3. EARLY CONTROL BY THE NATAL PARKS BOARD
The Mkhuze Game Reserve was officially handed back to the Natal Parks, Game
and Fish Preservation Board in 1953, following the successful conclusion of
the Nagana campaign. Anti-poaching
patrols by Board staff had, however, already started in the adjoining Nxwala
State Lands, to the south of the reserve, as early as 1952, while that area
was still under the control of the Veterinary Department. The dry conditions
being experienced in the reserve during that year had led to a considerable
exodus of game from the reserve into the State Lands, with a corresponding
increase in poaching activities by some of the neighbouring farmers. Ian
Player was sent down to Mkhuze in September 1952 to organise raids in the
area and reported that he "saw
Singie and got guide, Sikohlo" before proceeding to
Nxwala, where night raids were conducted and two local farmers arrested and
charged for poaching. One of the culprits paid a £15 admission of guilt
fine for shooting an impala, while the other was acquitted on a charge of
assault.
One of the first tasks to be undertaken by the Board in 1953 was an attempt
to bring the poaching situation on the Nxwala State Lands, under control.
For a number of years prior to 1953, the area had been regarded as a private
hunting and grazing area by some of the local farmers, who even went so far
as to water their cattle in the adjoining game reserve. In the Board's
annual report for 1953/54 it is reported that "as many as 250 shots in one night were heard from
spotlight poachers" and immediate and drastic action was necessary to put a
stop to this unhappy state of affairs. Ranger H.L. Matthee was appointed to
the task in July 1952 and was in charge of Nxwala and Sordwana Bay until
October 1953. Ranger Hennie van Schoor, in turn, arrived in the reserve in
September 1953 to try to combat the poaching in the Lower Mkhuze area. In
January 1954 Ranger Norman Deane from Hluhluwe joined him in the southern
section of the reserve, to arrange a game drive to get animals back into the
reserve. Another such drive would be held six years later. Hennie records in
his monthly report for January 1954 that the drive was successful, with
large numbers of impala and blue wildebeest being driven back. Shortly after
this, a start was made with the erection of a fence along the southern
boundary of the reserve.
The Board's negotiations with Onderstepoort, for the transfer of Singie
Denyer and 8 guards to its service, were successfully concluded and he and
his reduced staff started with the Board on 1 September 1954. On 8 September
1954, Singie officially took over as Ranger-in-Charge from Norman Deane, who
was to return to Hluhluwe. During the Nagana campaign, Singie had had 17
guards under his control but this number had been reduced to 8 towards the
end of the Nagana campaign. There were no roads in the reserve at that time,
only rough tracks criss-crossing the thornveld. On his first day of duty
with the Board, Singie had a busy day. Apart from branding the Nagana bait
cattle, Singie sent six poachers to the Charge Office at Ubombo - an
activity that was to become almost a daily routine in his life in the
reserve. Three of his eight guards stayed at Singie's base camp at Mantuma
while the remaining 5 guards were spread very thinly over the reserve.
Singie records in his first report that "there
is much snaring in the reserve, with snares being abandoned if poachers
become suspicious. The reserve is 105 square miles in extent, each guard
having 21 square miles to patrol".
Another of Singie's early actions
was to request that additional guards be appointed and fortunately his plea
did not fall on deaf ears. His guard force was increased to 12 guards in
November 1954, the extra staff being specifically employed to control
poaching on Nxwala.
Three of Singie's best guards
from the Nagana days were transferred to the Board's service with him -
Khonjwayo Ndhlovu, Funwayo Mlambo and Mqolosi Gumede. These three
exceptional men knew every inch of the reserve, having cris-crossed it
innumerable times during the years they were employed on game control during
the shooting campaign. Their knowledge of the natural history of the area
and terrain was unrivalled and Khonjwayo and Funwayo in particular were
deadly shots with their ancient and cumbersome Ist World War Lee-Enfield
.303 rifles. I was privileged to have been able to work with the four of
them and to have them as guides and mentors during my stay at Mkhuze.
Funwayo Mlambo retired from the Board's service in March 1975, after more
than 35 years of service in the Mkhuze Game Reserve, but regrettably died
some years ago. Khonjwayo Ndhlovu retired shortly after Funwayo and this
grand old man was still alive and well as the original manuscript was
published in the year 2000. Cycling in to collect his pension in December
1980, Khonjwayo was charged by a black rhino near the airstrip and was lucky
to escape alive, although he sustained some bad cuts to his face. His
bicycle came off less lightly, as the rhino hooked the back wheel with its
horn and totally demolished it.
