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Conservation projects and eco management:
Our reserve is ones of diverse topography and vegetation ranging from wide-open
plains to beautiful mountainous areas, enabling us to naturally sustain the widest
variety of game possible. It boasts over 40 species of game including Sable Antelope,
Nyala, Oryx, Eland, Giraffe, (disease free) Buffalo, White Rhino and well over 300
species of resident and migrant birds.
We are members of the Waterberg Nature Conservancy which is made up of numerous
private game reserves covering an area of 150 000ha. This all falls within the
Waterberg Biosphere Reserve. The Biosphere Reserve promotes conservation and the
sustainable use of natural resources within it's boundaries.
Our property is managed by utilizing the following management tools where necessary:
Controlled burning
Alien plant control
Game population control
Bush encroachment
Road maintenance
Erosion control
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We have been awarded 4 stars by
Eco-Hotels of the World |
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Some of our projects are as follows:
Sable Breeding project:
South Africa is the southern most limit of the Common/Southern African Sable Antelope, with marginal prime habitat available. They are presently described as a conservation dependant species. Their numbers have noticeably dropped from an estimated 36 000 in the 40’s to +- 3200 in the 80’s. Presently believed to be about 700 in the Waterberg region.
Our objectives of breeding Sable Antelope are:
- Breeding of a conservation dependant species
- Increase the numbers of a conservation dependant species for the general well being and future of the species
- Prevent inbreeding of a conservation dependant species
- To run the project in an ecological sound manner taking into consideration the natural behaviour and habitat of the species and to promote an understanding to visitors of the importance of such a project
- To gather information on their behaviour to gain a better understanding of these animals
Ants Nest Sable breeding project began in 2001, with a core breeding herd consisting
of five animals which were free ranging on Ants Nest. Without the control and full time
management of such species habitat and diet specifications, the outcome was unsuccessful,
as one calf was born in the wrong season, in the middle of winter, therefore died from
not obtaining sufficient milk from its mother.
Another cow died from not habituating, and slowly lost condition. Another cow died from
eating a poisonous plant.
The decision was made that a necessary management programme was to be implemented in order
for a successful sable breeding project to be sustainable.
From the time the breeding project started until date, the sable population dynamics at Ants Africa has grown to an astonishing number of 56 animals. The conclusion to a rigid and comprehensive management Breeding programme is the successes to a species such as the sable, which was almost on the verge of extinction.
Leopard conservation:
We support the conservation of Leopard in the Waterberg area. Lourens Swanepoel, through the Centre for Wildlife Management, University of Pretoria, has been doing research in this area for the past 2½ years. His main objectives have been to determine home ranges, diet and the attitudes of farmers towards leopard conservation. His work continues in this area and we collect information for him on leopard sightings, leopard spoor, leopard kills as well as any other predator or local information we may attain.
Birds in Reserves Project (BIRP):
Our properties are both registered with the Avian Demographic Unit (University of Cape Town) for BIRP. This is a project which aims to gather information to improve conservation efforts and knowledge of birdlife. Bird species and behaviour are recorded and submitted regularly.
Disease free Buffalo:
At Ant's we have been involved with a disease free, buffalo breeding project. Because of South Africa's extensive beef production and export, it has been imperative that any buffalo in the country do not contaminate the national herd. The buffalo in the Kruger National Park are all carriers of bovine Tuberculosis, Foot and Mouth disease, Brucellosis and Corridor disease, so cannot be moved into any part of the rest of the country. From a small gene pool of buffalo from Addo National park, in the Eastern cape and from international zoo's, a strain of buffalo that never carried these diseases have enabled small populations of buffalo to be established, under strict conditions in former cattle ranching areas.
Buffalo are one of the toughest and exciting members of the big five, highly adaptable to any environment and being bulk grazers, play an important role in the environment. Eight years ago our project started with a wild bull and an ancient old cow. A year later, three cows and two bulls were added, and then four beautiful heifers from different genetic bloodlines. In order to continually upgrade the herd, the old bulls were all replaced with buffalo from the Kruger genetic line, that has one of the best diversities of African buffalo gene pool. These bulls have been very quiet and relaxed, and the herd has benefitted significantly from it and has grown to 30 animals to date. The buffalo that are sold off the property have to be put into quarantine to be tested for all the four endemic disease, and when tested negative, they can be translocated to new game reserves.
To date we have done most of the capture and darting of buffalo from horseback and this has fortunately eliminated the use of helicopters and the stress involved.
Waste disposal:
We are very aware of the amount of waste that we produce. As a lodge we recycle all our waste products. All rubbish is divided into plastics, paper, bottles, cans and compost.
Natural Fuel:
There is an on going pressure on all natural resources.
For one of our future projects which we would like to do in the next couple of years, we would like to be able to produce our own bio gas using the vast number of horse manure we have. This should be able to produce at least half of the electricity needed to run our camp.
Biological Fly control:
Our horses are constantly bothered by flies, particularly in the moist warm summers. We control our fly populations by using an environmentally friendly control (BioFly) which breaks the life-cycle of the flies. One fly produces 900 eggs per life cycle. The cycle is broken by introducing 2 wasp species (Muscifurax spp. and Nasonia spp.) These wasps are natural predators of the flies and naturally occur in South Africa. On hatching, the wasps mutilate fly eggs, larvae and pupae. As the fly numbers drop the wasps, host specific to these flies, die off too. We have introduced these wasps into our stable yard and around our compost heaps.
Wetlands:
We have created wetlands for the recycling of all our grey water. Water is a problem during our dry winter months. By recycling our grey water (bath and shower water) we will be able to continue growing vegetables as well as keeping the lodge gardens in tact during these dry months. The grey water is treated by running it through a system of small stones and wetland plants. The water runs into a storage tank from where we will pump it to our irrigation systems in the gardens.
Community support, training and upliftment:
The objective of the Ant Collection is to create sustainable tourism by means of conserving the environment around us, enriching the lives of our guests and staff alike as well as uplifting the community and providing as much skills development to the locals as possible.
Ant’s Nest and Ant’s Hill have chosen ACO as our local charity, we have over the last couple of years donated cash and meat directly for the soup kitchen as well as over 100 blankets for impoverished families. We were recently informed that there is a growing demand to contribute more towards the education of many of these under privileged children and have taken it upon ourselves to donate monthly towards the funding of education.
The lodges also sponsor local children by paying for their education at the Waterberg Academy which is the local private school
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