NEWS
Wildest dreams : Meet the Karoo farmer who ’ s bringing back the wilderness and resurrecting ‘ dead ’ towns
Angus Begg
Early records show that , at one stage , colonial hunters shot 25 hippos a day along this Seekoei River . They even used them as bait to catch the San bushmen ,” says PC Ferreira as he leans against the rail of a small jetty jutting out over the river , on his farm between the Karoo settlements of Richmond and Hanover .
The river runs through his farm , part of its 300 km journey between its source in the Compassberg outside Nieu- Bethesda in the Eastern Cape , and the Vanderkloof Dam , a Northern Cape Department of Environment and Nature Conservation property .
This Karoo born and bred farmer says the last hippopotamus in the area was shot 230 years ago . But , today , we are looking for one , which speaks to a reintroduction programme , the journey Ferreira has been on to get them back , and the creation of a vast private nature reserve in the central Karoo .
Gazing out at the reeds , Ferreira says he had five hippos in the 300 km river until not too long ago , but natural causes and fighting among them left only one bull , with no family or potential mate . The jetty is where he says the bull is usually found at this time of day .
The rains have been good and the river
Figure 1 . The Seekoei River ’ s only hippo in a characteristic warning display – showing how big his teeth are . PC Ferreira says he is involved in finding and translocating suitable companions . ( Photo : Supplied )
37 Grassroots Vol 22 No 1 March 2022