MVUBU GAME LODGE
Games in Pongola

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. 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. 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. This is a large number of people for a small reserve and is an indication of the strategic importance the Z.A.R. 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. Six farms were involved, the keeper had been named Van Oordt and there was little game. 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. Apart from noting that there was little game, Stevenson-Hamilton considered that it would never be numerous there, for he realized immediately that the reserve was not big enough to hold a large permanent population. How this might be done was unclear, for the Transvaal no longer owned the southern bank of the Pongola River, as Vryheid had been annexed to Natal towards the end of the war and Swaziland was no longer under the control of the Transvaal. 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. Not only was it far larger, but its contained a great variety of animals and habitats. During 1905 Stevenson-Hamilton approached the Secretary for Native Affairs in an attempt to employ a white ranger in the Pongola because he realised that no matter how effective the black rangers were they could only control black poachers and could do nothing to prevent whites from entering the reserve. He had observed much trespassing since Fraser's departure but there had never been sufficient evidence to prosecute. 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. The proclamation abolishing the reserve in 1921 specifically included the injunction that game protection was to continue. Earlier game reserves in southern Africa were more in the nature of royal hunting preserves, e.g. The end of Van Oordt's life was indeed a bitter one.