SAVING LEMVELO: WHY THIS 300-ACRE LANDSCAPE MATTERS

Sometimes conservation opportunities arrive slowly. A forest restoration project may take years. A wildlife population may take decades to recover. A corridor may take generations to become fully functional.
And sometimes, an opportunity arrives suddenly — in the form of a piece of land that is available to protect right now.
That is where we find ourselves with LeMvelo.
This is a rare opportunity to protect threatened habitat on South Africa's Elephant Coast.

A 300-ACRE CONSERVATION OPPORTUNITY

LeMvelo is a 300-acre property on South Africa's Elephant Coast containing threatened Dry Sand Forest and other important habitat.

The name LeMvelo means “nature” in isiZulu, and protecting this landscape would give that name a very literal meaning: keeping a rare piece of nature intact for the future.

The property contains mature and naturally regenerating Dry Sand Forest and already supports wildlife including leopard, hyena, suni antelope, giraffe, white-backed vultures, southern-banded snake eagles and a big diversity of birds and nocturnal animals.

But what makes LeMvelo particularly important is not only what is found on the property.

It is where the property sits.

PART OF A BIGGER LANDSCAPE

LeMvelo borders the UNESCO World Heritage-listed iSimangaliso Wetland Park, a remarkable landscape containing interconnected terrestrial, coastal, wetland and marine ecosystems. UNESCO describes the World Heritage site as supporting extraordinary species diversity, with more than 6,500 recorded plant and animal species and hundreds of threatened species.

But conservation does not stop at a reserve boundary.

Wildlife moves. Water moves. Seeds move. Pollinators move. Ecological processes move.

The more connected the landscape, the more opportunity nature has to function as an intact landscape rather than as a collection of isolated fragments.

LeMvelo offers an opportunity to strengthen that connectivity.

PROTECTING A RARE FOREST

Dry Sand Forest is one of the most threatened ecosystems associated with this landscape.

Found in fragmented patches across the Maputaland coastal plain of northeastern KwaZulu-Natal and southern Mozambique, this rare forest ecosystem has already suffered significant losses. An estimated 70% of South Africa's original Sand Forest has been lost, with habitat cleared or degraded by activities including farming, plantations, subsistence agriculture and human settlements.

Sand Forest is classified as a Critically Endangered ecosystem, and only an estimated 44% of the remaining Sand Forest is protected.

That makes every remaining patch increasingly important. This means that LeMvelo is not simply an empty piece of land waiting to be restored.

It already contains mature Sand Forest, as well as areas where the forest is naturally regenerating. Protecting the property means giving these forests, and the many species that depend on them, the space and security they need to continue recovering. By protecting LeMvelo, we have an opportunity to conserve a rare ecosystem while it is still possible to do so.

WHAT HAPPENS IF WE SECURE THE LAND?

LeMvelo will become part of the Greater Ukuwela Nature Reserve and will be protected through South Africa's Biodiversity Stewardship Programme. Our rangers will help safeguard the property, while Wild Tomorrow's Green Mambas restoration team will contribute to habitat recovery.

In other words, purchasing the property is not the end of the conservation story. It is the beginning.

First, the land must be secured. Then it must be protected. Then the work of restoring and managing the landscape continues.

WE ARE NOT DOING THIS ALONE

We are grateful that World Land Trust is helping Wild Tomorrow raise funds towards the acquisition of LeMvelo. Their support is an important part of this effort, but it will not cover the full purchase. That means Wild Tomorrow must raise the remaining funds needed to secure the land.
And that is where our wider community comes in.

THIS OPPORTUNITY IS HERE, NOW 

There is something powerful about protecting land while we still have the chance to do so. Once habitat is cleared or converted, restoring what was lost can be far more difficult — and sometimes impossible. LeMvelo gives us an opportunity to make a different decision.
To protect rather than lose.
To connect rather than fragment.
To restore rather than replace.
To give wildlife and nature more room.

WILL YOU HELP US SAVE LEMVELO?

Every donation helps bring us closer to turning this 300-acre opportunity into permanently protected conservation land.