After its resumption of control,
the Board immediately arranged for the surveying of the eastern and western
boundaries of the reserve and this was done in September 1954. They also had
to locate and flag the beacons on the Mpila and Ukhombe Hills. In 1950,
during the Nagana days, the then Native Affairs Commissioner at Ubombo had a
line of concrete beacons set up at his Department's expense, to demarcate
part of the eastern border of the tribal land and the western boundary of
the game reserve. The beacons stretched from the trigonometry beacon on
Ukhombe Hill down to the Dagela Stream in the south and were installed by a
Mr Hoffe who was employed by the Native Affairs Department, accompanied by
Chief Ndolomba's Indunas and Sub-Headmen to ensure that no mistakes were
made in their placing. Singie reported in 1954 that "one
of these beacons is clearly visible at the "no entry" sign on the
Nhlonhlela Poort track" The accurate surveying of the
whole of the western boundary was of vital importance as local residents
continued to dispute the boundary. In October 1954 two of them were
prosecuted for building huts and planting maize fields in the reserve; this
Despite the fact that Mr Alfers, the resident Magistrate at Ubombo had ruled
that the boundaries, as set out in 1902 were valid.
It had been agreed some years
previously that, in times of drought, residents living on the eastern
escarpment of what was then known as Native Reserve 2, would be permitted to
drive their cattle through the reserve to water at the Mkhuze River, using
the Mtshopi track. This arrangement was to continue until a borehole could
be sunk next to the Nhlonhlela Stream in Reserve No 2. The understanding
regarding this arrangement was that the cattle were to be accompanied by
herders at all times, that they were not permitted to graze in the reserve
and they had to be returned to their kraals immediately after drinking. The
borehole was installed and was fully operational by the time Singie
transferred to the service of the Board in September 1954 and is still in
operation today.
Shortly after the boundary
dispute, large rocks were hidden in the grass on the track leading into
Reserve no 2, causing damage to the Ranger's vehicle. A further infiltration
occurred in December 1954, with local residents claiming that the area was
part of native reserve. Illegal residents in the reserve compounded the
problem. In September of the same year Singie optimistically reported that "the
reserve is now cleared of native residents".
This clearance did not bring about an end to his problems though. The
infiltration of illegal residents was to be a long-standing problem and one
that would continue until well into the sixties. In January 1961, plantings
of maize, pumpkins, and monkey nuts were found on the banks of the Msunduzi
River, near Nxwala.
As early as 1941, population
census for that year had recorded that there were over 120 kraals in the
reserve, each with an average of 10 residents per kraal. By 1947 it was
thought that at least two-thirds of these had been cleared, but that was to
be wishful thinking. The problem of infiltration, which had first been
recorded as early as 1922, was to continue to make its appearance at regular
intervals for the next 15 years until the matter was finally resolved by the
completion of the fencing of the western boundary of the reserve in the
seventies.
The Board's staff had other
distractions to contend with in that first year of their control of the
reserve. Singie continued to live in the house that he had occupied during
his time with the Veterinary Department and its unsatisfactory water scheme
was taken over by the Board. He recorded in his report for November 1954
that "Rex our terrier, showed us a large cobra under the
hydrangea drums near our bedroom window - a real spitter. Destroyed
same".
In December of that year the thermometer recorded a maximum temperature of
45°C at 15:00 and the water became so hot in the shallow pools of the
Mkhuze River that fish jumped out of them, onto the sand, where they died
and were collected by local residents. Marula trees were also affected by
the drought and the heat experienced during that year caused many of the
older trees to die off, a situation that was further, aggravated by an
infestation of caterpillars. Activities in the reserve started returning to
normal in 1955, with firebreaks being burnt by staff and progress being made
with the fenceline along the southern border of the reserve. Deliberate
fires were started by arsonists within the reserve's firebreaks during April
to July of that year, when approximately a third of the reserve was burnt
out. In the meantime, work on the fenceline from Nxwala to the Msunduzi
River also continued, the work being done by Ranger Hennie van Schoor and
his labour force who were camped out near the Nsumu Pan.
In March 1957 a further 5 guards
were appointed to the staff and a start was made with the extension of the
series of guard camps around the periphery of the reserve. The Mtshopi guard
camp at the entrance to the reserve was completed in May 1958 and a barrier
pole and short stretch of fenceline was erected there. In December 1957,
Learner Ranger Tony Pooley arrived in the reserve and moved into the
rondawel behind Singie's house. It was here that he constructed the first
small dam and enclosure for his research project on crocodiles. This
interest which, in time, was to lead to Tony becoming an authority of world
renown on this reptile, would eventually lead to the establishment of the
Natal Parks Board's crocodile research centre at St Lucia Estuary.
The question of the correct
spelling of the name "Mkhuze" has been the subject of debate and
opinion that goes as far back as 1958. In part the problem arose from the
fact that when the reserve was officially proclaimed in 1912, the official
documents spelt Mkuzi with an "i", whereas the name of the village
was spelt with an "e". For many years
we had the situation that the reserve's correct address was "Mkuzi
Game Reserve, P.O. Mkuze". In recent years some Zulu linguists have
felt that the name should be spelt "Mkhuze" and at the time of
writing the original manuscript, the name of the reserve was in the process
of being officially changed. To compound the confusion, a rubber stamp was
incorrectly supplied in 1954, for use on official correspondence, which
spelt the reserve's name with an "e". i.e. "Mkuze Game
Reserve".
