Assessing conservation management practices within South Africa' s private game reserves B Soares Vitoriano Canelas Maia orcid.org/0000-0003-3339-0992 Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Commerce in Tourism Management at the North-West University Supervisor: Prof P van der Merwe Graduation: May 2019 Student number: 28361032 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It was an absolute privilege to have had the opportunity to conduct this masters’ study. It is with a thankful heart that I want to acknowledge the following people for their contributions to my achievement of this goal. I am blessed with a wonderful family who supports me continuously. My parents, Manuel e São, you taught me how to work hard, you always support me with the best advice, you always believe in me. Thank you for all your financial and emotional support throughout my whole career and life. Thank you for being the best parents. I would also like to thank my brother, António, for your unconditional love and support. João, I am so thankful to have someone like you by my side and as my boyfriend. You were always by my side throughout this incredible journey, you always supported me and you always knew how to cheer me up when I was feeling down and frustrated. Thank you for being the man I was waiting for. I also want to thank my promoter, Prof Peet van der Merwe. Thank you for the encouragement, support and guidance throughout this challenging time and thank you for always caring about my well-being. You are a remarkable researcher and professor and it was a privilege working with you. And thank you to Professor Melville Saayman for his assistance through this process. I also want to thank the rest of my family and friends for the constant support, love and encouragement throughout this process. I want to thank these organisations: the North-West University, the Wildlife Ranching South Africa and all the game reserves involved. Without any of these organisations this would not be possible. Mrs. Cecile Van Zyl for the language editing of this dissertation. If I have left anyone out, I am thankful to everyone who made a difference in my life and for all the love and support; without it, I would not be where I am today. ii ABSTRACT Nowadays, the majority of traditional farming lands have been converted to private land used for wildlife as it is more economically viable for landowners. Due to a change from normal farming (crop and livestock) to game reserves, there are many new aspects that need to be managed on land for private game reserves, for example general management, tourism management and conservation management. Conservation management is one of the most important aspects on this land, as it affects the overall tourism experience. Therefore, the primary objective of this study was to determine the conservation management practices on private game reserves and how those practices could influence the tourists’ experiences. Secondary objectives were (1) to analysis literature regarding wildlife tourism and the private wildlife industry in South Africa, (2) to analysis literature regarding private game reserves, conservation management and tourism experiences, (3) to conduct qualitative research in order to achieve the goal of the study and (4) to draw conclusions and make recommendations regarding the results of the study. A descriptive research design was followed, more specifically qualitative research through structured interviews. Interviews were held with the members of the presidential council of WRSA (Wildlife Ranching South Africa) who were willing to participate and who own or manage private game reserves, as well as tourists present at the farms of the different game reserves who were willing to participate. A total of eight (8) reserve owners/managers and twelve (12) tourists were interviewed during the course of the research. Judgement sampling was used as these council members are seen by the industry and have also been involved in the industry for a number of years. For the tourists, convenience sampling was used. The main conclusion of the research was that the game owners and managers who formed part of the survey do contribute to conservation management and to the environment by implementing good conservation and environmental practices on their private game farms/reserves. This included aspects such as anti-poaching units, monitoring vegetation and wildlife, veld fire management, bush encroachment, reduction of negative impacts and waste, raising awareness and educating tourists. The study also found that tourists believe it is important to have conservation management practices present on the game farms/reserves they visit as it will influence their tourist experience. KEYWORDS: wildlife industry, wildlife tourism, private game reserve, conservation management, conservation management practices, tourist experience iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................. ii ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................. vii CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION AND PROBLEM STATEMENT ........................................ 1 1.1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1 1.2. BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY ............................................................................................ 1 1.3. PROBLEM STATEMENT ....................................................................................................... 5 1.4. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OBJECTIVES............................................................................ 6 1.4.1. PRIMARY OBJECTIVE (GOAL) ....................................................................................... 6 1.4.2. SECONDARY OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................. 6 1.5. LITERATURE STUDY ............................................................................................................ 6 1.6. METHOD OF RESEARCH ...................................................................................................... 6 1.6.1. METHOD OF COLLECTING DATA ................................................................................. 7 1.6.2. SAMPLING ................................................................................................................... 8 1.6.3. DEVELOPMENT OF INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ............................................................... 9 1.6.3. CONDUCTING THE INTERVIEWS ................................................................................ 10 1.6.4. DATA ANALYSIS ......................................................................................................... 11 1.7. DEFINING THE CONCEPTS ................................................................................................ 11 1.7.1. CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT ............................................................................... 11 1.7.2. WILDLIFE TOURISM ................................................................................................... 12 1.7.3. WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT .......................................................................................... 12 1.7.4. PRIVATE GAME RESERVE MANAGEMENT ................................................................. 13 1.7.5. TOURISM EXPERIENCE............................................................................................... 13 1.7.6. PRIVATE WILDLIFE INDUSTRY .................................................................................... 13 1.7.7. GAME FARM/RESERVE .............................................................................................. 14 1.8. CHAPTER CLASSIFICATION ................................................................................................ 14 CHAPTER 2 – CONTEXTUALISATION OF THE PRIVATE WILDLIFE INDUSTRY OF SOUTH AFRICA ................................................................................................................. 16 2.1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 16 2.2. WILDLIFE TOURISM AS AN ALTERNATIVE FORM OF TOURISM ........................................ 17 2.3. WILDLIFE INDUSTRY IN SOUTH AFRICA ............................................................................ 23 iv 2.4. PILLARS OF THE PRIVATE WILDLIFE INDUSTRY ................................................................ 26 2.4.1. WILDLIFE TOURISM (ECOTOURISM) .......................................................................... 27 2.4.2. HUNTING ................................................................................................................... 28 2.4.3. GAME BREEDING AND SALES .................................................................................... 29 2.4.4. GAME PRODUCTS ...................................................................................................... 30 2.5. CONTRIBUTION MEASURES OF THE WILDLIFE INDUSTRY ............................................... 31 2.6. CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................