The Laohu Valley Reserve (LVR) is a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological o ...

located near

Philippolis Philippolis is a town in the Free State province of South Africa. The town is the birthplace of many South African celebrities including the writer and intellectual Sir Laurens van der Post, actress Brümilda van Rensburg and Springboks rugby ...

in the Free State and near

Vanderkloof Dam The Vanderkloof Dam (originally the P. K. Le Roux Dam) is situated approximately downstream from Gariep Dam and is fed by the Orange River, South Africa's largest river. Vanderkloof Dam is the second-largest dam in South Africa (in volume), hav ...

in the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

. It is a roughly 350-square-kilometre private reserve. It has been created with the aims of nurturing captive-born

South China tiger The South China tiger is a population of the '' Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies that is native to southern China. The population mainly inhabited the Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan and Jiangxi provinces. It has been listed as Critically Enda ...

s (''Panthera tigris tigris'') in South Africa and eventually releasing them into the wild in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, making it the only reserve in Africa to have wild, free-roaming tigers. It is also aimed to restore South African biodiversity in the parts of the reserve not populated by tigers.

History

The Laohu Valley Reserve was created in 2002 out of 17 defunct

sheep farm Sheep farming or sheep husbandry is the raising and breeding of domestic sheep. It is a branch of animal husbandry. Sheep are raised principally for their meat (lamb and mutton), milk (sheep's milk), and fiber (wool). They also yield sheepskin an ...

s, and efforts to return the overgrazed land to natural status are ongoing. The South China tigers at LVR for rewinding are kept confined to a tiger-proof camp complex of roughly 1.8 square kilometers, with other areas of the reserve being used to protect native South African species. The word "laohu" is a Chinese term for tiger. Wildlife conservationist Li Quan initially enlisted the help of

John Varty John Varty (born 27 November 1950) is a South African wildlife filmmaker who has made more than 30 documentaries and one feature film. Varty is an author, singer-songwriter and activist. He co-owns Londolozi Game Reserve and Tiger Canyon - A ...

(wildlife filmmaker) and Dave Varty (eco-tourism developer) in South Africa to assist in the rehabilitation process. However, Li Quan and her husband, investment banker Stuart Bray, became concerned that the Vartys were misusing the project's funds to buy land for themselves. Later, in July 2002, the Vartys admitted to borrowing a small portion of Bray's money. After a legal audit, it was discovered that over R5-million had been borrowed by the Vartys, having been used to pay off the Vartys' Londolozi Productions debt on unauthorized salaries. Some of the money was also said to have gone into the Vartys' personal loan accounts and towards paying off their Betty's Bay seaside property. Finally, in October 2002, a few weeks before an agreement was due to be signed with Chinese authorities after the Chinese Wildlife Department began to recognize the project's conservation value, the Vartys pulled out of the project. John Varty has since founded his own "tiger rewilding" project, Tiger Canyons, also near Philippolis, using the land he acquired with Bray's funds. However, because Tiger Canyons uses unendangered hybrid breeds of tigers, it has been criticized as having no conservation value, as well as for being used solely for the purpose of creating the film ''Living with Tigers'', which would air on

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...

. Due to the action spearheaded by

Save China's Tigers Save China's Tigers (SCT) is an international charitable foundation based in Hong Kong, the United States, and the United Kingdom (Office in London) which aims to save the big cats of China from extinction. It focuses on the Chinese tigers (South ...

(SCT), other efforts to convert defunct sheep farms into wildlife farms in this area have been gaining speed. In other words, SCT is a leader in restoring South African biodiversity to the area around Phillippolis in the Free State.

Effects of tigers on South Africa's ecosystem and biodiversity

There are people who oppose the project because they are afraid that the tigers, being considered an alien species, will affect the South African

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic ('' genetic variability''), species ('' species diversity''), and ecosystem ('' ecosystem diversity'') ...

negatively. However, the project organisers argue it will not cause such a problem as Laohu Valley Reserve has been converted from 17 pieces of defunct sheep farms that were overgrazed; thus no healthy

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syst ...

s existed there at all. In addition, the tigers are in fenced-off camps – hence the South China tigers never roam outside Laohu Valley Reserve and there is, therefore, no contact between them and any healthy ecosystem that exists nearby. On the contrary, instead of having negative effects on South Africa's biodiversity, the project actually has positive effects on it. This is because the defunct sheep farms have been restored and converted into a

wildlife reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

that is beneficial to the South African ecosystem. This can be considered the contribution of the South China tigers to the biodiversity of South Africa. Without the Chinese tigers, the land for the project in South Africa would never have been purchased. Save China's Tigers do not believe there will be any side-effect to the local ecology.FAQs , Save China's Tigers

Geography

The Laohu Valley Reserve is one of the largest protected areas in South Africa, comprising an area of approximately . It is located in the central region of the country. It takes in land near

in the Free State section, which consists of approximately on the northern side, and spans part of the

Orange River The Orange River (from Afrikaans/Dutch: ''Oranjerivier'') is a river in Southern Africa. It is the longest river in South Africa. With a total length of , the Orange River Basin extends from Lesotho into South Africa and Namibia to the north ...

