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The second project embarked upon by the JAC Initiative is the community game reserve proposal known as the Bartlow Conservation Project or Mduna Royal Reserve. Adjacent to Thanda lies some 7500-ha of land which was previously the Nguni testing and breeding station, operated by the Department of Agriculture and Cedara Training College. Thanda has actively supported the Wildlands Conservation Trust, the Department of Agriculture, GTZ (German Development Agency) as well as the Ingonyama Trust Board and his Majesty King Goodwill kaBhekhuzulu in order to use this prime bushveld currently being used as a small-scale Nguni farming operation. The objective behind this collaboration is to develop a community game reserve to be used for game ranching which will also be an ecotourism destination. This potentially 'blue chip' project offers the best opportunity to embrace the principles of Community Based Natural Resource Management as a partnership between private enterprise (Thanda), Government (Department of Agriculture), communities (Mdletshe and Zulu) as well as the Ingonyama Trust Board and His Majesty, King Goodwill kaBhekuzulu, national government organisations such as The Wildlands Conservation Trust and the German Development Agency (GTZ).
Thanda sponsored the compilation of a comprehensive business plan as well as an economic and financial modelling exercise in order to establish a sustainable working solution for a partnership between private enterprise Thanda, the community, Ingonyama Trust and His Majesty King of the Zulu Nation.
The culmination of nearly three years of negotiations has resulted in an agreement in principal to establish a community reserve of some 7500-ha adjacent to Thanda’s 7200-ha. The long term view is that a larger area of wilderness will be created by combining Thanda with the community game reserve to establish a reserve that would sustain a herd of about twenty endangered black rhino along with larger herds of Big Five as well as plains game.
Some R 5.6-million was raised from the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism for the fencing off of the community reserve, alien weed eradication as well the training of 16 local community members with internships for the tourism industry. For the last two years, Thanda has also sponsored two local community leaders who act as facilitators and communicators for the two local community participants. The handover of the reserve to the community and, in turn the lease over all the land, by Thanda took place in February 2008. The lease is directly with the Ingonyama Trust who are the owners of the land although the community are a party to the agreement as they derive substantial benefits from the project. The annual rental for 6000-ha of land is R 1.8-million per annum, most of which is accrued to the local communities.
Thanda has also undertaken to either to raise funds for the purchase of game or to provide a soft loan to the community for such investment. The spin offs are unique as Thanda will manage the wildlife, security, anti poaching and operational reserve requirements in return for exclusive traversing rights for guests. An annual lease fee is also payable to the community through the agreement with the Ingonyama Trust Board. The idea is to also to create smaller BEE business opportunities to tender services for the project.
The idea of creating larger tracts of wilderness land to reintroduce herds of wildlife, coupled with the aspirations of the local people to become more involved in mainstream eco–tourism as well as game ranching, forms the driving force behind this project.
