Samara Private Game Reserve in South Africa’s Eastern Cape is providing a platform for guests to play a role in the reserve’s conservation initiatives.

Samara’s Business Development Manager, Isabelle Tompkins, says the reserve’s most recent endeavours focus on spekboom, a small-leafed succulent indigenous to the Eastern Cape. “This area used to be covered in spekboom so thick that, at one point, a human could walk across the treetops – the leaves and branches were so dense they formed a carpet. However, overgrazing by livestock has decimated these forests, creating soil erosion and compromising soil quality,” Tompkins explains.

She says the plant is hugely beneficial to the environment, being highly effective in carbon sequestration (absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it underground). She adds: “It also binds soil to prevent erosion. It’s an excellent food source for game like elephant, kudu and eland – and it tastes rather nice in a salad, too.”

Guests have several ways to get involved. On arrival at the reserve, all guests are provided with a small spekboom cutting that they can choose to plant on the reserve or take home. The reserve is also gifting the 11 000 people on its database with a spekboom that will be planted in their name on their birthdays. These members can follow the progress of their plant here using their plant’s unique three word code.

Tompkins concludes: “Ultimately, our aim is to broaden the project to create sustainable green jobs.”