I remember seeing a specific memo
on the subject in the reserve files, from Colonel Vincent, Director of the
Natal Parks Board, shortly after I arrived in Mkhuze in 1960. He pointed out
the error on the rubber stamp and suggested a practical and simple way of
eliminating it. I was delighted to find a copy of his memo in the Natal
Parks Board archives during my research for this book. The memorandum was
sent to the Chief Conservator, Zululand Peter Potter on 19 December 1958 and
it demonstrates the meticulous concern with detail that was applied to
minor, as well as major matters in the administration of the Board, by the
then Director.
Colonel Vincent wrote: "It
is noted from monthly reports that the rubber stamp used at Mkuzi continues
to spell the name of the reserve with an "E", which rightfully
belongs to the station and post office, but not to the reserve. The
proclaiming of the latter has not been changed and I shall be glad if you
will indicate that a razor should be utilised on the rubber stamp concerned,
with which it would be a simple matter to remove the three projections of
the "E" and thus turn it into an "I". This was, of course, duly done.
Colonel
Jack Vincent, First Director of the Natal Parks Board
Life in the reserve could always
be depended upon to produce the unexpected. Returning home late one evening
in May 1956, Singie's Landrover struck the carcass of a blue wildebeest cow
that had died in the middle of the track, which was covered in long grass.
The impact of the collision caused the steering rod of the vehicle to bend
and it was later discovered that five blades in the front spring on the
driver's side were also broken. This accident resulted in a long walk home
and a great deal of inconvenience. As this was the only vehicle on the
reserve, he was without transport while the steering rod was straightened
and the spring repaired. Fortunately, neither Singie nor the game guards
travelling with him at the time were injured, although they were all thrown
against the cab.
Ensuring that the reserve's
vehicles were maintained in a roadworthy condition was not an easy task in
the relatively isolated conditions prevailing in Zululand in the fifties.
The tar stopped at Empangeni and not a great deal of regular work was done
on the gravel road from there on. Once the road making material containing
large pieces of stone was spread by graders and roughly levelled off, it was
left to the motorists to compact the road and flatten it! Any mechanical
parts required for repairing vehicles had to be railed up to Mkuze station
from Durban, a journey that took the best part of 18 hours. Spare a thought
for the frustrations that the rangers suffered in their attempts to keep
their vehicles on the road.
Singie's phlegmatic report for
April 1958 tells a graphic story of the problems he encountered in his
efforts to get his Landrover repaired. "On
April 28, whilst en route to the Mkuze garage for a service to N.P.A. 757,
the silencer of the exhaust blew out. As several holes had rusted through in
the main line, Mr Stone (The mechanic at the garage) stated that to weld the
pipe would be a waste of time and he recommended an entirely new system,
which he ordered from Durban. A further check of the back wheels revealed
that the back bearings were both very loose and would require renewing in
the near future. Mr Stone was therefore requested to order these as well.
While returning from Sodwana Bay on 7 May, the bearings were rumbling quite
audibly".
"On
Friday, 9 May, while en route on the Makatini Flats to the Ubombo Charge
Office and hospital at Ubombo, the U-bolts on the back (left) spring broke
and the centre bolt went at the same time. It was thus impossible to move
the vehicle". This was especially bothersome for Singie was
transporting Mahukwana, whose foot was swollen and very painful, to the
doctor. Both of them had a long walk back to the camp, which aggravated
Mahukwana's condition considerably, for he was in great pain during the
night. "
The following day, a trip was made to Mkuze Garage with private transport to
fetch new U-bolts. None were available but improvised bolts were made at the
garage. The bolts were fitted and the vehicle brought back to
headquarters".
"Shortly
after this, the Landrover started boiling and backfiring after travelling a
few miles and it refused to pull. A check on the carburettor availed
nothing. On Sunday afternoon the 11th, Mr Riley, who was visiting us,
offered to tow it to the Mkuze garage with his lorry. This was done with my
wife following up in our own transport to bring me back to the game reserve.
Mr Stone was of the opinion that the gasket had blown, saying that he would
order the parts and the truck would be available on Wednesday the 14th .We
called for it on Wednesday, as arranged, but the gasket had not arrived. The
agents were contacted again and they promised to send the gasket up the same
day. Mr Stone informed me that even if the gasket did arrive, the truck
would not be available until Saturday the 17th, due to prior bookings".
"On
Saturday 17th the truck was called for, only to find that the gasket had
still not arrived. Mr Stone was extremely apologetic and it was not entirely
the fault of his garage. He informed me that this treatment from the agents
was nothing new by any means and had often occurred in the past, causing
both him and his customers extreme irritation, plus the price of many
telephone calls. The agents have now definitely promised that the parts will
arrive on Monday's train. Back bearings have been fitted and Mr Stone
promised that he would complete the job if the parts arrived on Monday's
train. Thus again to Mkuze on Monday! The gasket etc had arrived and two
mechanics were ordered to work on the vehicle all afternoon and delivery was
made at 6:30 p.m".
