Marloth Park Management Plan. - Nkomazi Local Municipality
Marloth Park Management Plan. - Nkomazi Local Municipality
Marloth Park Management Plan. - Nkomazi Local Municipality
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Surface erosion will reduce water infiltration and excessive water run-off will lead to further<br />
erosion. Soil types susceptible to accelerated erosion such as duplex soils should be avoided<br />
when constructing new waterholes. The distance between watering points also has significant<br />
effect on the impact of waterholes on the condition of the veld. To reduce the impact of<br />
trampling and soil erosion it is advisable that water points are clustered and separated by large<br />
waterless areas. This regime gives the waterless areas the possibility to rest and recover.<br />
Rangeland utilisation in areas of water supply is relatively low, due to the distribution of<br />
grazing pressure among several watering points rather than focussing on one waterhole.<br />
Trampling of rangeland in the immediate vicinity of watering points is minimized. Clustered<br />
watering points are best located within a radius of 500 m, in order to split up large herds.<br />
Smaller animal groups watering at the same time reduces the time spent at the waterhole and<br />
therefore, causes less trampling.<br />
The distance between individual waterholes also influences animal behaviour. Impalas forage<br />
as far as 2.2 km, zebra 7.2 km and blue wildebeest 7.4 km distant from waterholes. Mobile,<br />
water-dependant large herbivores forage up to 10 km from water in the dry season.<br />
Populations of roan antelope, sable antelope and reedbuck decline if the distance between<br />
permanent water does not exceed 10 km. Roan antelope and sable antelope require tall grass<br />
and endure for 4 to 5 days without drinking. For these animals areas should be provided, that<br />
are farther than 10 km away from water. Waterbuck will also only flourish if densities of<br />
other species are kept low. Therefore, the number and placement of available water points<br />
needs to be carefully balanced. Mobile, water-dependent animals such as Burchell´s zebra,<br />
buffalo and blue wildebeest will benefit from medium water point densities such as one<br />
cluster per 100 to 300 km 2 . Non-mobile, water-dependant animals such as impala and warthog<br />
prosper in degraded habitat with sparse cover and high density of watering points, such as one<br />
cluster of watering points per 0.8 to 20 km 2 . Areas for water independent animals such as<br />
eland, klipspringer and steenbok should not have artificial watering points. It is recommend to<br />
provide areas the size of approximately 20 km 2 , where water is supplied, alternating with<br />
areas of the same size, where no waterholes exist. This should promote an increase in species<br />
diversity. Browsers such as black rhinoceros, giraffe and kudu are less affected by water point<br />
regimes than grazers, because of higher moisture content in browse than in graze.<br />
For maintenance of a wide diversity of animals when focussing on tourism and game viewing,<br />
areas within 10 km reach of permanent water are recommended to comprise 70 to 80 percent<br />
of the property. In that case one existing permanent watering point per 400 to 600 km 2 should<br />
be stabilised. If less than 70 percent of the area is within a 10 km radius of a water point,<br />
water should be supplied to semi-permanent pools and pans, or even in temporary pans.<br />
© Ecological Associates/ <strong>Marloth</strong> <strong>Park</strong> 112