Owen captures a clash between the elephants and a massive herd of buffalo at the waterhole. While the youngsters are feeling playful, the drought also leads to more competition between species around the limited water sources.
Juan, our sustainability manager, shares insight into our efforts and intentions to fill more dams:
“This is an extensive natural environment, over 16 000 hectares large. Along with natural water sources, the man made dams in our reserve are made along seasonal waterways so they do dry up naturally, which ensures that animals do not overutilise a spot and are forced to move. We are planning on providing one waterhole consistently with a well. But it is also part of an African ecosystem for animals to not overuse a specific spot and to move — so if there is constantly water they will overutilise an area. Still, we do want to provide a well for one of the dams. It is quite expensive and unfavourable to have too many water wells.”
For this dam seen in today’s video, Juan adds: “We fill this waterhole directly from the river pump. We pump water directly from the Klaserie River running next to our property. The main pump is located in a small pump house beside the river. The main pump then pumps the water through the main line to the Bana Grass, and it splits to the water purification plant and this dam.“
The Klaserie River has water still, thanks to a man-made dam called Kubu Dam that holds water back through the dry season. As the dry season progresses, the water level will drop, but it is sufficient to carry us through the dry season.