(including the upper reaches of the

) in the

section, which consists of approximately on the southern side. The Free State side of the reserve consists of tiger camps bordered by of fence.

Climate

Mean annual

rainfall Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...

is about 400 mm. About 60% of the annual rainfall occurs in the form of thunderstorms during January-April. The maximum amount of rain generally falls during March, with June generally being the driest month. Summer days are hot, but frost is common during winter, with occasional snowfall.

Flora and fauna

The

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...

s of Laohu Valley occur on the lower-lying flat areas, with karroid shrubs on the rocky hill slopes on

Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ''ǃ’Aukarob'' "Hardveld") is a semi-desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its ex ...

dolerite Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-grain ...

making up roughly 40% of the total area. Fairly dense stands of

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from tree ...

s and trees occur along rivers and in ravines. Extensive stands of closed, dense '' Acacia karoo''

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

s are found along stretches of the Orange River. SCTigerstalking

The Laohu Valley Reserve is known to breed South China tigers (''Panthera tigris amoyensis''). At the end of 2015, there were 20 wild individuals living in the reserve, representing about 20% of the world's population of this critically endangered subspecies. Two cubs were among those individuals. However, in February 2016, one of the two South China tiger cubs born in late 2015 died, leaving 19 South China tigers in the reserve. At some point in that year, the South China tigers made a quick recovery with the birth of six healthy cubs at Laohu Valley Reserve, most of which are confirmed to be males. Three cubs were born to Madonna: Hunter, Ivan, and Jay. Two cubs to Cathay: Felix and Gilbert. And one cub to Princess known as K, although the cub's gender has yet to be determined. Other than tigers, predators such as

African wild dog The African wild dog (''Lycaon pictus''), also called the painted dog or Cape hunting dog, is a wild canine which is a native species to sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest wild canine in Africa, and the only extant member of the genus '' Lyca ...

s (''Lycaon pictus''),

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus '' Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adu ...

s (''Panthera leo''),

African leopard The African leopard (''Panthera pardus pardus'') is the nominate subspecies of the leopard, native to many countries in Africa. It is widely distributed in most of sub-Saharan Africa, but the historical range has been fragmented in the course of ...

s (''Panthera pardus pardus''),

spotted hyena The spotted hyena (''Crocuta crocuta''), also known as the laughing hyena, is a hyena species, currently classed as the sole extant member of the genus ''Crocuta'', native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is listed as being of least concern by the IUC ...

s (''Crocuta crocuta''),

cheetah The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...

s (''Acinonyx jubatus''),

Nile crocodile The Nile crocodile (''Crocodylus niloticus'') is a large crocodilian native to freshwater habitats in Africa, where it is present in 26 countries. It is widely distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa, occurring mostly in the central, eastern, ...

s (''Crocodylus niloticus''),

African wildcat The African wildcat (''Felis lybica'') is a small wildcat species native to Africa, West and Central Asia up to Rajasthan in India and Xinjiang in China. It has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List in 2022. In Cyprus, an African wil ...

s (''Felis silvestris''),

caracal The caracal (''Caracal caracal'') () is a medium-sized wild cat native to Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and arid areas of Pakistan and northwestern India. It is characterised by a robust build, long legs, a short face, long tufted ...

s (''Caracal caracal''),

bat-eared fox The bat-eared fox (''Otocyon megalotis'') is a species of fox found on the African savanna. It is the only extant species of the genus ''Otocyon'' and considered a basal canid species. Fossil records indicate this canid first appeared during t ...

es (''Otocyon megalotis megalotis'') and

black-backed jackal The black-backed jackal (''Lupulella mesomelas),'' also called the silver-backed jackal, is a medium-sized canine native to eastern and southern Africa. These regions are separated by roughly 900 kilometers. One region includes the southe ...

s (''Canis mesomelas''), and herbivorous mammals such as Blesbuck, and

plains zebra The plains zebra (''Equus quagga'', formerly ''Equus burchellii''), also known as the common zebra, is the most common and geographically widespread species of zebra. Its range is fragmented, but spans much of southern and eastern Africa south o ...

s (''Equus quagga''), live within the reserve too. It is also home to birds such as

crested guineafowl The crested guineafowl (''Guttera pucherani'') is a member of the Numididae, the guineafowl bird family. It is found in open forest, woodland and forest-savanna mosaics in sub-Saharan Africa. Description It has a total length around 50 cm ...

