Wildlife ACT, a leading African conservation organisation, is calling attention to and actively mitigating the concerning decline of South African vulture populations through their South African Southern Drakensberg Conservation Project. The project, which falls under the organisation’s Vulture Conservation Programme, calls on volunteers worldwide to assist in daily on-the-ground conservation efforts in the Southern Drakensberg region in KwaZulu-Natal.
Picture: Casey Pratt / Love Africa Marketing
Despite being critical to our ecosystems, vulture numbers are in serious decline, with only 50 to 100 breeding pairs of bearded vultures in South Africa and Lesotho and about 4 500 breeding pairs of Cape vultures left in South Africa. Through the assistance of a volountourism model, this Project aims to further regional conservation efforts for endangered and priority wildlife species, with a significant focus on the vulnerable Cape vulture and the regionally critically endangered bearded vulture.
Made possible through a collaboration between Wildlife ACT, the Drakensberg Conservation Initiative and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, this project forms part of Wildlife ACT’s ongoing efforts to monitor and protect endangered and priority species and to assist in the effective management of protected areas. The project involves the monitoring of nesting sites, managing and maintaining safe vulture feeding sites, conducting a long-term remote camera trapping survey in the area, and responding to emergency events.
‘We are excited about the Southern Drakensberg Conservation Project and look forward to focusing some significant energy on the regionally critically endangered bearded vulture,’ says Chris Kelly, co-founder of Wildlife ACT. ‘Vultures play a critical role in maintaining healthy ecosystems, and their decline is a serious concern. We hope to make a positive impact on the conservation of these magnificent birds within the Southern Drakensberg region.’
A stronghold for vultures
The Southern Drakensberg Conservation Project takes place both in and around the Maloti-Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site in South Africa, a crucial stronghold for several threatened and endangered species. The Heritage Site is a vast protected area spanning over 240 000 hectares and stretching along the border of South Africa and Lesotho. This protected area is home to an incredible diversity of plants and animals, including over 2 000 species of plants and a variety of rare and endangered animal species.
Why it’s important
Picture: Casey Pratt / Love Africa Marketing
The Southern Drakensberg Conservation Project is heavily focused on vulture conservation, helping to conserve South Africa’s two cliff-nesting species of vulture found in the area, namely the bearded vulture and the Cape vulture.
Due to their regionally critically endangered International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List status; the bearded vulture is of particular concern for this project. The bearded vulture has experienced a drastic decline during the past century, resulting in an isolated local population restricted to the Maloti-Drakensberg mountain range.
Vultures face numerous threats, including poisoning, electrocutions and collisions with energy infrastructure, habitat loss and food shortages. Not only are these birds a vital part of our ecosystem; but they are also equipped with a digestive system that contains special acids able to handle numerous diseases that are seriously harmful to human beings, making their protection critically important for preventing the spread of disease.
‘Vultures provide vital ecosystem services in our natural, agricultural, and rural environments,’ explains Wildlife ACT’s Vulture Conservation Programme Manager, Anel Olivier. ‘The important role they play in the cycling of nutrients through the highly-efficient disposal of organic waste from the environment is of utmost importance to human health and environmental integrity. They are adapted to efficiently dispose of rotting flesh and bone, as well as other organic waste, thereby reducing the spread of disease amongst wildlife and livestock, as well as abating the risk of pathogen spill-over to humans.’
Volunteers worldwide are invited to participate in and support this project through Wildlife ACT’s voluntourism model.
A voluntourism initiative
Picture: Casey Pratt / Love Africa Marketing
To sustain the work being done at its various projects, Wildlife ACT offers a voluntourism model that allows volunteers from around the world to actively participate in conservation efforts while working alongside knowledgeable professionals. The work done and funds received enable conservation efforts to continue sustainably.
The project provides volunteers with a unique opportunity to gain on-the-ground experience in conservation work with vultures. Volunteers will work alongside Wildlife ACT’s experienced conservation team to monitor individuals and nests, conduct research, manage vulture-safe feeding sites, conduct camera trap surveys and much more.
During their time at the project, volunteers live in a farmhouse situated in the buffer zone surrounding the Maloti-Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site, surrounded by breathtaking scenery.
‘If you’re passionate about conservation and love nature, fresh mountain air, hiking and birdlife then you’ll feel right at home at the project,’ says Phillip Swart, Priority Species Monitor, Southern Drakensberg. ‘We like to keep active out in the field, while still taking time to admire the beauty and wildlife around us. We are making a positive difference for vulture conservation on a global scale but need the support of volunteers to continue to do so.’
Excitement ahead
As South Africa heads into the colder months of their year, the bearded vultures of the Maloti-Drakensberg region prepare to nest. As a result, winter tends to be a busy time of the year for vulture conservation and those joining the Southern Drakensberg Conservation Project as volunteers can expect lots of activity.
Wildlife ACT is hopeful that the breeding season will prove successful and that volunteers will join to help support and sustain this important conservation project.
For more information, visit Wildlife ACT.
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