Determining carnivore diets and how they may change over time is important if the management of large carnivores is successful in an enclosed reserve. Carnivore diets are known to shift over time in response to a variety of factors. These factors include prey availability and climatic conditions (rainfall patterns). The re-introduction of lions (Panthera leo) and spotted hyaena (Crocuta crocuta) to Addo Elephant National Park (AENP), South Africa provided the opportunity to study diet trends of lions and spotted hyaena in an enclosed system. The study focused on the diets and overlap of lions and spotted hyaena and how their prey selection changed since their re-introduction in 2003 to 2010. The database included scats collected over a seven year period. A total of 195 spotted hyaena scats and 217 lion scats were analysed using scat analysis. Prey items estimated from scat samples were coupled with prey availabilities to determine preferred prey items. Additionally, from determined carnivore diets, lions and spotted hyaena diet overlap was estimated over time. Lions preferred prey items which included zebra (Equus quagga) and eland (Tragelaphus oryx) during the early portion of the study. Over time preference shifted to include buffalo (Syncerus caffer), bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus) and grey duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia). Spotted hyaena preferred zebra and eland in the earlier part of the study, then over time, shifting their selection to grey duiker, buffalo, red hartebeest (Alcephalus busephalus) and bushbuck. Lions and spotted hyaena had a similar diet which increased in overlap during the study (67 percentage - 91 percentage). Our findings suggest that lions and spotted hyaena had a degree of diet specialization; both carnivores avoided and preferred certain prey items relative to their abundance. Their preference excluded the most abundant prey items, thus causing a decline in abundance of rarer species over time. Lions and spotted hyaena did not respond by shifting their diets to consume abundant prey items when their preferred prey items declined in availability. However, this study may be a snap-shot of carnivore’s diet trends. Thus further monitoring of the large carnivore diets should be researched in order to determine which factors drive their prey selection. Additionally, lions and spotted hyaena diet overlap increased overtime. The high diet overlap may be a result from spotted hyaena scavenging off lion kills, thus spotted hyaena diets may be facilitated by lion kills. Finally our data suggests that re-introduced large carnivores in AENP are likely to change the composition of the overall mammal community, potentially eliminating rare but preferred prey species in an enclosed reserve.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg, May 2014. / Conservation has led to African elephants (Loxodonta africana) being reintroduced to small game reserves. However, only a few studies have been done on how elephants react to their new environment after a translocation. Dinokeng Game Reserve introduced a herd of 10 elephants (Loxodonta Africana) in October 2011. Using Global Positioning System collar locations of one female elephant, I aimed to determine whether an elephant’s exploration resulted in an expansion of its home range as the elephant settled in its new environment. Secondly, I aimed to determine how the use of resources and conditions in an elephant’s environment changed from release to the end of the study period. To achieve my first objective, I calculated the elephant’s daily distance movement distances and home ranges over 16-day and seasonal periods. I used logistic regression to assess the habitat selection of the elephant over the study period. The results of the research demonstrated that the elephant slowly explored its new environment, which resulted in an expansion of its home range over time. However, it took almost two years before the elephant displayed signs of settling in its home range. The elephant used habitats further away from buildings, closer to fence boundaries and water sources, with low elevation and high greenness at the start of the study. Over time, the elephant’s habitat selection was no longer constrained by buildings and it demonstrated stronger evidence of using habitats with lower elevation towards the end of the study period. The findings suggest that elephants do not necessarily explore extensively before finding an area to remain in, and it may take longer than a year for them to settle. Furthermore, human settlements seem to limit elephant’s habitat selection a translocation, but this influence decreases as the elephant settles in its new environment.

