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Traveling to the Krantz Kloof Reserve

By Elizabeth Moore

Krantz Kloof Gorge
A Zebra grazes in lush grasslands.
April 19 - 20 — Our KwaZulu/Natal Wildlife hosts are in the unique position of managing terrestrial, estuarine, and marine parks, fisheries, and other resources all within their own agency. It is a situation very different from our own — where we deal with varying jurisdictions in our work to protect Sanctuary resources. KwaZulu/Natal Wildlife has been particularly successful in managing their game reserves, including bringing back the black rhino from the edge of extinction and reintroducing various species back into areas from which they have been removed. Some of us will be visiting the Vernon Crookes Nature Reserve on Friday and Saturday, one of the terrestrial parks managed by our hosts.

An onsite manager manages the reserve, with help from a number of rangers and dedicated volunteers (who are called honorary officers here). Its facilities include a rustic lodging area composed of rondevals and a treehouse, an office and maintenance facility, staff housing, a small conference area, and kilometers of fences that enclose the reserve.

Krantz Kloof Gorge
Bright Candelabra dots the reserve.

The reserve is small and situated about 12 miles inland from Durban, surrounded by terraced sugar cane fields and a Zulu village of round, tin, or thatched roof rondevals. Verdant hillsides and grasslands spill down into river gorges in the reserve. Trees follow the flow of water and gather cozily at the base of hills and along the rivers. Zebra, impala, blessbok (both kinds of deers) graze in the grasslands, and sometimes we get glimpses of the shy wildebeests. Above, crowned eagles and trumpeter hornbills soar along with a half dozen other bird species. Sometimes in the center of a green hill, a gorgeous bright pink candelabra flower erupts in glowing color. After a while, we run out of words to describe the astonishing and rampant beauty of this place. It is, as our hosts say, soma lekker (totally awesome in Afrikaans).

These are sights I had dreamed about but never really hoped to see in my lifetime. They remind me of how we all truly hold this world in our hands. It doesn’t matter if we’re American, South African, or from any other country in the world. What matters is that we treasure what we have been given and understand that what we all hold dear — our freedoms, our quality of life, our wild heritage, our children — depend on what kind of stewards we are and how well we do the job in the world we’ve been gifted with.

Krantz Kloof Gorge
Vernon Crookes Nature Reserve.

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