Friday, September 7, 2007

Phinda Game Reserve I

At the end of my internship in Durban I was kindly invited by ITI to go to a short Safari trip to Phinda.
It is a private game reserve with a forest lodge and we had an amazing time (to the posh amongst us - it is pricey - I'd definitely recommend going). Apart form 2 very successful game drives (we saw lions, cheetahs, rhinos, giraffes, warthogs, zebras, elephants and loads more) the experience of the excellent service at the lodges was really quite something. The reserve is privately owned by the famous Getty family (wikipedia says: Paul Gettys son, Paul III was kidnapped in Rome 1973 and did not have enough money to pay the US$17 million ransom demand. His father refused to help, saying "I have 14 other grandchildren, and if I pay one penny now, then I will have 14 kidnapped grandchildren. When one of his son's ears was delivered by mail to a newspaper in Rome, delivery had been delayed by three weeks because of a postal strike, his father agreed to help out with the ransom payment) and is part of CC Africa.
The Conservation Corporation Africa has several luxury safari resorts and while I don't know enough to give a detailed reflection on the company policies I would still like to mention that I felt I was at a place tha dealt responsibly with the environment and the people. Employees of the company get the chance to work their way up on the career ladder, starting maybe as a cook and then being educated to work with the conservation people or being a game driver learning about the wildlife and preserving it. The local communities around the resorts profit as well, since hospitals and schools are being built. In the case of the forest lodge the land still belongs to the Zulu and is being 'rented' and preserved by the company which seems like it win-win.




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