Fish Eagle Safari Boat
Games in Pongola

This combination, an abundance of space and the results of a "light footprint" development philosophy are key ingredients of the special experience offered by Fish Eagle Safari Boat, Pongola Game Reserve in northern KwaZulu Natal.

Meyer, were to investigate the area and draft a report. There was, after all, no rush, for after 1888 the southern bank of the Pongola River had become part of the Transvaal with the annexation of the New Republic as the district of Vryheid. He disagreed strongly with the contrary views of Commissioner Meyer who argued that the privately owned farms south of the river (in what had been the New Republic) should be bought and the reserve extended to the Mkuzi River. Meyer had even offered to negotiate for these farms and act as honorary ranger. The Surveyor-General was asked for his assistance, but was unsure of what his role could be for the indefinite boundary meant that he could not comment on where the Transvaal began or ended. These particular farms were situated along the Pongola River in the south-eastern corner of the Transvaal, with the river forming the southern boundary, Swaziland the northern, the Lebombo crest the eastern and the Rooi Rand the western limit. As is often the case with conservation decisions taken by governments today, political considerations were significant in the desire to proclaim the Pongola area as a game reserve. Even before this decision was taken, the Transvaal had been compelled to protect its interests in the region and two paid secret agents were appointed to live on the land of Chief Sambana on the high ground north of the Pongola Poort. van Oordt was gratified that the game was becoming tame and more numerous. He had realised even before the end of his first year, as had Meyer before him, that the reserve was too small for a large permanent population of game and his report concluded with a plea to extend the reserve. Predictably, his suggestion was that land to the north, i.e. The most crucial event of the year was the rinderpest and although van Oordt had heard reports of the disease, it had not yet reached his reserve. It had also not occurred in the game reserves in British Zululand, which in van Oordt's opinion was most fortunate for he considered that these contained the most game to be found in all of southern Africa. He continued to act as sentinel on an important, but wild, border post. Not only had the Sabi Reserve been proclaimed but hunting had been prohibited on government ground in various parts of the Transvaal. If van Oordt wrote a report in his final year, it has not been located and he suffered the personal fate of being a prisoner-of-war. Major J. Stevenson-Hamilton was appointed Warden of the Sabi Reserve in mid-1902. Because it was mid-summer, the rivers were swollen and it took him a week to get from Sabi Bridge to the Pongola Reserve along the eastern boundary. He felt that two black rangers would be sufficient to police the area, in contrast with the Z.A.R. Stevenson-Hamilton did not suggest that Fraser be removed at that time, although he felt that his salary should be reduced because the location of the house van Oordt had built within the reserve, after he had moved from the transPongola, was so healthy. During 1905 control of the game reserves had been transferred from the Native Affairs Department to the Colonial Secretary, and without Lagden's enthusiasm the continuing existence of the Pongola Reserve was for the first time called into question and Stevensoo-Haroillon was asked for his opinion. Although not particularly keen to keep it, he felt that the area was suitable for no other purpose. After the Angola-Boer War, with the British in control of all of South Africa, this purpose of the reserve collapsed and it became a burden to the administration. The end of Van Oordt's life was indeed a bitter one.