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Projects

Programmes - South Africa

Amakhala Conservation Centre Amakhala Conservation Centre (ACC)
The ACC was established in 2003 by Dr Jennifer Gush and Sindisa on a small private game reserve in the Eastern Cape. The Centre is housed in disused farm buildings donated by one of the reserve owners and largely converted by Sindisa volunteers from the United Kingdom. Student and visitor accommodation is in a tented camp provided by Sindisa.

One of the first ACC projects assisted by Sindisa was the translocation of elephant from Zululand to restock the Reserve. A radio tracking collar funded by Sindisa was placed on the herd matriarch during the capture and the data collected continues to prove invaluable for management planning. Today the ACC conducts research on a wide variety of subjects pertaining to the ecological management of small reserves. One of the most pertinent is a project to monitor the effects of introducing large predators - lion, cheetah and hyena - onto small reserves. This issue is controversial in conservation circles.

School children on safari at Amakhala An active environmental education programme has been introduced for local rural schools and an orphanage in the nearby village of Patterson. Linked to this programme the ACC has begun a tree planting project (3C – Carbon, Conservation, Community) with the schools and orphanage whereby they benefit in kind to the value of R10.00 per tree planted and nurtured. The first phase of the project in which some 200 trees were planted was financed by Sindisa. Another 500 have since been planted.

You can subscribe to the ACC Newsletter by contacting Dr Jennifer Gush or the ACC.