Page 71 - Gondwana Value Creation Report 2020

HOW WE MAKE AN IMPACT The Gondwana game count – keeping Protecting against invader bush

our parks sustainable
Alien and invader plants enter an environment, and are
sometimes cultivated, for a variety of reasons. The prosopis tree
Gondwana Canyon Park has been operated through a scientifically
provides good shade, while prickly pears and the sand olive can
sound management plan since 1996. It includes a wildlife
be used for hedges or as ornamental plants. Some even provide
programme that increases the diversity of species and restores
fruit. But these plants spread rapidly and take nutrients away
nature to its original state. We reintroduced animals that had either
been hunted to extinction or that migrated away from human
few water-rich biomes, including ephemeral and perennial rivers.
activities over the years. These include red hartebeest, Burchell’s
These are vulnerable to encroaching alien plant species, which
zebra, blue wildebeest and giraffe. from indigenous flora if they are left unchecked. Namibia has
can be difficult to stop.
Preserving this wildlife requires that we find a balance between
animal populations and the available vegetation. We monitor the We are committed to the fighting against alien invasive plants,
animals with an annual game count in the park. The social event especially where they can spread. We have been removing
draws about 50 participants each winter who wrap up warmly the stubborn prosopis tree in the Gondwana Kalahari and
and gather in the early morning at game viewing vehicles. Simple Canyon parks for decades. More recently, we have removed
enough until a herd of springbok breaches the horizon and the wonderboom at the Omarunga Epupa-Falls Camp and deadly
excited participants can hardly keep up. rubber vine at the Palmwag Lodge. We remain vigilant and
continue removing regrowths each season.
Game counting follows the same methodology each year to source
comparable results. People count the animals on standardised
routes, and computers extrapolate estimations for total animal
populations based on the sample data.
The 18th game count kicked off on 18 July 2020, and showed that the
land’s grazer biomass had remarkably decreased in recent years. The
fauna reached its highest level in 2014 after several years of good rainfall,
but the ensuing drought decreased the vegetation and subsequently
the game numbers. Factors include migration to better grazing land,
lower reproduction and higher mortality due to the drought.
The 2020 game count showed that the land’s carrying capacity
increased by 0.2kg/ha to 3.9kg/ha, while the total grazer biomass
decreased from 5.6kg/ha in 2019 to 3.2kg/ha in 2020.

Gondwana Canyon Park game population 2003 – 2020 versus rainfall

10 000
300
8 000 250

200
6 000
150
4 000
100

2 000
50
0 0
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Total population
Average rainfall

68 VALUE CREATION REPORT 2020 GONDWANA COLLECTION NAMIBIA 69