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Tembe Elephant Park

Tembe Elephant Park

Date: 2014-06-13
Moves are in progress to form a Tembe Tuskers Foundation aimed at expanding the range of the Tembe elephant herd, possibly Africa's strongest gene pool of large tuskers.

The Tembe herd is the last remnant of the great herd that used to range between Durban and Maputo. It is today confined to 30 000ha of sand forest and savannah just beneath the Mozambique border.

Tembe Elephant Park is in the territory of the Tembe traditional authority. It is managed by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and the lodge in the park is jointly run by the traditional authority and a Durban-based entrepreneur.

The Foundation will seek to raise funds so that long-term leases can be arranged over adjoining land, enlarging the park so that numbers in the Tembe elephant gene pool can also be increased. It is hoped that Tembe will be able to link up with Ndumu Game Reserve, about 5 km away, and to expand eastward and southward as well.

At an Elephant Workshop in the Park this week, expert Dr Johan Marais, of Onderstepoort Veterinary College - who has studied elephants all over Africa - said that 300 years ago an estimated 40 percent off bull elephants were "100 pounders" - each tusk weighing 100lb, about 45kg. Today the norm was between 20lb and 30lb.

"In Africa today, there are no more than 50 bulls in this category of 100-pounders. That is about .01 percent of the total population."

This was due mainly to massive poaching over the centuries, the bulls carrying the genes for large tusks being obvious targets

Yet Tembe, he said, had a strong gene pool for large tuskers. In spite of the small size of the herd - only about 220 elephants - until very recently it had four large tuskers in the 100-pounder category. These had died - three of old age and one in a fight - but the genes were still in the herd and the large tuskers would be replaced in a matter of four or five years.

It was important, he said, that attempts to increase the size of the park should succeed.

Further information: Ernest Robbertse - 083-6550543 ernest@tembe.co.za