Phinda Private Game Reserve

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Phinda Private Game Reserve (/ˈpɪndə/), formerly known as Phinda Resource Reserve, is a 170 km² (66 sq mi) private game reserve situated in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, between the Mkuze Game Reserve and the Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park. Designated in 1990, Phinda is derived from a Zulu phrase "Phinda Izilwane" meaning 'return of wildlife', or more accurately 'do again'.

Phinda has seven distinct ecosystems ranging from palm savannah and mountain bush to rare sand forest and dense thornveld. In 1992 the reserve joined with two neighboring land owners to create the Mun-Ya-Wana Game Reserve. Through various land expansion projects, acquisitions, and agreements with local communities, the conservancy has grown to 286 km² (110 sq mi). ^[1]

The original idea for Phinda was developed by Kevin Leo-Smith in 1986, when his company Agri-Plan Estates was offered the core Phinda South farm then known as Zulu Nyala, for sale. A deeds and map search showed that Zulu Nyala strategically lay between the Mkuze and Lake St. Lucia Game Reserves. Kevin Leo-Smith was then joined by Trevor Coppen, a lawyer and entrepreneur from Durban and later by Andrew Montgomery, a town planner and the concept of acquiring farm land and reintroducing big game was further developed. In 1989, after several failed attempts to secure the capital required, Alan Bernstein joined the group and worked on the business plan and capital raising strategy. Alan Bernstein and Jane Edge asked Dave Varty of Londolozi to join the founding group to add his safari tourism expertise to the founders.

After several false starts the required capital was raised through the Master Bond Group and the core farms, now collectively known as Phinda North, were acquired and the Phinda Resource Reserve was born in early 1990. Master Bond later ran into liquidity problems before the first lodge, then known as Phinda Nyala (now Mountain Lodge), was fully complete. Alan Bernstein was already busy with refinancing the business through an investment banking team from Hambros Bank in London led by Jonathan Klein. With Hambros enough capital was raised to rescue Phinda from what was a near disaster to found the Conservation Corporation Africa (CC Africa). The core investors included the Getty Family and various Anglo American entities and private individuals. Phinda was a subsidiary of CC Africa.

CC Africa then rapidly expanded adding Ngala Lodge, the first private lodge in the Kruger National Park, as well as building Phinda Forest Lodge and adding a management contract with Londolozi before expanding into East Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana. By the late 1990s all the original founding group were no longer with the holding company and the name was changed from The Conservation Corporation Africa to &Beyond.

Phinda pioneered the use of release bomas for predator reintroductions and also how to handle adult elephant that escaped with only locally available machinery and equipment that changed the way elephant were handled in capture operations. However, Phinda's legacy is proving that restocking agricultural land with wildlife managed on a sustainable basis was way more economically viable than agriculture. The land value at acquisition in early 1990 averaged R1,250/ha and today similar land in the Munyawana Game Reserve of which Phinda is a core part sells for prices in excess of R50,000/ha (2023). This represents a return well in excess of 20% per annum for over 30 years.

As of May 2020, the South African company WildEarth have broadcast drives from Phinda in collaboration with &Beyond. ^[2]