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Game Ranch Management in South Africa

Sound ecological management
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Sound ecological management principles

Game ranches play a crucial role in the success in Conservation of game / wildlife in South Africa. Game Ranches are natural areas protected by private land owners and combined, cover more surface area than all the game reserves of South Africa, including the Kruger National Park.  The importance of sound ecological management principles is or must be the basis of any game ranch management strategy to ensure the survival of the game ranch and the industry.
Sound ecological management principles ensure maximum population growth of the animal populations on a game ranch with no or little degradation to the veld which has to sustain the animals, as the veld provide the antelope with nutrition, cover and water.

The ecological principles include(J. du P. Bothma):

• Size and shape of the Area
• Energy flow
• Ecological Capacity
• Ecosystem concept(Plant succession, Stability and resilience, Irregular events)
• Animal population dynamics(Births and deaths, Sex ratios, Age structure, Reproduction, Population growth,)
• Cross Breeding

Sound ecological management principles demand making an environmental analysis, taking in consideration the veld type and it’s characteristics, whether it is open savanna or forest, the quality of the veld, carrying capacity of the veld, browsing quality, grazing quality , geology, topography, climate,  etc.

These considerations need to be analysed to be able to set up a productive management plan for the game ranch for optimum utilization without degradation of the environment (sustainable utilization). Having made the environmental analysis, problem areas can be identified to improve the vegetation composition of those areas through various management strategies. These include combating erosion, bush encroachment, over grazing etc.

The ecological analysis only gives the game rancher guidelines, that need to be adhered to, to prevent the destruction of our precious natural resources. These ecological guidelines help recreate optimum habitat for the breeding of many game species in sustainable numbers to provide the game ranching industry with sufficient numbers of animals to keep it’s current positive growth rate with nature, and our own best interest, at heart.

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