Swaziland Conservation

Swaziland Conservation  – Protecting ecosystems in Africa

Questions:

  • Do snakes need to be killed?
  • Are all spiders poisonous and needing to be killed?
  • Are vultures valuable in an ecosystem?

Swaziland /eSwatini bushveld is vitally important to the eSwatini people, who live in a beautiful country that is one of the smallest in Africa. While people need farming land to survive,  there are ways in which the amazing Swazi people and African bushveld conservation can live hand in hand.

In Royal Jozini Private Game Reserve, we are part of the eSwatini landscape, and would like to preserve the natural beauty around. Conservation in Swaziland is very important to us, while teamwork and education seems to be the best way to achieve this objective. Can you help us?

More information on the Royal Jozini Game Reserve Wildlife Conservation initiatives

Help us protect Southern African wildlife by conserving the ecosystems around us. This includes recycling plastic, paper and tin, not using more than what we need and choosing wisely when purchasing products.

Conservation in the Eswatini bushveld includes respecting the smallest creature which will have an impact on the food chain, preventing alien invader Flora, and protecting instead of destroying what is around us.

Protecting habitats, food chains and ecosystems all start in the same place – educating and understanding.

Key categories in conservation:

  • Reforest indigenous flora
  • Remove plastic contamination
  • Reduce and reuse waste
  • Respect wild life
  • Protect wild life
  • Protect water sources
  • Live wisely and aware of what is happening around us
  • Educate about common misconceptions
  • Use electricity sparingly – electricity uses coal and water to generate

   

Useful tips for conservation in Swaziland:

  • Recycle and re-use any plastic materials brought into the area (Take it home with you if you are travelling by road and recycle back at home).
  • Protect our wildlife and treat it with respect.
  • Don’t bring in foreign flora to the area, beautiful fast growing trees can easily over-turn indigenous vegetation, which the wildlife use as shelter and a food source.
  • Save water – close dripping taps                                                      
  • shower instead of bathing
  • Use less water when showering/bathing
  • Don’t litter – litter traps and smother animals, small waste can have a big effect on animals. Plastic bags are ingested by animals but cannot be digested and stays in the intestines, leading to a very slow and painful death. Many smaller animals have been caught in plastic tubing or packaging and slowly suffocated or starved to death. Metal tins or glass bottles cause injuries, sepsis and also result in a slow painful death to the animal. Clean Swazi article
  • Don’t use rivers for waste disposal – this destroys the insects and animals in the water, and contaminates drinking water
  • Use reeds and natural means to filter water
  • Never leave open fires unsupervised
  • Fires are not allowed in the bushveld, especially in drier seasons.
  • Cigarette butts need to be properly put out / extinguished and destroyed. Many fires in Southern Africa have wreaked havoc and were started by a careless fire not being put out, or a cigarette butt carelessly thrown down.
  • Have a save water campaign, whereby people can still wash hands but be aware of water conservation
  • Encourage public participation in conservation, loyalty to the land gives a purpose to helping conserve it. Drawing in the local communities has protected many a specie from extinction.
  • Teach kindness to the environment, animals and plant life.
  • Encourage children to be responsible and important in the conservation game. They are energetic, have fresh ideas and enthusiastic, the new generation!
  • Protect trees: Through a study done in eSwatini /Swaziland on the trees, it was found that the decline of tree and plant species in the Lebombo range have resulted in fires penetrating further, making the area increasingly vulnerable to fires and alien species invasion.

The Lebombo range around the Royal Jozini Game Reserve is vitally important to the conservation of threatened tree species, some of the species being restricted to specific geological formations.  For more information, follow this link of studies done of trees in Swaziland

Help us conserve and protect the beauty of the eSwatini wildlife!

Interesting Articles:

Swaziland state of environment report 

Earthlife