SHAMWARI GAME RESERVE (South
Africa)
Privately Owned Wilderness Areas
 Designation
of wilderness areas is usually associated with public land,
but there is great scope for designations on lands under
private control (individual, corporate, church, tribal, and
more). This is especially true in a country like South
Africa where there is more land under conservation
management in the private sector (private game reserves,
game ranches, etc) than in the public sector.
In practical conservation terms, wilderness is the highest
form of conservation category an area can achieve, and is
defined by the World Conservation Union as a "large area of
unmodified or slightly modified land and / or sea which
retains its natural character and influence and which is
protected and managed so as to preserve its natural
condition". In personal, social and cultural terms,
wilderness was our home - the crucible in which humans
evolved over millions of years - and is yet the repository
of irreplaceable biological, economic and spiritual values.
Shamwari Game Reserve, located in the South Africa’s Eastern
Cape, set aside 16 % of their land, over 3,000 hectares
(7,500 acres) as a wilderness area, subject to a
well-defined wilderness management plan, under servitude (a
type of easement) with the Wilderness Foundation.
 Shamwari
operates their four day wilderness trails with a concern for
minimum impact. The only lasting impression left by a
wilderness trail is the experience itself. And it is likely
to be indelible. The late Sir Laurens van der Post, one of
WILD’s founding directors, said it very well; "(Wilderness)
presents us with a blue print, as it were, of what creation
was about in the beginning, when all the plants and trees
and animals were magnetic, fresh from the hands of the
Creator."
(Shamwari
Game Reserve is part of the
Mantis Collection, and has many occasions during the
last decade been recognized as the top eco-tourism
destination in South Africa)
Shamwari Wilderness Trails
 In
November 2001, Shamwari set aside 16 % of their
land, over 3,000 hectares (7,500 acres) as a
wilderness area and are offering a 4 day wilderness
trail programme. Four-day wilderness trails are run
where two nights are spent in the bush with the
first and last nights in the base camp.
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