The Midlands Black Rhino Conservancy is registered as a Trust. The Founder Patron is former Midlands Govener Cephas Msipa. It consists of 15 adjoining private properties. The rhino are not the only animals to be found in the conservancy and share this bush with water buck, kudu, eland, impala, duiker, steenbok, aardwolf, bushbuck, bush pig. Recent introductions have been giraffe, roan antelope, sa
ble, zebra, tsessebe and young elephant. The task of managing the Conservancy on a daily basis is the responsibility of the Conservator, Mr. Briliant Chibura. He lives on site in a house provided by the Conservancy. Apart from the coordinating role, he is also responsible for local liaison and a guard force of 36 scouts and 10 monitors. There is good accommodation at the guard’s camp and a further block to sleep six with attached kitchens has been built. This should allow a total number of guards and monitors of fifteen to be maintained. The Guards act as regular patrols and also as a rapid reaction response against poaching. There are also good relations with the police and local National Parks officers. During the last two years there has been a huge increase in poaching of wildlife in the Conservancy. This has been by men on foot, accompanied by packs of dogs and the setting of numerous wire snares, which are quite indiscriminate in the game they catch. The resettlement programme, fast tracking exercise and land invasions have all contributed to this increase. Scholarship Fund
With our scholarship fund, we were able to send three children as boarders to the Kwe Kwe secondary school for four years starting in January 2006. In 2007, we have awarded four more scholarships from this fund. These scholarships are open to both boys and girls based on a combination of intellectual ability and need. Parents, teachers, headmasters and village leaders in the area covered by our six schools have formed a scholarship committee to select the candidates with the assistance of CAMFED – a UK organisation that helps provide secondary education to needy girls in Africa. These scholarships pay for all tuition fees and the costs of uniforms, travelling to and from school, full board and lodging and exercise books. An ‘uncle’ or ‘aunt’ visits each child at least once per term to ensure that they do not have any problems. As the fund increases, we hope to be able to pay for secondary education for more children. The current annual cost per child is about £500.
