Safari operator and conservation organisation Wilderness Safaris went all out to commemorate Arbour Week last month. On September 2, staff at Pafuri Camp planted 40 trees at four schools in the Makuleke Village. The trees were donated by Herik Marketing from Tshikondeni (Pafuri’s fuel supplier).
Pafuri staff also distributed apples for the children at the four schools, donated by La Bamba from Hoedspruit (Pafuri’s fresh food supplier). All the trees planted were indigenous and included nyala berry, jackal berry, black monkey thorn, fever tree and impala lily.
Chief Makuleke was the guest of honour and he planted a tree at each school. The chairman of the Communal Property Association, Bios Hlungwani, and some of his colleagues attended and planted a tree at the high school.
At the Wilderness head office in Johannesburg, CEO Andy Payne and chief sustainability officer Derek de la Harpe planted a Rhus lancea or karee tree on the premises. It is indigenous to the Highveld so is able to tolerate frost and cold and will eventually grow to be up to eight-metres high with a five-metre canopy spread.
At Chintheche Inn in Malawi, trees are celebrated all year round. The Reforestation Project at Chintheche Inn has, this year alone, grown 30 000 seedlings of different tree and fruit species thanks to Children in the Wilderness (CITW) in conjunction with Wilderness Safaris.
CITW children will plant 5 000 plants on the piece of land given to them by one of the local village headmen and the remaining 25 000 trees will be donated to various organised village clubs in the area.
In the images above are:
- Guest of honour, Chief Makuleke, planted a tree at each of the four schools in the Makuleke village.
- Pafuri concession manager, Rob Burns, was instrumental in arranging the Arbour Day celebrations.
- Andy Payne, CEO of Wilderness Safaris, and Russell Friedman, director and Wilderness Wildlife Trust trustee, plant a Rhus lancea, known commonly as a karee.
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