As you are enjoying the natural beauty that abounds in the Karongwe Game Reserve, we would like to make you aware of the dedicated effort of our research team who is responsible for monitoring and overseeing the ecological health of this nature reserve.

The Karongwe Game Reserve is not only a commercially viable eco-tourism destination, but plays a vital role in the conservation and understanding of the natural ecosystem of the area. The Karongwe Game Reserve forms part of the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Reserve, a natural heritage site that represents only 1.4% of South Africa's land area, but encompasses approximately 55% of the total natural life found in the subcontinent!

Conservation and management of the Karongwe Game Reserve falls under the jurisdiction of the Warden of the reserve as well as the Karongwe Ecological Research Institute (KERI). In addition, an international organisation, Global Vision International (GVI), provides the opportunity for graduates and post graduate students to undertake ecological research projects within the Karongwe Game Reserve. Honours and Masters dissertations on the ecology of Wild Dogs and Elephants for instance are two of the more recent post-graduate studies being undertaken in the reserve.

The overall aim of KERI is to monitor the re-introduction of large African mammals into conservation areas. The full time and voluntary researchers monitor all aspects of animal behaviour, food and space utilization by the major mammal species, vegetation surveys, interactions between species, and trends in animal population sizes. This information is used to provide suggestions on the ecological management of the reserve on a year-to-year basis.

One specific area that is vitally important for Keri to study is Predator - Prey interactions (monitoring the feeding patterns of the larger carnivores, which species are hunted and how often, understand the movement patterns and use of territories by these predators.) Monitoring of the carnivore species is done by direct observation every single day of the year, as well as by the radio tracking of selected individuals of each species (leopard, lion, cheetah, wild dog and hyena.)

A second important research subject is the impact of elephants on their environment. Elephants are monitored to see what plants they eat at different times of the year, how much of each plant type is consumed and cataloguing the damage done by elephants to trees in the Reserve. All this information not only assists in determining the ecological capacity of the Karongwe Game Reserve for elephants and their importance in the ecosystem, but may be applied in other conservation areas as well.

The conservation, ecological monitoring and research which is undertaken in the Karongwe Game Reserve is of a world class standard, utilizing high tech equipment, highly trained personnel, and the most up to date scientific techniques. We view this function of the reserve as being essential to its future survival and Ingwe Game Lodge supports all aspects of the work being undertaken here.

Therefore, a significant percentage of the income derived by Ingwe Game Lodge as well as the other commercial lodges in the reserve goes towards the funding of these research and conservation bodies. Without this support the effectiveness and success of these research projects would not be possible, and we wish to thank you for the contribution you are therefore making towards the conservation of African fauna and flora.