and choir singers and gumboot dancers from nearby Seven Fountains.
The two youth groups were formed by community leaders with the aim of keeping them away from crime and drugs.
Speaking after an exhortation of the spirits by a traditional praise singer, quiet-spoken Andrews said he had first come to SA as a young man to play rugby.
“I was playing American football, but got interested in the rugby union,” he said.
“We were lucky enough to have an excellent former All Blacks player who coached us.
“We came over to SA in 1986 and played Northern Transvaal at the Loftus Versveld Stadium — and won.”
He said as a youth he had studied life sciences with the idea of going into dentistry, but had started doing part-time work at various marine parks and, realising that was where his passions lay, he had decided to focus on that field.
He became friendly with Ganzert and, having convinced her that the Global Humane Society needed a programme focused on best practice at zoos and marine parks, he joined the society and rose to the position of global director of its humane conservation programme.
He said he had purchased the Bushman’s corridor land six months ago, but this was the first time he had actually seen it.
“I was convinced to make the purchase by the photographs I saw and the people involved, and what they said they wanted to do with it.
“And from what I’ve now seen it’s amazing.”
Muir said the Bushman’s River Biodiversity Corridor was one of nine possible corridors identified by a study commissioned by the foundation in 2019.
The aim was to pinpoint different potential corridors which would best protect wildlife, ecological processes and migration routes, as well as indigenous habitat and water resources.
“The aim with this particular corridor is to link the Great Fish River Nature Reserve through Kariega, Lalibela and Shamwari private game reserves and eventually Addo [Elephant National Park] as well.
“The Brad and Alice Preserve is a small property but, because of its position, it is core to what we are trying to achieve, which is to avoid fragmentation of wildlife habitat,” he said.
“With Tanglewood, this new preserve, and two other neighbours who have agreed to take down their fences, we already have 4,000ha.
“That’s how you begin, and we are very positive.”
He said the Eastern Cape was one of the most ecologically diverse regions in the world, and the foundation was delighted that key stakeholders such as the Global Humane Society were investing in securing its future.
“The Bushman’s River Biodiversity Corridor is a vital part of this landscape, linking protected areas, restoring essential ecological processes and fostering resilience against climate change.
“Each investment into this vision brings us closer to a connected, thriving landscape where conservation, communities and sustainable development can coexist for the benefit of nature and people.”
The participants at Thursday’s event included several potential investors, and Muir said he was confident that, through co-operative agreements with landowners, the remaining land needed to create the corridor would be quickly acquired.
He said the same approach would be taken as with the formation of the Baviaanskloof Mega-Reserve which the foundation drove in the early 2000s.
That project included different land acquisition models which emphasised conservation practices while considering diverse stakeholder interests, including owners who wanted to stay on the land.
“Our aim is to bring white rhino in here by the end of the year to enjoy the patches of open grassland.
“But this is really black rhino country and, at a later point, once we have got an anti-poaching team established, we will bring in black rhinos and elephants.”