"On
the way home the petrol lead from the tank broke free and, before this was
noticed, the tank ran dry. Petrol had to be fetched from headquarters to get
home. Owing to the time factor, it was not possible to fit the exhaust on
the 19th and the following day it blew out completely - what a din. On
Friday the 23rd, the truck again refused to pull and showed the same
symptoms as when the gasket blew. As the truck had no power and in view of
the fact that the carburettor and distributor were both newly set, it was
felt that the trouble did not lie there. The vehicle managed along the
flats, but had to be helped up the inclines, until finally the Mkuze Garage
was reached. Here it was found that the timing was out, possibly unwittingly
having been moved by the African who had cleaned the engine during the
morning. I sincerely hope that the machine will operate with little trouble
from now on".
But Singie's troubles were not
over! Shortly after his saga
with the exhaust pipe and U-bolts of his Landrover, his vehicle's fanbelt
snapped and, ever resourceful, he used strong, waterproof Elastoplast to
effect temporary repairs. Colonel Jack Vincent's laconic comment scrawled on
Singie's report read "suggest carrying
spare".
From 1956 onwards, a steady
stream of day visitors braved the rough entrance track and the
boulder-strewn Nhlonhlela stream to visit the reserve. Once inside the
reserve the tourist roads were little more than overgrown tracks, which,
more often than not, were impassable in wet weather. Following the erection
of the rustic camp with its three huts in 1958, the Board realised that it
would have to undertake the task of improving the road network. John Kymdell
was sent to the reserve early in 1960 to start grading and hardening the
tourist road network in the reserve. In June 1960 John Dixon arrived in
Mkhuze to replace Ranger John Tinley who was transferred to St Lucia.
Shortly after John's arrival, in July 1960, Singie Denyer took ill and was
admitted to the Nongoma Hospital. He was to be away from the reserve until
the end of October. Tony Pooley had also left the reserve by then and
running a reserve the size of Mkhuze, with the additional responsibility of
the Nxwala State Lands was no easy task for a single ranger. In addition to
managing Mkhuze and Nxwala, John had to control the Sodwana Bay National
Park on the coast as well. A monthly visit was paid to this coastal resort
to collect the revenue for the month, take a meat ration and other supplies
to the game guard and labourer who comprised the total staff of that reserve
and attend to any other routine matters and maintenance.
Sodwana Bay in the sixties bore
very little resemblance to the sophisticated and popular resort that it is
today. On our periodic visits there we often had the privilege of having the
whole beach to ourselves during an evening stroll, but Transvaal skiboat
fishermen, who had previously gone to Mozambique, were already discovering
its pristine waters and excellent fishing. Development of the reserve, from
those halcyon days has been phenomenal and today it is one of the premier
holiday and fishing resorts in KwaZulu-Natal. I haven't been back for twenty
years, as I prefer to remember it as it was then.
Being on his own in the reserve
as he was at the time, it was impossible for John to control Mkhuze, Nxwala
and Sodwana Bay efficiently and he appealed to Peter Potter, Chief
Conservator, Zululand for assistance. Ken Rochat was sent to the reserve
from Umfolozi in August 1960 and I was called in to the Chief Conservator's
office to be told that I was to be transferred to Mkhuze.
I travelled down from the Hluhluwe Game Reserve, where I was
stationed at the time on 4 October 1960, to assist John and so began an
association with Mkhuze, which has lasted for 44 years. The area has never
lost its fascination for me and my experiences in the reserve since my
introduction to it are as vivid now as they were then. This association has,
to a large extent, shaped many of the values that I carry through life. On
that first afternoon of my arrival we went for a drive around the reserve
and I can still well remember the great feeling of peace and identification
with the spiritual serenity of the reserve that I felt at the time. The
spirit of Mkhuze has been a vitalising force in my life ever since and is
one, which has continued to enrich my life and reinforce my sense of
identity for almost half a century.
I moved into the large wattle and
daub rondavel behind Singie Denyer's house, which had previously been
occupied by Tony Pooley. Inside the rondavel, the roof was lined with reeds
to create a ceiling. The area between the thatch and the reed ceiling was
home to numerous bats. As it got dark the bats emerged from their dark
recess between the roof and the ceiling to hawk insects outside, flying back
to dismember and eat them. Every evening before going to bed I had to remove
all books, papers, food, eating utensils, and everything else from the table
and pack it away in a trunk or a cupboard. This was because every morning
the floor of the rondawel and all other flat surfaces were covered in bat
droppings and the wings, shells and other bits of insects that had been
caught during the night. I rather melodramatically described it at the time
as the - chaff from the harvest of death!