(''Guttera pucherani''),

Egyptian geese The Egyptian goose (''Alopochen aegyptiaca'') is a member of the duck, goose, and swan family Anatidae. It is native to Africa south of the Sahara and the Nile Valley. Egyptian geese were considered sacred by the Ancient Egyptians, and appe ...

(''Alopochen aegyptiaca'') and

South African ostrich The South African ostrich (''Struthio camelus australis''), also known as the black-necked ostrich, Cape ostrich or southern ostrich is a subspecies of the common ostrich endemic to Southern Africa. It is widely farmed for its meat, eggs and feat ...

es (''Struthio camelus australis''). The prey menus of tiger and

are similar. The South China tigers prey on

blesbok The blesbok or blesbuck (''Damaliscus pygargus phillipsi'') is a subspecies of the bontebok antelope endemic to South Africa, Eswatini and Namibia. It has a distinctive white face and forehead which inspired the name, because ''bles'' is the Afri ...

s (''Damaliscus pygargus phillipsi''),

springbok The springbok (''Antidorcas marsupialis'') is a medium-sized antelope found mainly in south and southwest Africa. The sole member of the genus ''Antidorcas'', this bovid was first described by the German zoologist Eberhard August Wilhelm ...

s (''Antidorcas marsupialis''),

gemsbok The gemsbok or South African oryx (''Oryx gazella'') is a large antelope in the genus ''Oryx''. It is native to the extremely dry, arid regions of Southern Africa; notably, the Kalahari Desert. Some authorities formerly classified the East Afr ...

s (''Oryx gazella''),

black wildebeest The black wildebeest or white-tailed gnu (''Connochaetes gnou'') is one of the two closely related wildebeest species. It is a member of the genus '' Connochaetes'' and family Bovidae. It was first described in 1780 by Eberhard August Wilhelm ...

(''Connochaetes gnou''),

blue wildebeest The blue wildebeest (''Connochaetes taurinus''), also called the common wildebeest, white-bearded gnu or brindled gnu, is a large antelope and one of the two species of wildebeest. It is placed in the genus '' Connochaetes'' and family Bovidae, a ...

(''Connochaetes taurinus''),

common eland The common eland (''Taurotragus oryx''), also known as the southern eland or eland antelope, is a savannah and plains antelope found in East and Southern Africa. It is a species of the family Bovidae and genus '' Taurotragus''. An adult male is ...

s (''Taurotragus oryx''),

impala The impala or rooibok (''Aepyceros melampus'') is a medium-sized antelope found in eastern and southern Africa. The only extant member of the genus ''Aepyceros'' and tribe Aepycerotini, it was first described to European audiences by Ger ...

s (''Aepyceros melampus''),

waterbuck The waterbuck (''Kobus ellipsiprymnus'') is a large antelope found widely in sub-Saharan Africa. It is placed in the genus '' Kobus'' of the family Bovidae. It was first described by Irish naturalist William Ogilby in 1833. Its 13 subspecies a ...

s (''Kobus ellipsiprymnus''),

common warthog The common warthog (''Phacochoerus africanus'') is a wild member of the pig family (Suidae) found in grassland, savanna, and woodland in sub-Saharan Africa. In the past, it was commonly treated as a subspecies of ''P. aethiopicus'', but today th ...

s (''Phacochoerus africanus'') and

cape hare The Cape hare (''Lepus capensis''), also called the brown hare and the desert hare, is a hare native to Africa and Arabia extending into India. Taxonomy The Cape hare was one of the many mammal species originally described by Carl Linnaeus ...

s (''Lepus capensis''). In 2013, in partnership with the

Endangered Wildlife Trust The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) is a non-governmental, not-for-profit South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that s ...

(EWT), two male South African cheetahs (''Acinonyx jubatus jubatus'') were relocated by being taken from the Amakhala Game Reserve and released into the Laohu Valley Reserve. It is noted to be first time that wild cheetahs have been reintroduced to the Free State after a hundred years of regional extinction. In early 2016, an adult female South African cheetah was introduced to the reserve. Three wild cheetah cubs were born in Laohu Valley Reserve in February 2017, the first cheetahs born in the wild in the Free State since their disappearance from the province over a century ago.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Karoo Nature reserves in South Africa Protected areas established in 2002 Protected areas of the Free State (province) Protected areas of the Northern Cape 2002 establishments in South Africa