:: THE NDOMO PROJECT

Introduction
Can an enclave for the privileged few exist, surrounded by a community in dire need of the basic necessities to sustain survival? Game reserves throughout South Africa, many of which are bordered by impoverished areas, face this challenge. At the same time and on a global scale, the self-sustainability of rural communities, equal education for all and the conservation of the life-sustaining resources of our country are high priorities to secure South Africa’s future. The Ndumo Project aims at addressing these problems in the remote Ndumo region by joining educational, conservational and corporate resources to promote education and the preservation and conservation of both mankind and wildlife.

The Ndumo Game Reserve in northern KwaZulu-Natal is situated on the Usuthu River bordering Mozambique and is an example of so many others in the area, where the surrounding community is poverty stricken, with a high incidence of unemployment and illiteracy. Few people have electricity and/ or running water, and AIDS-related diseases are rife. Their needs to survive are often substantiated by poaching and stripping the fauna and flora in their immediate vicinity. Yet, in spite of those adverse conditions and lack of resources, the community has dignity and displays tremendous spirit in its eagerness to break the cycle of poverty.

On the other hand, higher education institutions such as the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) are focused on education and research in order to address the needs of communities and ensuring the conservation of resources, while the corporate world is able and willing to fund such joint endeavours.

History of the Ndumo Project
Mathematics is not confined to solving problems related to physics and engineering. It has numerous other uses, as proved in research conducted in the Ndumo area by TUT's Department of Mathematical Technology. The Department has adapted the historical Lotka-Volterra mathematical model to assist the Ndumo Game Reserve management in maintaining and sustaining the wildlife population and preventing the destruction of indigenous vegetation in the Reserve. The competing species model describes possible outcomes for various proposed managerial actions and provides scientific direction to address the existing problems at the Reserve in the shortest possible time.

The overpopulation of nyala has been an ongoing problem in the Reserve over the past two decades. Because of their huge numbers, these antelope destroyed indigenous vegetation structures, and, consequently, alien vegetation species that are unsuitable as sources of food entered the Reserve. Smaller game species that have a lower browse line than nyala facing possible extinction. The nature conservationists at Ndumo were committed to do what they could to address the problem, but were unable to control the nyala numbers, in spite of continuous culling programmes. They needed scientifically based guidance and financial support.

In 1998, the Department of Mathematical Technology became aware of the Reserve’s needs and, based on a mathematical model, proposed three strategies to control the nyala numbers. The proposed management plans to bring stability in the Reserve had been developed for three different periods (three, five and ten years). The Reserve's management team opted for the five-year plan for in order to reach the required balance in competing species numbers, and introduced it in 1999. Unfortunately, the programme was interrupted in 2001, due to the merger of the three conservation organisations in KwaZulu-Natal, but it was reinstated in 2002 and is now bearing fruit.

The birth of the Ndumo Poject
While facilitating the auditing and control of certain species found at Ndumo, the members of the research team became intensely aware of the pressing needs of the immediate community, and the Ndumo Project was born. In 2002, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the former Technikon Pretoria (now a part of the newly established TUT) and the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation authorities, for the benefit of the community, education, research and nature conservation. This agreement facilitates the collaborative efforts to ensure the conservation of wildlife resources through education, as well as the upliftment of the community.

The following milestones have been reached:

• First National Bank (FNB) initially made a donation to finance the culling programme and get the existing but neglected abattoir operational. The abattoir has since generated more than R230 000 per year from meat sales. Those funds are ploughed back into the Reserve.
  
• Immediate spin-offs were the creation of job opportunities for members of the local community helping in the abattoir, and the availability of fresh meat at a reasonable price, which, in turn, led to a sharp decrease in poaching in the Reserve.
  
• Various research and in-service training opportunities for TUT staff and students culminated from the culling project. A doctoral study on mathematical models for three competing species has been completed, while a number of B Tech and undergraduate students are engaged in experiential training and case studies based on aspects of the project.
  
• Improved wildlife management of the fauna and flora in the Reserve, based on research, emanated from TUT’s involvement.
  
• Thanks to donations from Mearsk, the Environmental Education Centre (EE) that is located on the premises but has fallen into disuse, got a new lease on life. Since 2003 it has been upgraded to benefit the entire community.
  
• Other donors contributed to different aspects of the project, the latest being the New Zealand Agency for International Development (NZAID), committing themselves to the development and maintenance of the vegetable gardens established at eight schools in the surrounding community.
  
• Thanks to the annual support since 2003, from the Tony and Lisette Lewis Foundation (TLLF), it was possible to station final-year Nature Conservation students at the EE Centre on a permanent basis to oversee and promote the project.
  

The role of the Tony and Lisette Lewis Foundation (TLLF)
As the approach of the Ndumo Project is to “ensure future conservation through present education” in a global sense, rather than concentrating on the conservation of a specific indigenous species, it is almost impossible to quantify the extent of a donor’s contribution. However, on a continuous basis, the TLLF directly contributes to the long-term objectives visualised by the Ndumo Project, in terms of the following:

• Educational programmes on environmental care and conservation, hygiene, the spread of diseases and proper diet to combat disease, etc. Those programmes are presented to identified adult groups from the community, at teacher workshops and to learners at the eight schools in the immediate vicinity (the target group exceeds 5,000 individuals.)
  
• Groups of school children that now visit the Reserve for hands-on environmental awareness sessions (more than 600 learners involved per annum).
  
• The library, containing extensive EE resources and science kits, that has been established at the Centre. All resources are available to the teachers and learners of the eight schools involved and to EE officers of the surrounding reserves (this has an enormous effect on the general level of education in the region).
  
• The extensive teacher workshops that are presented at the EE Centre to assist in meeting and addressing the extreme needs experienced by teachers in such remote areas (three workshops per year, involving at least 30 teachers each).
  
• The in-service training of four TUT students, and a bursary to a promising student from the region to obtain a qualification in nature conservation.
  
• Annual game counts in the Ndumo Game Reserve, offering TUT students an opportunity for hands-on experience, and directly contributing to the efficient management of the Reserve, based on updated census numbers.
  
• Training the permanent but sometimes inexperienced officers responsible for EE in marketing, communication and presentation skills. Those officers play an important role in involving local community leaders in the activities at the reserve.
  
• A drop in poaching and environmental stripping, due to the heightened conservational awareness established in the community.
  

The Ndumo Project has thus succeeded in bringing about interdisciplinary cooperation, involving industry in community service, nature conservation and research, and also establishing a healthy working relationship between wildlife management and the surrounding community. TUT's project task team and students, and, most of all, the Ndumo community and staff and the learners of the eight schools involved in the project have the greatest appreciation for the continuous financial support and positive input from the Tony and Lisette Lewis Foundation and other donors.

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