A unique partnership between Zulu Kingdom African Traces, Space for Elephants (SEF) and Thanda Foundation has given creation to the Thanda Foundation SEF Foundation Research Centre.  Based at Thanda Private Game Reserve and incorporating the skills and experience of two key service providers, the co-operation agreement between the three parties was undertaken to bolster eco-tourism opportunities for local people through training, conservation and research, and lead the way in wildlife management practices, through the completion of field research programs of international standard.

The project philosophy and long-term objectives include:

• To facilitate the process of removing fences between conservation and less human populated areas by:
  1. Organizing meetings with stakeholders to gain co-operation
  2. Updating and stimulating information flow between management, research, tourism and local communities about progress and development of corridors
  3. Justifying and certifying corridors at government level
• To facilitate in:
  1. Training and incorporating local people in the ecotourism industry, management, conservation and research
  2. Incorporating the latest ecological principles, management practices and biodiversity concepts, from up to date scientific research, in the training of all volunteers, tour guides and wildlife managers at a local wildlife training school
• Creating awareness and educating the public and local communities on:
  1. Conservative and sustainable resource
  2. Conservation of wildlife, local culture and ancient indigenous knowledge
• Conducting research of international standard that will benefit management and conservation of biodiversity and healthy ecosystem functioning of natural processes in and around protected areas
• Stimulating the migration of wildlife through corridors via resource manipulation and by creating mental maps using positive and negative reinforcement in suitable and less suitable habitat
• Providing consultation for managers of protected areas and assisting with ecological management practices where possible
• Managing wildlife-human interactions surrounding protected areas by providing support and advice especially to local people living at wildlife ‘hotspots’

The main fields of research with the associated research projects include:

• Compiling a biodiversity database (e.g. vegetation and bird distribution maps which will help in the identification of ecologically-sensitive areas)
• Setting up a long-term monitoring program to provide management with scientific sound information on how the system is functioning and changing (e.g. grass monitoring sites, elephant impact assessments, fixed photo points, game counts)
• Assisting with ecological management monitoring (e.g. alien plant, erosion, and bush encroachment control)
• Long-term monitoring of endangered and keystone animal species to promote better management and conservation (e.g. direct monitoring of elephant movement and decrease pressure on ecologically-sensitive areas)
• Fundamental research to understand the mechanisms behind ecosystem functioning using experimentation (e.g. erecting animal / fire enclosure plots to understand the causes  of problems such as bush encroachment)
• Research on sustainable resource use (e.g. projects on the impact of local communities on natural resources such as wood removal, establishment of ecological carrying capacity of such activities and investigation of alternative energy sources)

For further details, please contact:

Zulu Kingdom African Traces
Dulcie Delvaux
Email: dulcie@zulukingdom.co.za
Tel: 078 261 2485

Space for Elephants Foundation
Diggs Pascoe
Email: digs@zulukingdom.co.za
Tel: 082 926 2571