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June 06, 2011: A Fence Free Namib
On the 2nd of March 2011 staff and management of camps located on the Kulala Wilderness Reserve and NamibRand Nature Reserve met up and opened sections of the fence along the border between the farms of Geluk on Kulala Wilderness Reserve and Vreemdelingspoort on the NamibRand Nature Reserve.
The aim of this is to create a larger conservation area free of inhibitive fences, allowing animals greater freedom of movement as wildlife can now move more freely between the two reserves.
Kulala Wilderness Reserve consists of 36 500 hectares and NamibRand around 180 000 hectares, which now collectively opens up a combined total area of 216 500 hectares of conserved Namib and Pro-Namib vegetation. In a marginal environment such as this, the larger the surface area the better it is for wildlife.
On the big day, staff members of both reserves, consisting of various guides and managers, got together, dismantled and rolled up sections of the fence - especially in areas where it had been previously damaged where it was being used by animals to cross between the two reserves. With lots of hands on the day, this big task was completed by midday!
There were some staff members whose parents and some of the old hands from NamibRand Reserve staff who had put up and maintained the fence for years and so this was a truly liberating experience for all concerned to remove the fence.
The effects of expanding the range of a lot of locally-occurring wildlife will certainly be beneficial to both reserves. Game movement monitoring will continue in the area to see what happens.
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