During one of my early patrols to
the top of Mpila Hill with Ken Rochat in October 1960, to have the beacons
of the reserve pointed out to me, we saw 180 head of cattle grazing in the
reserve. This was my first encounter with this on-going problem. On Singie's
return from sick leave in November 1960 he instructed John Dixon to organise
a game drive the following month. This too was a somewhat hair-raising
experience. The idea was to get as many animals as possible into the reserve
from the Nxwala State Lands, before the fence in this section of the reserve
was completed. A gap had been left in the fence to the south of Nsumu, with
the fence posts already in position to facilitate the closing, once the
animals were in the reserve. All available staff who were to act as beaters,
were assembled and transported to Nxwala and positioned along the periphery
of the State Lands. The beaters were interspersed with game guards who had
been issued with blank rounds for their .303 rifles.
At a given signal, the line of
game guards and beaters set off amidst much shouting, whistling, and the
firing of cartridges. Advancing slowly they gradually converged on the gap
left in the fenceline. A section of the fence had been rolled up in
readiness to be put into position as soon as the animals were in the
reserve. In his report for January 1961, Singie records "The success of the
drive was very noticeable during a patrol of the area on 22 January 1961.
The leaving of gaps in the fence during its construction certainly paid
dividends for the animals became used to free passage and when the drive
took place these two gaps served an excellent purpose. Ranger Gush, who
acted as observer states that the stream of animals entering the gaps and
returning to the reserve was a sight seldom to be seen and all species
except rhino were observed returning. Of the several hundred Blue Wildebeest
only six were subsequently seen. Of the two or three thousand impala, a near
as possible count of those seen totalled upwards of three hundred. It will
now be interesting to see what will happen in the future when dry conditions
begin to prevail and the usual stamping grounds are denied to the animals.
For the moment the fence appears to be very successful indeed. One gap was
discovered where a black rhino had forced its way through. Here again, the
fence stood up to the strain as the droppers had held the main fence from
falling down. Three impala have been discovered dead on different occasions,
when they became entangled in the higher strands when attempting to jump the
fence".
It was estimated at the time that
80% of the impala population and 90% of the blue wildebeest population of
Nxwala were returned to the reserve. The impala mentioned by Singie, which
were caught in the fence, were probably attempting to return to Nxwala after
being chased into the reserve. I was with the beaters as the constricting
semi-circle narrowed towards the gaps left in the fence. As the large herd
of impala and blue Wildebeest approached the gap in the fenceline the
animals shied away from the fencing and doubled back, causing some near
misses as they swerved around us to get back onto Nxwala.
Even after the fence had been put
into position animals managed to jump it to return to familiar territory.
Impala in particular became aware of the fencing poles placed in the gaps.
These poles caused some of the animals to panic, as they were not sure
whether there was a fence there or not and they turned around and ran
straight back towards the line of beaters. Swerving around us and leaping
into the air, the animals broke through the cordon of beaters to return to
Nxwala.
In December 1960, the staff house
that had been under construction for some months was completed. I was not
particularly sorry to say farewell to my bat-infested rondawel and I moved
into the house with John Dixon - it was to be something of a mixed blessing
and could metaphorically be described as jumping from the frying pan into
the fire. December is a traditionally a very hot month in the reserve and
December 1960 was no exception. The newly completed house was not exactly
designed for comfortable living in a hot Zululand summer. The house, which
was dug into a west-facing slope of a low ridge, had a corrugated asbestos
roof and no verandah. Positioned as it was, it received the full effect of
the afternoon sun. To make matters worse, the Board, in its wisdom, had
installed a slow combustion coal stove on the inside wall of the kitchen,
which heated up the wall into the adjoining lounge. The place was a sauna!
As there was no electricity at the time, we relied on Coleman
paraffin-burning pressure lamps for light and usually had at least two of
these on the go at a time and they too generated a considerable amount of
heat. The house was so hot in summer that the wax candles that were kept on
hand for emergencies softened in their holders and stretched themselves out
on the windowsills. Sleep was virtually impossible at night as the mosquito
screens fitted to the windows cut off most of the air that could penetrate
into the rooms from outside. Adding to our inconvenience was the fact that
we had no fridge. Singie and Dawn very kindly allowed us to keep our meat in
their fridge at the main house, but butter remained in a melted state during
the summer months and had to be poured onto our bread at mealtimes and there
was certainly no question of a cold beer! In February 1961 the temperature
recorded at 12h00 on the maximum and minimum thermometer outside Singie's
office was 43°C. It regularly exceeded 30°C at night during summer.
All the field staff of the Board
was on 24-hour call and we were on duty over weekends. The arrangement at
the time was that 66 hours a month could be taken as "time off" to
compensate for weekend duties. Trips away from the reserve were infrequent.
Apart from the fact that such journeys could not be undertaken too
frequently on a ranger's salary, it was something of a mission to get
anywhere on the bad roads existing in Zululand at the time. The tar from
Durban stopped at Empangeni and from there on, further north, the road was
exceedingly corrugated and rough. Once having left the tar at Empangeni, my
little Austin Farina rattled over the top of the rocky road-hardening, all
the way back to Mkhuze. One could be forgiven for holding the conviction
that the Roads Department quarried their hardening, used a grader to spread
it, and then left it to the motorist to flatten and consolidate.
