The Team Behind Mjejane Game Reserve

The team behind a residential development is always one of the most crucial aspects with Mjejane Game Reserve this is no different.

The Safrican Leisure Group (Safrican) may not be a household name but it is the pioneer behind some of South Africa's leading, and most sustainable, wildlife and eco-tourism initiatives.

The Safrican story dates back 30 years, when a father and son joined forces, and has since provided a unique link between development, conservation, hospitality and community upliftment. The partnership has created a proven track-record for successfully identifying tracts of land and converting them into responsible and sustainable eco-tourism developments.

The defining aspects have been the clear purpose of not just maintaining the status quo, or exploitation for selfish or short-term economic reasons, but rather to pioneer the emergence of a new phenomenon with new values, for the development of land. Safrican has also developed a clear way of thinking which centred around the belief that the only way that conservation can be a success is if it is economically sustainable, and able to compete with commercial farming.

Safrican has proudly developed a number of iconic projects such as Mjejane Game Reserve near Malelane, Mabula Game Reserve near Warmbaths, Westlake Country and Safari Estates on the banks of Hartebeespoort Dam, Mount Savannah Game Reserve in the Cradle of Humankind, Doornkop Fish and Wildlife Reserve and Seasons Lifestyle Estate, between Hartebeespoort Dam and Brits. They have also been responsible for the prestigious Black Rhino Game Reserve, the first private game reserve to be incorporated into Pilansberg National Park.

Whilst these projects may be well-known, very few will know that Safrican was responsible for achieving many ‘firsts' in the county. It was responsible for the launch of timeshare in South African as we know it today - which has since become a R3, 5 Billion industry - the first to translocate elephants from Zimbabwe to South Africa, appointed the first female ranger in the country, were responsible for importing the long-horned buffalo horn gene that is so lucrative today, and has created a business model that is an international benchmark for tourism development and community upliftment.

Safrican has also been the driving force behind Venison Meat SA and World Wildlife Services - a national game relocation business.

This all links back to a clear model for the sustainability of game conservation and the integration of the private and public sectors. Safrican has always believed in 3 conservation pillars which are investment, venison and game farming. "Our model was developed through the realisation that creating game reserve ownership opportunities helps to secure farmland for future conservation initiatives whilst venison and game farming helps secure further land, whilst currently providing employment for hundreds of thousands of people within SA", says Willie Joubert - CEO of Safrican and son of Hennie Joubert.

Mjejane Game Reserve is developed by Lugedlane Developments (Pty) Ltd which is a joint venture between Safrican and the Lugedlane community. In this case Willie and Hennie Joubert, of Safrican, helped successfully restore the land to the Lugedlane Community through the land claims process, covered the shortfall towards the purchase price of the property and ceded personal assets as guarantee in order to obtain the development finance for the servicing of the first phase.

Today this is a glowing example of how, through research, careful planning and selective development, the natural resource was secured for conservation, and has since been successfully maintained and improved. Through the construction, staffing and management, Mjejane is providing sustainable model for the community members that maximises their income via profits and job creation, and has successfully preserved 4000 hectares of farmland.

The Safrican story actually started at Mabula in Warmbaths when the Joubert's were forced to create a business model for revenue generation in order to retain the farm. The result was the creation of the first time-share model in South Africa. This successful revenue model was used to retain the farm and to precede with the conservation initiatives that they had visualised for the land.

The next step was to acquire game, and after much perseverance with Nature Conservation they managed to convince the ‘powers that be' that elephants could be kept in places other than in the Kruger National Park, and as a result became the first to translocate elephants from Zimbabwe to South Africa.. The successful introduction of game onto the farm then stimulated a massive demand for game farming as a vast number of local farmers realised that this was more sustainable than the traditional farming in the area of peanuts, maize and cattle. This shift in mind-set ultimately had a significant impact on securing hundreds of thousands of hectares in the immediate area for conservation, resulting in one of the largest concentration of private game farms in one area in the country. This also motivated further development of government reserves such as Kransberg, Pilansberg and Madikwe.

This movement has been instrumental in converting the SA game heritage, which was once in dire-straits, into the multi-billion rand industry that it is today. An example of the overall success is that in 1993 game ranches in SA covered 7, 8 million hectares of land whereas today they cover in excess of 21 million hectares. Not only is this land that is being conserved, but it has also resulted in the employment of over 100,000 people.

"The recovery of wildlife numbers has been thanks to a quiet private sector conservation revolution that has been built largely on eco-tourism, investment and game farming," explains Joubert.

He continues, "Statistics show that the hunting industry is worth more than R8 billion a year, whilst game trading amounts to more than R2, 3 billion. Annual sales at wildlife auctions have also increased from R63 Million a decade ago to R1 billion at present. This is a clear illustration that game farms and game reserves create jobs in supporting industries and can have a significant benefit to surrounding communities".

The lasting legacy that Safrican will want to leave is the significant role that it has played in preserving the country's wildlife heritage for generations to come. Safrican continues to grow and expand its portfolio of diverse developments, each property with its own unique identity but all with the common bond of sustainable conservation and community partnerships.

For furher information on freehold purchasing options within Mjejane Game Reserve contact the Mjejane Lifestyle sales team on [email protected]