Enclosed game reserves are at risk of local vegetation over-utilization and homogenization by elephant. Understanding how the elephant spatial distribution is coupled to their seasonal resources use can aid future management given the threat of climate change. A comparison of home ranges and core area sizes across seasons and years was made between an elephant herd outside in an open system, compared to the elephant inside Limpopo Lipadi Game and Wilderness Reserve (LLGWR). Location data, obtained by GPS-GSM technology, was used to determine seasonal home ranges and core areas by local convex hull (LoCoH) methods and to generate seasonal General Estimating Equations (GEE). Remote sensing data was used to determine habitat variables. The home ranges of the elephant herd outside as expected, was twice as large during summers and a third larger during winters than the elephant herd inside the fenced reserve. The influence of seasonal rainfall on home range size was reflected at home range scale for the outside herd and for the core area scale for the herd inside the reserve. Increased rainfall overcomes the ‗magnet effect‘ of artificial waterholes on elephant distribution in the landscape only in the open system. Inside the reserve, contrary to expectation the winter home ranges were non-significantly larger than summer home ranges due to space limitation induced by fencing and permanent artificial waterhole density. Resource use was evaluated by using GEE models at a scale larger than established home ranges and therefore would reflect as home range determinants. The study confirms that elephant do not use resources randomly. A scale in resource selection of elephant cows exists, with distance to drainage lines at small scale preferred during winter, with aspect, slope, elevation, and NDVI at larger scales. Fencing furthermore, affects the scale at which selection occurs by limiting resource availability, especially during resource restrictive periods and limits range expansion during resource abundant periods. Elephant cows prefer gentle terrain, close to permanent water [<1.77km (SD inside the reserve, and <2.33km ( outside the reserve], moderately high NDVI, riparian vegetation during late winter and early summer if available. Generally, during lower rainfall periods lower elevations are preferred along the elevation gradient, and during higher rainfall periods, higher elevations. The elephant herd outside the reserve, furthermore prefer aspects in the landscape during hot summers that are cooling and cool winter aspects that are warming to facilitate energy saving and thermoregulation. Key words: Elephant home range, core areas, fencing, seasonal, artificial waterholes, open system, NDVI, elevation gradient, distance to water, seasonal GEE modelling.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Environmental Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2015. / Wildlife conservation and management requires an in-depth understanding of the demographics and dynamics of the population concerned to enable sound management decisions. Yet it is often very challenging to obtain reliable information of cryptic and highly migratory species. I used photo identification and capture-recapture methods to study the population of nyala, a highly secretive species, in the Umkhuzi game reserve. The nyala species is individually identifiable by the mark pattern on their body. Photographs used for this project were taken at a waterhole in Umkhuzi game reserve between June 23rd and 01 July 2014, representing nine sampling occasions. Identification of individuals was achieved with a computer-assisted technique using open source pattern identification software called Wild-ID version 1.0.1. A total of 652 photographs were taken at the sampling site and from these pictures wild-ID identified 372 distinct animals. An encounter history for each individual during the nine sampling occasions was also produced using Wild-ID. The encounter histories of all individuals were entered into Program MARK. I used the closed population models in Program MARK to obtain population estimates. Program MARK indicated that Mh was the most appropriate model to fit this data as indicated by the AICc ranking. Mh showed population estimates as follows: adult males: 111.90 ± 16.07, adult females: 298.01 ± 36.66; young adult males: 21.33 ±19.34; juvenile males: 37.15 ±16.84; yearling males: 37.73 ±8.51; yearling females: 96.48 ±22.75 and juvenile unidentified: 69.03. ±28.96 Closure test performed to ascertain demographic and geographic closure during the sampling period showed a χ2= 21.74, p= 0.08, df = 14, for the Stanley & Burnham test and a p and z-values of 0.06 and -1.51 respectively for the Otis et al test. These results shows marginal violation of population closure, nevertheless closed population models were used to estimate population abundance due to the fact the violations are marginal and the sampling period iii was very short, nine days. The study revealed that there is as much as twice the number of females compared to males.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Technology: Information Technology, Durban Institute of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2005. / Throughout Africa, growing human populations and resulting loss of wildlife habitat is a critical issue for most animal species. It is more and more common for privately owned small or medium sized farms to reintroduce wildlife on their land and such protected areas are fast becoming the only refuges available to wild animals. However a comprehensive understanding of the complex ecological processes taking place is vital for the effective management of restricted areas and the conservation of biodiversity. Due to the enormous complexity of an ecological system and the long periods of the related dynamics, it is very difficult to analyse the interaction between animals and plant populations without suitable computer models. In this thesis, the dynamics between elephant and trees (a major food source) are considered using computer simulations. / M

Thesis (MTech. degree in Nature Conservation)--Tshwane University of Technology, 2011. / The study was conducted on the Botsalano Game Reserve with the support of the North West Tourism and Parks Agency. No formal management plan is available for the game reserve and therefore the need for an ecological management plan and guidelines for the formulation of a vegetation monitoring plan constituted the basis of the study. The objectives of the study were: 1. To classify and map the plant communities of the Botsalano Game Reserve; 2. To provide quantitative data, collected during a formal vegetation classification, for use by the reserve management in terms of current vegetation condition; 3. To ascertain whether a classification of the vegetation on the BGR could be used for the objective placement of vegetation monitoring sites. Monitoring site placement will be based on representation of plant communities, reflecting community and topographical unit utilization and thus stocking rates based on management decisions.

