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Looking at those shots
it's really hard to believe

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that this currently thriving area in

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South Africa was once 
dedicated to cattle and

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pineapple farms, with almost 
no biodiversity and wildlife.

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Phinda was established in collaboration 
with the local Zulu tribal

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community to rehabilitate the ecosystem,

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allowing for the return
of the wildlife that

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had once flourished in this area.

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Phinda is local Zulu word for 'return'.

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Animals were brought in from
other regions of southern Africa to

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establish new populations
in the conservancy.

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There is a lot of doom-and-gloom stories
about biodiversity.

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However, this story is a hopeful one.

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Phinda is a modern success
conservation story

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so stick around around to learn
how they managed to do it.

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I think the key to success for
Phinda is the fact that

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they've used this ecotourism model
to benefit not only the reserve itself

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but also the local communities
surrounding them.

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A lot of work goes into
managing 30,000 hectares:

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making sure that animals are healthy,

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that they are reproducing,
but not inbreeding,

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that herbivores do not
overgraze the land,

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that territorial animals have
enough space and do not

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compete between each other,
that invasive species

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of plants are under control,
that the areas will be protected

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by anti-poaching units,
and that is all while still

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running lodges and operating tourism
and voluntourism in the area

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that brings much needed funding
towards conservation.

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With the data collected here
by our volunteers

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that go out every day with one of our
Ecological Monitors

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that data feeds live
into our data systems,

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which we can then analyse.

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This helps us to make
our management decisions.

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Animal populations in Phinda are thriving

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from an initial population
of just 30 white rhinos,

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Phinda now has one of the largest
white rhino populations in Africa

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and have been relocating
and repopulating rhinos

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to other reserves and countries,
due to their success at protecting them.

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This is also facilitated what we call
Rhinos Without Borders,

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so where our white rhinos
have been translocated to Botswana

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to start at the founding population there.
Phinda is the first private game reserve

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ever to be a part of the
Black Rhino Range Expansion Project,

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so this is a project together with WWF.

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The cheetah population here
has grown so successfully

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that some individuals were relocated to
other parts of southern Africa

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to establish healthy
cheetah populations there.

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Cheetah alone, Phinda and the MunYaWana

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is currently seen as one of the most important cheetah meta

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populations throughout southern Africa.

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Phinda has been chosen as a release site for

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pangolins that have been confiscated from poachers and

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saved from the illegal wildlife trade. The

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pangolin is arguably the most trafficked animal

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on earth leading to their disappearance in

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the world.

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So pangolins were reintroduced here in June

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2019, before that pangolins have

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been completely extinct from the reserve. Over

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time, these animals have now established home

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ranges, territories, and thankfully have even

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had pups. It is also an educational ground -

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numerous researches occur here

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every year. A lot

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of data has been collected and that has resulted

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in numerous PhDs, Master's projects, also

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suitable protocols being out there on what's

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the right way for soft-releasing lions

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into new areas. I have been here

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a few weeks volunteering with African Conservation Experience and

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participating on all the daily tasks needed

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for animal management and conservation like monitoring,

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data collection, updating ID

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profiles of animals, tracking using

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some of the most modern technologies, trying to

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understand. So what is the reason

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of this overwhelming conservation success? Is

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it the modern technology and their

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ability to use camera traps, telemetry, satellites,

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drones, acoustic sensors, a variety of

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apps for data collection and analysis?

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This project is neat because our cameras are actually tools and what

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we're doing is collecting data that's going to help us identify these

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individuals in the wild at a later date.

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Is it their ability to utilise conservation tourism and

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voluntourism to fund these projects? Around

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the world, many protected areas are

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underfunded. Allowing visitors to

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observe exciting and important conservation tasks provides additional

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source of funding for necessary

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management activities, such as ecosystem monitoring,

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anti-poaching patrols, invasive species

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eradication, and environmental educational programmes.

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Tourism potentially has a big role to

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play in education when it comes to conservation. One

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of the best things is there's

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so many people that care and that's just really lovely

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to see. Just spreading the word of, like, the sort of work that's done

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here, trying to get more funding and letting people

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know how important this is to preserve, is really important.

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When people connect with nature during their travels, when

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they see first-hand how hard it is

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to protect our nature and what goes into it, it can lead

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them into being more appreciative and become

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more invested in protecting it.

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I think the fact we don't know what we're gonna see or discover

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each day... it's very exciting, like every day I've done so far has been

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really different. And I've had a really unique experience seeing

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loads of animals that are endangered. So

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I'd say I'm pretty lucky.

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Of course, it is all of the above and more. This project truly

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exists due to the exceptional management and

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the work of numerous passionate people that spend

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hours and days in the bush, making sure that the

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area is thriving while educating tourists and

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visitors, and conducting research that helps other

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organisations and reserves to obtain

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this success as well.

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We mainly focus on movement data and being

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able to correlate all of that and expand it over a few

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years, and see the movement of different species, how they react

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to different weather conditions and habitats and different influences

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like that. Seeing their movement data, how long it's taken them

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to settle in this reserve, will be useful for other reserves

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who want to do the same thing.

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Your time and your effort

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really help with things like, hands-on things, if we

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need help lifting something or moving things, photos

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for ID kits, like lots of

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different small contributions that add up to larger contributions.

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I hope that this success story got you

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inspired and serves as a hopeful reminder.

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When people start seeing the benefit of having tourism

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in the area, they are more inclined

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to wanting to keep the area wild and they also

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support these new ventures that are

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being undertaken.

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We want to use tourism to expand,

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you know, conservation areas and, not just

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expand but to ensure that it sustains itself.