Our "66s" away from the
reserve were therefore infrequent and as two periods of 'time off' could not
be taken together, I only got away from the reserve every three or four
months, when I would usually head for Durban. Should one have decided not to
brave the roads but go to Durban by train, the prospect of the journey was
even more daunting. Leaving the reserve early in the morning, having found
someone to take you to the station, you caught the 'Zululand Express' at
10h00. The train then proceeded at a very leisurely pace to Mtubatuba, which
was reached at 14h00 and where it waited until 20h00, before leaving for
Durban. Whatever sleep one could grab on the journey was interrupted
throughout the night by the clattering of milk cans being loaded. The train
finally arrived at Durban Station at 08:00. The return journey was equally
laborious. The train would leave Durban at 22h00 to arrive at Mkhuze Station
at 15h00 the following afternoon.
Travel was not the only activity,
which was fairly laborious. Communication with the reserve was equally slow.
As we had no radio or telephone at Mkhuze, Head Office in Pietermaritzburg
or the office of the Chief Conservator, Zululand in the Hluhluwe Game
Reserve had to rely on telegrams sent to the Mkhuze Post Office, to contact
us. We usually only went in to the village for mail once a week and we would
occasionally arrive at the post office to find a telegram waiting for us
from Peter Potter reading "Please telephone my
office urgently". Because of the delay, which had occurred before we
received the message, more often than not we would be told, on telephoning
his office, that the crises had resolved itself and we were to ignore the
message.
In February 1961, I was required
to serve a period of duty as Relief Ranger. This was, a duty expected of all
single rangers at the time. In his report for February Singie Denyer echoed
my own thoughts at having to leave Mkhuze when he wrote, "It
is with regret that Ranger Gush was transferred from this station. However,
it is to be hoped that when the time is ripe, he will return to the Mkhuze
Game Reserve where he certainly showed that his interests are with the
welfare of this game reserve. A request that he be returned to this reserve
has been directed to Head Office". After my relief duties at False
Bay Park and Fanies Island, I was delighted to be told that I would be
returning to Mkhuze.
Shortly after I returned to
Mkhuze after my service as Relief Ranger, there was an amusing incident
involving game guard Mahukwana Mlambo. In accordance with usual practice,
Mahukwana had been sent out on foot to shoot a blue wildebeest for staff
rations. Having shot and wounded the animal he tracked it into the bush and
finally despatched it. It was usual practice in such cases to cover the
carcass with thorn branches and Euclea scrub to hide it from the vultures until it could be
collected. In this case, as an extra precaution, Mahukwana hung his game
guard's tunic in a tree above the carcass and went off to fetch Singie and
his vehicle to cart the carcass back to the compound for skinning. The
hanging of the tunic near the carcass was, according to Makukwana the safest
method of keeping vultures away from a carcass. However, after years of
following this procedure, it failed on this occasion. Singie reported at the
time "One can imagine our astonished expressions when we
came around the bush to find that two extremely large lappetfaced vultures
with Mahukwana's tunic between them, having a real tug of war. Only shreds
remained. The incident is the joke of the compound, much to Mahukwana's
disgust. Incidentally, the blue wildebeest carcass was not touched."
Towards the end of 1961 the saga
of broken down and unreliable vehicles that had plagued Singie a few years
previously, was about to be repeated. In September of that year the Board
departed from its normal policy of buying Landrovers for field use and
invested in a short wheelbase Willys Jeep. An inferior version of the old
stalwart of World War 11, had just been reintroduced onto the South African
market the vehicles being manufactured and assembled in South America,
before being shipped to this country. I was chosen to be the guinea pig to
test the suitability of the vehicle to general field conditions and I went
down to Durban to collect the Jeep from the agents. My introduction to the
vehicle could hardly be described as auspicious. Two days after I had
arrived back in Mkhuze with the Jeep, I was required to take John Kymdell,
the Roads Maintenance Officer who had been working on grading and hardening
the road system in the reserve, back to Umfolozi.
We set off from the reserve at
09h00 and were approaching Hluhluwe village, when the vehicle cut out due to
an electrical fault and had to be towed to the local garage. John Kymdell
telephoned Umfolozi and a vehicle was sent to pick him up, but I had to
spend 8 hours at Hluhluwe village waiting to be picked up by him on his
return journey. Hluhluwe in the early sixties consisted of a small garage, a
general dealer, butchery, post office and very little else. I hung around
all day with nothing to eat, waiting for the mechanic to try and find out
what was wrong with the vehicle and repair it. At 1h:00 he finally abandoned
his efforts for the day and locked up his garage when the shop and butchery
closed. I was left standing outside the locked garage. The weather had
changed during the course of the afternoon and, as it got dark, a biting,
cold wind started sweeping through the dusty forecourt. I had not gone
prepared to stand around at night and so had no adequate covering. I huddled
next to the Shell petrol sign, trying to shield myself from the wind,
waiting for John to return from Umfolozi in a borrowed vehicle. At around
20h00 the sight of John's Landrover pulling into the garage was a welcome
one and I was very grateful to get out of the wind and back to the reserve.
