Game & the Reserve
The original idea was for Banghoek to be stocked with game owned by all Body Corporate Members, hence the registered name Banghoek Private Game Reserve. The plan was to breed original game and sell off any overstock for the benefit and improvement of Banghoek.
Past attempts have proven unsuccessful. In the early 2000s we started with six Springbok, two Bontebok and two Zebra. We were enthusiastic but naïve and unknowledgeable. The Springbok were imported from Namibia and could not survive the wet Cape winters and, as they are plains animals, Banghoek’s dense fynbos proved an unsuitable habitat. The Bontebok were bought from a farmer and quite tame, hence easily removed by poachers before we chained off the roads.
Images ref: African Wildlife Foundation
The Cape Mountain Zebras were with us for many years – poachers knowing not to “mess” with a zebra. They were a lovely feature of Banghoek and became the icon on our letterhead. They preferred the space on the northern border near the old pea plantations, their favourite spot under a shady tree – it would be good to see them back again in the Reserve. We were also approached by the Quagga Project who were looking for an “uncontaminated habitat” for re-introducing the quagga but sadly in the end, this came to nothing “because of the through-road”.
This project started in 1987, an attempt to bring back the Quagga from extinction by selective breeding of southern Plains Zebras – analysis taken from the last stuffed quagga in the Cape Town museum showed that the Quagga was not a separate species of zebra, as had previously been thought, but in fact a subspecies of the Plains Zebra (Equus Quagga).
Image ref: Quagga Project
In addition, we had a cheetah breeding programme in collaboration with the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) of Namibia for the re-introduction of cheetah into the wild. They roamed in a large fenced off camp opposite the farmhouse, the only place where trees provided sufficient shade. It was a romantic notion but the prospect of shooting a donkey every week to feed the two cheetahs proved to be hard on the emotions – the gunshots reverberated through the valley – and they were eventually moved to Spier in Stellenbosch (local farmers provided chickens) where they bred successfully and became famous with tourists for many years.
Game at Banghoek, remains a dream for members and it is hoped in the future there will be owners with sufficient knowledge of game farming who can come and re-establish the dream.