Promotion
S
hambala Private Game Reserve,
owned by billionaire Douw Steyn,
lies within the Waterberg near
the town of Vaalwater. The reserve is
based on exclusivity and quality, and it
upkeeps the highest standards in every
industry that it trades within. Shambala is not only known as a malariafree exclusive big-five game reserve,
but it also conducts the self-owned
Waterberg Elephant Back Safaris on its
premises and is one of South Africa’s
most prestigious disease-free buffalo
breeders.
Shambala has been intensively
breeding buffalo for over a decade
with great success, and 2007 marked
the first-ever buffalo to be sold from
the reserve since its outset. The
demand for disease-free buffalo from
the reserve has always been high and
thus Shambala decided to facilitate
production auctions on a bi-annual
basis. In May 2009, the 2nd Shambala
Production Auction was held, at the
time achieving various records pertaining to buffalo.
In early 2010, the buffalo breeding
was further intensified to additionally
accommodate the stud breeding of the
species on the reserve. The goal at the
42
outset of 2010 was to create a topquality second herd of buffalo of the
same standard as the current Shambala
herd, but of a different genetic makeup to ensure greater diversity. The
construction of a hectare passive-capture boma paved the way to safely capture, introduce and relocate buffalo.
The passive-capture boma was
designed to comfortably house the
herds in order to optimise working
conditions and minimise stress for the
animals. The size of the boma enclosure was specifically designed to allow
the buffalo to keep their natural distance between themselves and any
threat; this in turn resulted in passive
animals under minimal stress.
In 2010, the game industry witnessed the largest transaction to ever
take place between two of the largest
buffalo breeders in South Africa. Ironically, the origin of the Shambala herd,
Kwanare, was yet again the seller
when top-quality animals were invested in by Shambala during 2010. The
buffalo bull named Bill was bought
from Kwanare at what was probably
the highest price ever paid for a single
animal in Africa at the time. The purchase price emanated from many dif-
GAME & HUNT November 2010
Buffalo cow Hanlie, purchased for R1,75
million
ferent attributes but above all the
physical appearance and his absolute
pride, which represent the ideal
African buffalo, identified him as the
ideal ambassador for the reserve. The
purchase of exceptional buffalo from
Kwanare continued with the buffalo
cow Hanlie being bought for R1,75
million on the Stud Game Breeders
Auction on 4 September 2010.
Shambala is also very proud to have
invested in Thaba Tholo buffalo, due
to the fact that, as a 35 000-ha private
protected area this game reserve conserves biodiversity, which makes a significant contribution to South Africa.
Thaba Tholo not only contributes
immensely to the breeding of game,
but they also conserve many other
endangered non-economic species,
such as the cheetah, on a large scale.
This similarity to Shambala, which conserves 12 000 ha of biodiversity, was
very significant, for these protected
areas are of national importance. The
investment made by Mr Douw Steyn in
21 of the best buffalo within South
Africa by 22 September 2010 amounted to R29,7 million. Thus Shambala
had successfully started a brand-new
herd of top-quality buffalo to further
produce top-quality breeding stock.
Shambala did purchase the best during 2010, but is also looking forward
to an exclusive sale to Mr Cyril
Ramaphosa, which involves four topquality females, each originating from
the Shambala herd. Mr Ramaphosa
being a pioneer in the game industry
has positioned himself well in the buffalo market by forming a formidable
herd in a very short time. Being part of
the renowned Stud Game Breeders Mr
Ramaphosa is very selective in his purchases in order to ensure that he
excels in his studbreeding practices.
The 3rd Shambala Production
Auction is sched-
uled for the 7th May 2011. The auction
will see top-quality buffalo of the original Shambala herd up for sale. These
animals are highly prized within the
game industry, have been hidden within the billionaire reserve for years and
only seen by a fortunate few. The motivation for the sale of these animals lies
within the generations that they leave
behind in the Shambala herd. By making the buffalo available to the market
we will provide additional quality to
other breeding operations throughout
South Africa, which will diversify the
genetics within the country.
Enquiries:
Hanru Strydom
General Manager: Shambala Game
Reserve
Tel: 014 755 9300 Cell: 079 504 9843
Email:
[email protected]
3
Passive-capture boma, designed to
comfortably house the herds
The Shambala
buffalo cow
Tanzania
Buffalo bull
Bill fetched
a recordbreaking
R6 million.
Shambalabred bull
Masai
WILD & JAG November 2010
43