In April 1962 I had another major
saga with the Jeep, although in all fairness I must admit that this time it
was not the fault of the vehicle but rather our petrol which had become
contaminated with water. The reserve's petrol supply was railed up from
Durban in 44-gallon drums, which would lie out in the open at Mkhuze
Station, exposed to the elements, until they could be collected. We filled
our vehicles by screwing a pump into the drum and operating it manually.
Having just filled up my truck, I set off one evening with Khonjwayo, to
shoot a couple of impala for staff rations. I travelled down the beacon road
to Mlambamude and, while in the dried-up Mlambamude streambed, the Jeep
coughed a couple of times and died on me. All efforts to restart it failed.
We were then still in the days before the introduction of the portable radio
system, which later could have been used to call for assistance and We had
no alternative therefore but to abandon the vehicle and start the 10km hike
back to the camp.
A
vivid memory that I have of the walk back to Mantuma, is of a rest stop that
we made fairly close to the survey beacon. Lying on my back in the grass
next to the side of the road, I looked up at an incredibly starry sky. As I
was gazing at it I saw a satellite pass overhead. Satellites were still
something of a novelty in those days and I was hard-pressed to explain to
Khonjwayo what the object passing overhead was. The nearest that I could get
was that we were looking at a man-made object along the lines of a "banoi"
(aeroplane) but one that flew incredibly high.
The petrol episode had an amusing sequel, when Singie had to
tow me into the Mkhuze Garage to have the petrol tank drained and cleaned.
Tying the Jeep behind the Landrover, we set off the following afternoon for
the garage at Mkhuze. April had been a hot, dry, dusty month in the reserve
and, sitting in the open Jeep behind Singie's Landrover, we had hardly left
the camp before I was covered in dust. By the time we reached the outskirts
of Mkhuze village I was a real sight! My clothes were covered in dust and my
dust-encrusted hair stood out from my head. I peered out of bloodshot eyes
that had been irritated by the wind and dust and to make matters worse, the
heat had made me perspire. Rivulets of mud ran down my cheeks and neck. In a
dip in the road just outside Mkhuze I gave a toot on the hooter to get
Singie to stop. I asked him to go into the village and collect a mechanic to
come and take over the short tow of the Jeep into the garage. I chose to
stay where I was and hide in the reeds of the dry streambed, not having the
courage to face the local inhabitants in the condition that I was in. After
the petrol tank had been removed, cleaned and refitted, Singie came back to
collect me and I sneaked into town in my dust-encrusted state, to collect
the vehicle as it was getting dark.
Both Singie and I continued to be
unimpressed with the performance of the vehicle that we found to be quite
unsuitable for the type of work that we were doing. The Heath Robinson-like
canvass top fitted to the Jeep leaked constantly in the lightest shower of
rain, pouring down a steady stream of water onto my right leg. The small bin
at the back offered very little loading space for a vehicle that had to be
used for game control. The spare wheel was bolted onto a bracket mounted
onto the thin metal of one of the body panels. It was not long before the
vibration of the spare wheel caused the metal that it was bolted to, to
crack and the wheel had to be carried in the back bin from then on, reducing
the carrying capacity even further. I kept the vehicle for a year before it
was taken up to Hluhluwe, much to my relief, to be kept for light duties and
I was issued with a Landrover pickup.
The reserve was slowly becoming
more popular with visitors. In September 1961 I took a party of journalist
from the "Natal Mercury"
around the reserve, specifically to see the excellent birdlife at Nsumu and
we were very grateful for the coverage they gave us. Around this time too
"The Star" newspaper of Johannesburg and
the "Daily News" from Durban came up and did a series of articles
on the reserve. In February the following year, I had the pleasure of
meeting Sir Peter Scott and his wife who paid a brief visit to the reserve
during their South African tour.
Nineteen sixty-two started off
with my move out of the staff house that I had been sharing with John Dixon
for the last year and into the newly completed staff squaredavel. This small
unit had a double bunk and a small eating area, separated by a partition
from the kitchen. There was also a bathroom with a toilet and shower. Peter
Potter designed the layout of the squaredavel for bachelor living and it
cleverly fitted into a unit the size of the small rest huts in the present
hutted camp.
In February 1963, the reserve had
the doubtful distinction of having its first burglary. The rondawel behind
Singie's house was broken into and a cupboard forced. As Singie reported at
the time "nothing like this has ever happened before"
and we were forced to reassess our carefree lifestyle that we had enjoyed
before the burglary. Previously, we never bothered to lock anything and we
would often go away for days at a time, leaving our quarters in the care of
the caretakers, which we were given. Obviously a harbinger of things to
come! Summer was with us again and I was pleased to have moved out of the
staff house into the sqaredawel, which was considerably cooler.
