For the safari sofa lizards it was Born Free and Daktari; for others maybe the hazy recollection of an elephant – probably pink – on a day’s safari while following a British Lions rugby tour. Or perhaps you just went on an African game drive and a stunning sunset pinned you to the ground and bound you in its spell.
Many dream of owning a slice of Africa. The rest are lying. Adrian Gardiner had a dream. It was quite modest to start with. In 1991 he bought 1000 acres near Port Elizabeth on South Africa’s Eastern Cape; farmland stripped of its goodness by goats. Drought had hit the region hard, so more land became available at discount prices and Gardiner soon had 20,000 acres. This is Shamwari, now one of Africa’s great game reserves.
He researched what beasts had roamed the plains he now owned and then set about convincing the local government to allow him wildlife permits to bring them home.
“Nothing like this had ever really been done in these parts. The last lion to roam the province was shot out in the late 1800s” said Gardiner.
He eventually convinced the authorities to allow him to re-introduce elephant. Gardiner was Noah on dry land. Rhino, hippo, giraffe, buffalo, antelope and eventually the lion all followed the Cape crusade.
How would the animals rub along together on the Shamwari ark? Gardiner gathered wildlife expertise around him to study the impact of bringing indigenous animals back to the region. Among the experts was Dr Ian Player, brother of the legendary South African golfer Gary, and the conservationist credited with saving the white rhino from extinction.
“When animals are fenced in they need to be managed whether they are sheep or cattle, or elephant, lion and buffalo. This is where so many people get it wrong. They believe by simply introducing indigenous animals things will immediately fall into balance. Before they know it the land they rescued is in a worst state than ever,” said Gardiner.
After the success of the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa, ending in that iconic image of President Mandela handing the World Cup to the Springboks captain Francois Pienaar, the tourists arrived in their herds.
Gardiner’s Mantis Group now has three game reserves in South Africa and earlier this month Dubai World took a shareholding in the properties, confident of even more tourists flocking to the country as South Africa prepares to host the 2010 football World Cup. Dubai World plans to invest around £1 billion in South Africa over the next five years.
Gardiner’s latest project at Shamwari is to build nine two-bedroom lodges, starting from £2 million, on the reserve. “You will own the property and have title, and the opportunity to use other Mantis properties around the world,” said Gardiner.
Surrey businessman Chris Oliver, a commercial property developer, admits his first experience of the country was in 1997 following the British Lions rugby tour to South Africa, where, he concedes, a drink may have been taken. Family holidays followed and a meeting with ranger Bruce Little, who now runs the Oliver’s game farm Hopewell. Chris and his wife Sharon bought the 8500-acre cattle farm an hour from Port Elizabeth on the Eastern Cape in 2001. “We drove east from Port Elizabeth and passed dairy and cattle farms before finding this bowl of natural bush,” said Chris Oliver.
The first task was putting up 23 acres of game fencing and then studying the carrying capacity, before buying in the animals. A farm, once just 60 head of cattle, now carries, amongst others, giraffe, elephant, rhino and cheetah.
“Enjoying a sun downer outside your own lodge and seeing a cheetah flash across the landscape takes some beating,” said Oliver.
It has not been easy and even if Oliver’s bargain buy has risen significantly in terms of South African land prices, love not money has to be the motivation. For a British investor a local partner on the ground you can trust implicitly is vital, for, as Oliver warns, “this is Africa’.
His business partner Bruce Little is a vastly experienced game ranger, whose passion for wildlife has seen him develop into a renowned sculptor and photographer.
There are always fears about land claims and buyer nerves are fraying, wondering how the new ANC president Jacob Zuma will react to foreign investment and South Africa to him.
However such is the scale of global investment and the importance of tourism to domestic coffers, not to mention the glare of international scrutiny in the run up to the football World Cup, anything to deter investors and tourists would be madness. But ‘this is Africa’.
There are frustrations aplenty, says Oliver, but his family has never felt threatened or insecure on the reserve and their Oliver Foundation was set up to help the local communities in the Eastern Cape.
“A staff wage is around 60 rand (£4) a day and AIDS remains a huge problem. It is important to put something back and game farming and conservation is a growth industry, creating a lot of jobs,” said Oliver.
Follow the Orange River through the Northern Cape, home to the Karoo and the Kalahari, for some of South Africa’s prime game farm investments. These farms, says Wayne Rubidge of Pam Golding Properties, can be over 25,000 acres and, undeveloped, can sell for 1000 rand (£65) an acre. Established game farms with stock and a hunting or tourism lodge sell for 2500 rand (£160) an acre.
“The Eastern Cape is popular because of the vegetation, allowing for both grazers and browsers and the tourist footprint in the area. But a shortage of property in the region and high asking prices, up to 4500 rand (£290) an acre for a profitable first-class game farm, has seen attention turn to burgeoning new areas,” said Rubidge.
