WSJ Magazine -- Tswalu Kalahari Reserve

[jpr9954]

Why do I get the feeling that hunting is not permitted on this private game reserve? It does seem a shame.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/south-...p2htjzjj7mx&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

From the article:

Tswalu Kalahari Reserve was founded in 1995 when the English entrepreneur and conservationist Stephen Boler purchased 28 cattle and sheep farms and set about repopulating the land with wildlife. After Boler’s death, the reserve was acquired and then expanded by the Oppenheimer family, whose forefathers founded the global mining company Anglo American and long controlled most of South Africa’s diamond industry through stakes and leadership in De Beers. (The family sold its stakes in De Beers in 2012 and now owns Oppenheimer Generations, a collection of businesses and nonprofits.) “From an ecological perspective, it’s returning the Kalahari to itself,” says Jonathan Oppenheimer, a great-grandson of Anglo American’s founder and a board member and owner of Tswalu.


To pay for the reserve’s conservation model, the family looked to high-end tourism and developed two properties. First, Tarkuni, the Oppenheimers’ former vacation home, and then Motse, a luxury stone-and-thatch camp with nine spacious suites. (Prices range from $1,300 to $1,800 per person per night.) Guests spend their days on game drives scouring for lions, cheetahs, wild dogs, black and white rhinos, meerkats and, if they’re lucky, pangolin and aardvark. In the evenings, they can sample elevated local dishes at acclaimed chef Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen’s Restaurant Klein Jan. There’s horseback riding, visits to ancient rock art sites, guided walks and excursions to interact with the meerkat colonies.

 

[Dinsdale]

Its a photographic camp and no hunting.

Has a good reputation and is oft mentioned as a unique place to go in SA other then Kruger/APNR if one has been there and wants to see something different.

Was also a featured on SafariLive’s drives for a while.

I know someone who freelance guides there.

 

[spike.t]

A friend back where I come from was quite a good mate of bolers...and from my understanding he was into hunting along with his partners in the place...my friend went there with them...I believe he passed away when he was arriving there on his private jet..heart attack...took off and flew to hospital but too late....so place was put up for sale and oppenheimers bought it...

 

[Piet Brood]

I have friends who frequent the reserve and apparently it is a very special place. Whether the conservation model washes its own face I cannot say.

De Beers owns extensive agricultural land around the Northern Cape in South Africa (and apparently Botswana). Rooipoort Nature Reserve is one of these gems (pun intended). I believe Cecil John Rhodes acquired it for shooting purposes while at the helm of De Beers. Growing up in Kimberley we used to hunt some of these properties annually. In recent years they have gone completely green and banned hunting on their properties completely. I am also not sure whether their current conservation model (breeding and live sale of game) is washing its own face.

Whether hunting is allowed on these properties or not, I am all for having large pieces of land exclusively dedicated to wild animals and the preservation of the natural environment.

 

[Nyati]

I know the area, have hunted several times at a property close to R357, and have actually attented one of their game auctions.
Now this is very very funny, I don´t hunt but sell my animals to hunting farms, so that makes me very green, hypocrites !