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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
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most important cheetah meta
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populations throughout southern Africa.
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Phinda has been chosen as a release site
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for pangolins that have been
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confiscated from poachers and
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saved from the illegal wildlife trade.
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The pangolin is arguably
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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
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June 2019, before that pangolins have
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been completely extinct from the reserve.
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Over time, these animals have now
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established home ranges, territories,
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and thankfully have even had pups.
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It is also an educational ground -
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numerous researches occur here
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every year.
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A lot of data has been collected and
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that has resulted
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in numerous PhDs, Master's projects, also
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suitable protocols being
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out there on what's
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the right way for soft-releasing lions
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into new areas.
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I have been here a few weeks volunteering
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with African Conservation Experience,
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participating on all the daily tasks
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needed for animal management
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and conservation like:
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monitoring, data collection, updating ID
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profiles of animals, tracking using
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some of the most modern technologies,
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trying to understand.
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So what is the reason
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of this overwhelming conservation success?
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Is it the modern technology and their
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ability to use
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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
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are actually tools
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and what we're doing is collecting data
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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 utilize
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conservation tourism and
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volunteerism to fund these projects?
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Around the world, many protected areas are
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underfunded. Allowing visitors to
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observe exciting and important
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conservation tasks provides additional
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source of funding for necessary
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management activities,
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such as ecosystem monitoring,
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anti-poaching patrols, invasive species
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eradication, and environmental
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educational programs.
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Tourism potentially has a big role to play
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in education
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when it comes to conservation.
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One of the best things is there's
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so many people that care
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and that's just really lovely to see.
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Just spreading the word of, like,
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the sort of work that's done here, trying
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to get more funding and letting people
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know how important this is to preserve,
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is really important.
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When people connect with nature
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during their travels,
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when they see first-hand how hard it is to
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protect our nature and what goes into it,
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it can lead them into being
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more appreciative
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and become more invested in protecting it.
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I think the fact we don't know what
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we're gonna see or discover
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each day... it's very exciting.
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Like every day I've done so far has been
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really different.
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And I've had a really unique experience
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seeing loads of animals that are
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endangered.
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So I'd say I'm pretty lucky.
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Of course, it is all of the above and more
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This project truly exists
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due to the exceptional management and
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the work of numerous passionate people
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that spend
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hours and days in the bush,
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making sure that the
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area is thriving while educating tourists
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and visitors, and conducting research
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that helps other organizations
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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
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and expand it over a few
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years, and see the movement of
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different species, how they react to
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different weather conditions and habitats
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and different influences like that
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Seeing their movement data,
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how long it's taken them
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to settle in this reserve,
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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,
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hands-on things, if we
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need help lifting something
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or moving things,
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photos for ID kits, like lots of
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different small contributions
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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
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the benefit of having tourism in the area,
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they are more inclined
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to wanting to keep the area wild
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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
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sustains itself.