Hotspots he has identified include Beaufort West in the Western Cape; Jansenville in the Eastern Cape, Aliwal North in the North Eastern Cape and the area from Colesburg to Prieska in the Northern Cape.
Hunting on game farms is a three billion rand industry, including more than two billion rand for biltong and nearly 500 million rand for the foreign trophy hunting business.
Plains game, such as gemsbok and springbok, are popular among hunters. Vast pieces of land are needed to carry the Big Five and special permits required. Elephants cause huge damage to trees and lions usually mean a vehicle and gun, rather than walking safaris. There are game auctions to stock farms and brokers to order your kudu or oryx through. Buy game locally if possible, rather than bring in from elsewhere where the velt may be totally different.
It takes about 10 years to produce a mature game farm, with the animals settled and a social structure in place. When mixing your grazers, after the grass, and the browsers, stripping the trees of leaves, look at the different heights the animals feed at. Water supply from bore holes is naturally vital, with the threat of drought.
Culling comes into play when an area is being denuded or to shoot older, weaker animals and if a drought is imminent you will need to cull out hard.
“South Africa is the most popular African country for investment in game and wildlife properties, followed by Botswana, Mozambique and Namibia,” said Rubidge.
Overseas investors may form syndicates to spread the cost and risk, but nothing can replace local knowledge. Steve Fitzgerald is chief executive of &BEYOND and its property portfolio includes a joint venture with Tara Getty, to build private homesteads for sale on long leases on the Phinda private game reserve – 56,000 acres in Natal, carrying the Big Five.
Fitzgerald has heard countless tales of woe when foreign buyers have gone out on their own to buy an African safari lodge.
“Stories such as ‘I invested with partners who turned out not to be partners at all.’ ‘My new camp has just burned down’. ‘We never saw any more wildlife.’ ‘The ranger ran off with the chef. ‘The hyenas ate the tyres and we could not go on a game drive,” said Fitzgerald.
Plenty of early interest in the 15 four-bedroom homesteads, each on nine-acre plots and starting from £3 million, has come from UK buyers. “The global economy is not helping, but property is the only asset in South Africa never to have gone backwards. Phinda is an extraordinary piece of land. We have black and white rhino and the best cheetah anywhere in the world,” said Fitzgerald.
Phinda, which means Return in Zulu, is land reclamation with a difference. Land taken from local tribes during apartheid was returned to the communities last October, but with Fitzgerald supporting the claim. “The best way forward was to support the land claim and then lease the land back to ensure ongoing sustainability,” said Fitzgerald.
The rand can be an extremely unpredictable currency and Alastair Constance of foreign exchange company Mercury FX advises forward purchasing of the rand at a locked-in rate to hedge against fluctuations.
Across the South African border in Botswana, Limpopo-Lipadi is an 80,000 acre game and wilderness reserve on the banks of the Limpopo River, with shareholdings for sale for ‘eco-investors’ to fund – the minimum investment level is around £90,000 - and enjoy the reserve, which includes lion, leopard, cheetah, elephant, crocodile, 400 bird species and 37 species of fish.
In Mozambique one of the largest concessions in Africa is for sale by the Government with Pam Golding an agent. It is more than 1.25 million acres along the Zambezi and the buyer can develop the land for tourism, hunting or agriculture.
Let Africa bind you in its spell. But before you bathe in its aura, check for crocodiles. There are snakes in the garden of Eden. This is Africa.
The Oliver’s top tips on buying a game farm
Goal: Are you doing it for conservation, farming, recreation, capital growth or as a legacy.
Capital: How much to invest.
Location: Accessibility from the UK. Proposed use. Type of landscape (savannah, karoo, mountain, river). Malaria-free.
Feasibility study: what you want to do and how to achieve it.
Agent: to identify the property and negotiate for you.
Local partner: To develop the game farm and manage the land and staff.
Long-term view: political stability. Land appropriation fears. Currency fluctuations. Repatriation of funds.
Lawyer: get the best advice.
Enjoy: Do what you will enjoy. Remember it is Africa with extremes of rewards and frustrations.
Shopping list
Buffalo (male, disease free): £10,000
White rhino: £10,000
Cheetah (female): £3000
Hippo: £2250
Giraffe: £1100
Elephant: £1000 (plus transport)
Eland/waterbuck/nyala: £500
Zebra: £400
Hartebeest/kudu: £175
Impala: £65
Contacts
Mantis – 020-7225-0091. www.mantiscollection.com
&BEYOND - +27-118094300. www.africanhomesteads.com.
Pam Golding Properties (Savills affiliate) - +27-217975300. www.pamgolding.co.za.
African Wildlife Property - - +27-498923495. www.africanwildlifeproperty.com
Mercury FX – 0845-0949378. www.mercury-fx.com
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