One Heck Of A Ride

99 H ow things can change. In 1969, “Safari, Pan Am’s Guide to Hunting With Gun and Camera Around the World” told readers this about the Republic of South Africa: “SOUTH AFRICA – There is little hunting in this country. Some hunting for nyala and other antelope is possible in Zululand, northern Natal, and visitors can arrange to shoot small game on private land. But it is no longer the land of big safaris or record kills. Early settlers, both black and white, reduced the once-teeming herds of South Africa to such an extent that many species were in danger of becoming extinct. ... Virtually all species of game, including many bird varieties, are protected and even on private farms shooting is strictly controlled. While shooting with a gun is now almost out of the question, hunting with a camera can be richly rewarding.” There are many similarities in the histories of the United States of America and South Africa. For us, it began in 1492 with Columbus seeking a shorter route to the East Indies. For South Africa, it began four years earlier with the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias sailing around the Cape of Good Hope. Both countries were settled by Europeans who wrestled the land from indigenous peoples and created the most prosperous nations on their continents. Both surmounted shameful pasts that included slavery and, later, what was called “segregation” here and “apartheid” in South Africa. Both countries also came very close to losing their wildlife. As our civilization advanced westward from the Atlantic Ocean and northward out of what now is Mexico, we lost the passenger pigeon, California and southwestern grizzly bears and the Merriam and eastern elk. Pronghorn antelope, Chapter 10 South Africa A Conservation Success Story desert sheep, wolves, beaver and several types of waterfowl and egrets came dangerously close to extinction. In South Africa, as settlers moved north from Cape Town, the Cape lion, quagga and bluebuck were persecuted to extinction, and black and white rhinos, bontebok, giraffe, sable antelope and black wildebeest were in serious trouble. Fortunately, although both countries followed separate paths to accomplish it, both nations successfully restored their wildlife populations during the twentieth century. In the United States, with vast amounts of public land in our western states, the efforts were led by sportsmen(and women) working with the state wildlife agencies they had helped create and fund. In South Africa, restoration began in the 1960s with a new generation of landowners (many were descendants of those who had worked diligently to clear the land and eliminate wildlife) who saw potential profits in raising wildlife instead of cattle, sheep and goats. By the late 1950s, with nearly 80% of its land in private ownership, there were few large wild mammals remaining outside of South Africa’s parks when some farmers (we call them ranchers) began selling their livestock and erecting game- proof fences to manage wild game. At first, they sold only meat, hides and tallow locally. As the game farming industry developed international markets for animal products, some farmers specialized in raising large antelopes such as wildebeest, kudu and eland for sale to other farmers at game auctions. Others specialized in capturing, transporting and releasing entire herds of live antelope across South Africa. Before the end of the twentieth century, wildlife populations were thriving again in South Africa. Even the white and black rhinos that