WHY THE NEED FOR WATER CONSERVATION?

Michael Rattray's family has for a period of 34 years owned Mala Mala Game Reserve in the Mpumalanga Lowveld, adjoining the Kruger National Park. Prior to this, Mr Rattray's association with The Kruger National Park extends as far back as 1938. During this time, as a consumer of water both directly for his camps and indirectly for the wildlife that drinks from the rivers flowing through these wildlife properties, he has watched concerned, as the river levels dropped lower each year. In the winter of 1982, the perennial Sand River on Mala Mala stopped flowing for the first time in living memory. Whilst the flow resumed again in the wet summer months, the Sand River assumed non-perennial status and flowed intermittently each year thereafter during the dry winter period. This is the unfortunate state of affairs with most of The Kruger National Park's rivers and it is vital that something is done to reverse this trend. The continual decline in instream flows must impact negatively on wildl ... more