News

‘Vulture restaurants’ among Maloti Drakensberg conservation efforts

19.03.2013

Highly endangered Bearded Vultures are dining out at special ‘vulture restaurants’ as part of conservation efforts in the Maloti and Drakensberg mountains.

The restaurants provide animal carcasses for the birds to feed on safe meat undisturbed, after their decline has been hastened by farmers lacing carcasses with poison to kill livestock predators such as hyenas and big cats.

The restaurants form part of the Maloti Drakensberg Transfrontier Programme, a transboundary initiative between the Kingdom of Lesotho and the Republic of South Africa to sustainably manage the natural and cultural heritage of the Maloti and Drakensberg mountains, which straddle the two countries’ borders.

The programme has fitted more than ten vultures with satellite tracking devices to monitor their movements.

Vultures provide a crucial service, preventing animal disease from spreading through game parks and conservation areas and eventually passing to livestock, according to BirdLife South Africa director Gerhard Verdoorn

The Maloti Drakensberg Transfrontier Programme is also engaged in promoting and marketing the area as a major tourist destination as well as working with local communities to rehabilitate degraded areas as a first phase of a new Payment for Ecosystem Services programme.