The objective of this project is to link the statistical theory used in the ecological sciences with an actual project that was developed for the South African National Parks Scientific Services. It investigates the changes that have occurred in the herbaceous and woody structure due to the closure of artificial waterpoints; including the impacts that elephants and other herbivores have on the vegetation of the Kruger National Park. This project was designed in conjunction with South African National Parks (SANP) Scientific Services and it is a registered project with this department. The results of this project will be submitted to Scientific Services in accordance with the terms and conditions of a SANP research project. A major concern within the KNP is the declining numbers of rare antelope and numerous projects have been developed to investigate possible ways of halting this decline and thus protecting the heterogeneity of the Kruger National Park. Three different datasets were investigated, covering three aspects of vegetation structure and composition within the KNP. The first investigated the changes that have occurred since the N'washitsumbe enclosure in the Far Northern KNP was fenced off from the rest of the park. The results show that over the 40 years since the enclosure was built, changes have occurred which have resulted in a significant difference in the abundance of Increaser 2 and Decreaser grass species between the inside and the outside of the enclosure. Increaser 2 and Decreaser categories are the result of a grass species classification depending on whether the species thrives or is depressed by heavy grazing. The difference in grass species composition and structure between the inside and the outside of the enclosure indicates that the grazing animals within the KNP have influenced the grass composition in a way that favours the dominant animals. This has resulted in a declining roan antelope population - one of the species that is considered as a 'rare antelope'. Many artificial waterpoints (boreholes and dams) have also been closed throughout the KNP in the hope of resulting in a change in vegetation structure and composition in favour of the roan. Veld condition assessment data for 87 boreholes throughout the Park was analyzed to determine whether the veld in the vicinity is beginning to change towards a more Decreaser dominated sward which would favour the roan. The results were analyzed for the different regions of the Park; and they indicate that changes are becoming evident; however, the results are not particularly conclusive, yet. The majority of the boreholes were closed between 1994 and 1998 which means that not a lot of data were available to be analyzed. A similar study conducted in another 10 years time might reveal more meaningful results. However the results are moving in the direction hoped for by the management of the KNP. The results show that the grass composition has a higher proportion of Decreaser grasses since the closure of the waterpoints, and the grass biomass around these areas has also improved. The results were analyzed on an individual basis; and then on a regional basis as the minimal data meant that the individual analyses did not provide any significant results. A third study was then done on the impact that the rapidly increasing elephant population on the vegetation within the Riparian zone along three rivers in the Far Northern region of the KNP. The riparian zone is an important part of the landscape, in terms of providing food for many animals as well as shade. The elephant population has increased substantially since the termination of the culling program and this means that the feeding requirements of the population has increased which could result in severe damage upon the vegetation, as elephants can be very destructive feeders. The results show surprising differences between the three years of data that were analyzed; however the results indicate that the elephants are targeting specific height ranges of trees when feeding; however they do not seem to consistently target specific tree species. This is positive for the diversity of the Riparian zone as this region is very important both ecologically and aesthetically for the tourists who visit the Park.

Rangers, as vanguards of wildlife conservation, are constantly fighting off armed poachers. That makes their work stressful and dangerous. In spite of this, their needs are neglected and are not considered as the focus is on saving wildlife. Undoubtedly, the African continent is not spared from the unrelenting poaching menace that threatens to drive the world’s wildlife spicies into extinction. In response to this scourge, countries, in their quest to safeguard these species from extermination, have signed various treaties, continuously come up with different strategies and pledged their support to fight illegal wildlife trading. This study was conducted at Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (HIP) and Mkhuze Game Reserve, which are under the management of Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Wildlife Management. These parks have turned into a battlefield between poachers and rangers. The intrinsic case study approach, which is explorative and interpretive in perspective, was used to unravel and describe the experiences from the world view of rangers. A descriptive qualitative research design was used to gain insight from the rangers about their challenges and needs in the workplace. Furthermore, developmental research was used to design and develop a tailor- made technology – a ranger resilience-building model – to assist rangers to deal with their workplace challenges. Focus group discussions were conducted with a group of rangers, while individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers in order to solicit information from purposively selected sample of rangers and managers at HIP and Mkhuze Game Reserve, that assisted in the development of the model. Ethical considerations, which involve the informed consent of the participants, confidentiality and privacy, participants’ right to withdraw from the study and the management of information, were applied to ensure that the participants were protected from harm. The collected data was analysed by using codes and themes that best described the experiences of the rangers, and data verification was done before the process of model development. It was evident that rangers are faced with a variety of workplace challenges, such as poor quality of work life, unpleasant living conditions, coupled with poor amenities, inadequte wellness interventions, and the poor management and implementation of policies by the Human Resources (HR) Department. Nevertheless, teamwork and their cultural practices were positive aspects that promoted their coping capacities in dealing with their everyday challenges. / Social Work / D. Litt. et Phil.(Social Work)

