Natural Resources Award
Finalist: Ground Hornbill Reintroduction Project
Hilton Hamann
It took a former TV presenter from Winchester, England, to recognise that if nothing was done about South Africa’s ground hornbill population, these large birds wouldn’t be around much longer.
Anne Turner came to this country on holiday in 1997 and decided to stay. She started a conservation project that is keenly being watched by the world’s scientific and ornithological community.
The Ground Hornbill Reintroduction Project is sited at Mabula Game Reserve, about 40km from Warmbaths in the Northern Province.
It was a visit to the Umgeni Bird Park in KwaZulu-Natal that changed the course of Turner’s life. “They had a wonderful ground hornbill called Marilyn and I got to wondering why we had no ground hornbills at Mabula. I approached Hendri Coetzee, one of Mabula’s rangers. I knew he was particularly interested in birds.”
Coetzee contacted Dr Alan Kemp of the then Transvaal Museum, who was conducting research into hand-rearing ground hornbill chicks.
“At that time he had three chicks from Kruger Park being raised at the National Zoological Gardens in Pretoria,” says Coetzee. “He was immediately enthusiastic about Turner’s idea of taking them to Mabula.”
“Things moved very fast,” says Turner. “Within a few weeks we had the chicks and the project was under way.”
The large black birds with droopy eyes and long eyelashes once roamed across most of the region north of Pretoria. Today it is estimated there are less than 2 000 ground hornbills left. Most occur in the Kruger National Park.
“Although ground hornbills are found north of our borders up to the equator, we simply do not know their status in those countries,” says Coetzee, who has since become the project’s scientific researcher.
“What we do know is the population in South Africa is in serious danger of becoming extinct.”
Ground hornbills lay two eggs that hatch about five days apart. By the time the second chick hatches, its sibling is already so strong it gets all the food. The second chick always dies.
“It is the bird that would die we harvest and hand-rear,” says Turner.
“We realised if we were going to succeed we’d have to modify certain aspects of the birds’ behaviour,” Coetzee adds. “In the case of our hand-reared birds, we have to fill the role of teacher and protector.”
That means a 24-hour a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year “shepherd” whose job is to give the youngsters adult leadership and guidance. The task fell to 24-year-old Jantjie Mphela, who every morning gets up early and takes the birds on their daily foraging and learning expedition.
“They have now become totally free-roaming, acquiring the majority of their diet from the veld,” says Turner. “They’re also showing signs of breeding.” Southside Media