John complained bitterly about
the impossible conditions in the house, with its coal stove set in the
kitchen against the lounge wall and the west-facing aspect. February is the
hottest month of the year in Mkhuze and in his report for that month he
wrote, "A most cordial invitation is extended to senior
officers to spend an evening in this "?". Drinks free but please
bring a copy of Dante's Inferno and a maximum and minimum thermometer".
These rather pointed comments obviously did the trick for in April of that
year insulation material was fitted into the ceiling, which improved the
position slightly. In later years, the coal stove was replaced with a gas
one and a verandah was built onto the front of the house, which finally made
it habitable.
Singie's bad health continued and
after a spell in hospital he returned to the reserve in June 1963 to
recuperate. He was, however, forced to return to the Nongoma Hospital in
July. His continuing poor
health necessitated the Board making a new appointment to the position of
Ranger-in-Charge and Adriaan Erasmus from the Umfolozi Game Reserve was
appointed to the position. Singie's departure for Nongoma virtually
coincided with Adriaan's arrival in June 1963. Having come from Umfolozi
where horses were extensively used for patrol work, one of Adriaan's first
tasks was to arrange for a paddock to be built at headquarters for the
horses which he planned to introduce for patrol purposes in Mkhuze. A local
Farmer at Mkhuze, Mr Tommy Marx, had a number of horses available for
disposal and a deal was struck that these would be made available to the
Board in exchange for impala, that would be caught for him in the reserve.
Other developments in 1963
included the arrival of prefabricated corrugated iron buildings to be used
as storerooms and the purchase of a 5-ton Bedford truck, railed to Mkhuze
station and which I collected, for use as general transport. These rather
mundane purchases were of considerable significance to all of us at Mkhuze
as the reserve had been a "Cinderella" for so long, that any new
development was heartening.
There were several other new
developments in the staffing of the reserve as well. In November 1963 John
Forest arrived from Umfolozi and moved into the second squaredavel next to
mine. A further 3 horses arrived in February 1964 and the laconic statement
in John Forest's report for that month reads "assisted
Ranger Gush to ride a horse".
Although I enjoyed those early riding sessions, I never got the
opportunity of becoming an accomplished horseman.
An incident of much excitement to
us early in 1964 was the arrival of a fibreglass boat, which was to be used
for patrol purposes, and which was initially onto the Nhlonhlela Pan. The
craft was later moved to the Nsumu Pan, where it was used to advantage to
monitor the birdlife on the pan. An activity that definitely placed us in
the category of " You Rangers have a marvellous life, all you do all
day is ride around and look at animals and birds".
Singie was appointed Camp
Superintendent of the newly opened hutted camp on 1 May 1964. Sadly, his
tenure of the position was to be very brief as he died on 5 July 1964. The
10 years that Singie Denyer had spent in the service of the Natal Parks
Board as Ranger-in-Charge of the reserve saw the emergence of Mkhuze as a
one of the major conservation areas in Natal. His practical ability and
adaptability in the field and his understanding of the African temperament
was widely recognised. So too was his knowledge of animal behaviour and his
ability to become attuned to the nuances and moods of the bushveld. These
were aspects of his personality, which he used to very good effect in his
efforts to further the cause of nature conservation. As a new Ranger at
Mkhuze I benefited greatly from his experience in the field and his
leadership. I will always be grateful to him for his guidance and
friendship. Singie Denyer can truly be considered to be the 'Father of
Mkhuze".
One of the last interesting
experiences that I had in the reserve before my departure for Head Office at
the end of April 1964, was a flight that I took over the reserve in an
airforce Alouette helicopter. The "chopper" had landed near the
Mantuma hutted camp to collect an impala and I was fortunate enough to
persuade the pilot to take me up for a flip. Looking down on anything from
an elevated position always gives one an entirely new perspective of the
familiar and as I sat in the chopper, looking down at Bube Pan and its newly
constructed hide below me I had a feeling of déjà vu. I felt far removed
from any immediate involvement with the reserve's problems and it was as
though I was an outside observer, seeing the area and its history unfolding
in context before me for the first time. It was an appropriate moment to say
farewell to the reserve. My association with the reserve and concern for its
welfare has remained with me through the subsequent 26 years of service with
the Board and is as strong today as it was then.
During my stay in Mkhuze the
development of the reserve had been rapid. With the building of the hutted
camp and the hides, the completion of the road system Mkhuze soon started
attracting visitors. What we had all sought for so long, had became a
reality and the reserve had entered a new era. This new era would largely
see the end to the uncomplicated existence that we had all enjoyed as
rangers: an uncomplicated lifestyle, unburdened by petty bureaucracy and
with plenty of time for our own individual natural history pursuits. In
March 1972, a significant event occurred that would affect the future
control of the state land adjoining Mkhuze. The Department of Agricultural
Credit and Land Tenure invited the Natal Parks Board to take over control of
the Nxwala State Lands and an additional 5800 ha of land was added to the
reserve.
The memories that I carry of
those early days in Mkhuze, will remain with me as long as I live and will
continue to represent one of the most important and meaningful periods of my
life.