Social media has become one of the defining features of the technological advances known as Web 2.0. As social media has increased in popularity, so businesses are expected to participate. Social media platforms enable businesses to widely broadcast a message as well as interact directly with individual customers. Customers are also able to interact directly with one another and share information and reviews about products and services offered. This suits the tourism industry particularly well. Internationally, research has shown that individuals use social media and other online tools to research potential holiday destinations. In addition social media is used during travel to share snapshots and commentary as well as after travel, through reviews and recommendations on platforms such as TripAdvisor. However, few studies have investigated how tourism destinations use social media to attract new clients and retain existing clients. Very little research has been done on tourism and social media in South Africa despite the importance of this industry to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This study focused on four-star establishments within the photographic wildlife tourism industry in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. An initial survey of social media participation was carried out within the framework set out by Chan and Guillet (2011); this was then followed up with interviews with selected managers. Results showed that, in general, Private Game Reserves (PGRs) had embraced social media as a communication and marketing platform; despite concerns raised about the lack of control over content as well as poor understanding of the influence social media might have on the bottom line. TripAdvisor, Facebook and Twitter were the most commonly used platforms due to management familiarity with the platform and their ease of use. Few lodges utilised blogs or content sites such as YouTube and management cited time commitments associated with this type of platform as a reason for non-participation. However, although most PGRs or lodges had a profile on social media, this did not always mean active participation. Frequently, lodges began updating but gradually stopped after a few months. It was noted however that only one of the lodges interviewed retained an individual whose sole responsibility was social media; generally lodges did not feel that a dedicated person was necessary. This may result in a lack of time available on the part of the individual responsible or simply be a case of not understanding the platform or how to use it effectively. However, none of the PGRs with poor social media participation responded to interview requests and therefore it was not possible to determine the reasons for their poor participation. Among those lodges that actively participated, most succeed in retaining fans and followers through consistent posting of relevant and interesting content as well as customised responses that encouraged fans or followers’ interaction. However, there did not appear to be any evidence of using social media to learn about fans and followers in order to better customise the lodge offerings. This may not be necessary in this type of industry as PGRs sell a specific product and have a limited ability to customise offerings. In addition, there may be other sources of market information which lodges prefer to use. Special offers, competitions and promotions had limited success on social media. Generally, lodges used social media to promote links to a dedicated competition or promotions page. In conclusion, the managers interviewed felt strongly that social media had made a measureable impact on the tourism industry and was a channel that was here to stay. Further research around the best practice and most effective use will enable PGRs to develop and maintain effective strategies for social media participation.

The primary aim of this research study was to determine the current state of practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) within the ecotourism based private game reserve (PGR) industry in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. According to Carroll (1991) four kind of responsibilities constitute total CSR, namely economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities. Given the context of this research a fifth responsibility concerning environmental responsibilities was added to Carroll 's (1991) pyramid ofCSR. A descriptive and illustrative case study approach, within the phenomenological research paradigm, was used for the purpose of this research. The unit of analysis is the Indalo group, the Association of Eastern Cape Private Game Reserves, made up of 12 ecotourism based PORs. As the current research focused on eight of the twelve PGRs a mUltiple case study was employed. To give effect to the aim a number of research objectives were identified. Firstly to desclibe and assess the current practice in implementing CSR within the ecotourism based PGR industry in the Eastern Cape Province. Secondly, to assess and evaluate the involvement of ecotourism based PGRs in the Eastern Cape Province in each of the five responsibilities comprising CSR. Thirdly, to identify the challenges faced by ecotourism based PGRs in the Eastern Cape Province with regard to the implementation of CSR initiatives. Lastly to provide pertinent conclusions and recommendations with regard to CSR strategies within the ecotourism based PGR industry in the Eastern Cape Province. Data were collected by means of in-depth interviews with the managers of each reserve. In addition the researcher conducted focus interviews with administrative employees at each of the member reserves of the Indalo group. Additionally the managers of each reserve were requested to respond to a structured five point Likert scale questionnaire based on the research by Aupperle, Carroll and Hatfield (1985). This research study found that the current practice at the Indalo group is towards a strategic, long term approach to CSR that aids in the development of a 'sustainable organisation.' The aspect of ' empowerment' emerged as the essence of the current practice ofCSR of the Indalo group. Based on the current practice it was concluded that the Indalo group is actively involved in the specific components of CSR namely, environmental, economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities. With regard to the environmental responsibilities it was concluded that the environment is the foundation upon which all other components of CSR rest. In addition it was concluded that the economic responsibilities, if managed well, are key to unlocking the CSR potential of a reserve as well as ensuring widespread economic development. In terms of the legal and ethical responsibilities it was concluded that tourism policies both at the national and international level have not aided in the development of a CSR agenda of the Indalo group. Furthermore managers of the reserves have been instrumental in cultivating their own legal culture of CSR based on their experience in the tourism industry and their ethical stances. In terms of the philanthropic responsibilities it can be concluded that charitable activities that are long term and strategic in nature allow for direct and indirect benefits to all parties involved. Overall, it can further be concluded that despite Hudson and Miller's (2005:5) view that the "tourism industry is well hehind other industries in terms of CSR" the Indalo group is moving forward in terms of rooting CSR into their everyday operations.