Conservation alliances protect natural heritage

In 1984, when Charl van der Merwe purchased Brakfontein in the Northern Cape for sheep production, he could never have guessed that his farm would one day become a key element in the creation of a 240 000ha interprovincial protected area. Wouter Kriel spoke to two people involved in this far-reaching development.

- Wouter Kriel

FAST FACTS

Wilderness Foundation Africa (WFA) focuses on the conservation and protection of biodiverse areas.

WFA is facilitating partnerships between private landowners and national parks to establish the corridor that links the Tankwa Karoo with the Cederberg Wilderness Area to form a 240 000ha protected area.

Brakfontein farm, located in the Tankwa Karoo, is a crucial piece of this landscape puzzle.

In 2010, Charl van der Merwe finally completed the construction of a dam on the Doring River, which runs through his farm, Brakfontein, 100km from Calvinia. It was a sorely needed asset in this dry region and ultimately enabled commercial grape and rootstock production on Brakfontein.

Today, his son, Francois, is building a different sort of legacy by showing how farmers can work with conservation authorities to protect the environment while farming intensively.

Farmers and national parks often make for uneasy neighbors, as is evident each time a large predator escapes through park fences and creates mayhem on neighboring commercial farms.

“Our experience was no different. My father initially kept sheep on Brakfontein, and when the Tankwa Karoo National Park [Tankwa] was opened [in 1986], we had to convert to cattle, as the predation of our [sheep] was just too much,” recalls Van der Merwe. Fundamentally, however, farmers are custodians of the natural environment they depend on for production, says Ben-Jon Dreyer, a land negotiator for Wilderness Foundation Africa (WFA). Co-operation between conservation and agricultural production is therefore essential.