#BabanangoGameReserve’s rewilding efforts secures more wildlife

After many years of rewilding and significant efforts, KwaZulu-Natal’s Babanango Game Reserve recently attained full Big 5 status, and is now home to lion, rhino, buffalo, leopard and elephant, among many other species.

Now, according to Tourism Update, the reserve announced that they have succesfully reintroduced another seven elephants from Eastern Cape’s Addo Elephant National Park to the 20 000-hectare property.

This introduction of the elephants brings the total number of these gentle giants at the reserve to a grand 16, with the initial reintroduction starting off with a breeding herd of seven elephants from the Manyoni Private Game Reserve in Maputaland, followed by two bulls from Tembe Elephant Park.

Prior to that, elephants had been absent from the Babanango region in Zululand for 150 years.

Ryan Andraos, General Manager, Conservation and Operations at Babanango Game Reserve, said that incredibly delighted to see the elephants at Babanango Game Reserve.

“This incredible milestone was only possible thanks to so much hard work being done for so many years by so many dedicated people. No words can describe the delight of seeing these pachyderms moving through this magnificent landscape,” Andraos said as per Tourism Update.

Cheetahs Call the Reserve Home

The reserve also only just last year introduced two male cheetahs to the area, for the first time in nearly 200 years.

The two rewilded cheetahs, who are brothers, were brought in from the Roam Private Game Reserve in the Western Cape in May last year, and they now happily call Babanango home.