Guarding the Blue Crane
When it comes to endangered birds, Nduduzo is spreading the message, writes Liz Clarke
FEW know more about South Africa’s national bird, the Blue Crane, than Nduduzo Khoza. He loved them as a child. He’s now determined to take their cry for preservation to the highest level possible.
“We cannot let them disappear. They have been in existence since ancient times. They are part of our history. They are part of our heritage.”
It’s this heartfelt message that he is broadcasting loud and clear. He believes that the ones who should be listening and who should be concerned about the extinction of South Africa’s indigenous birds are the new generation of schoolchildren.
“They need to realise that there are only 500 pairs of Blue Cranes left in South Africa, a few in KZN. That is terrible. We cannot let this happen.”
An activist for the KZN Crane Foundation at Karkloof in KZN, Khoza was one of the main presenters at the recent World Wildlife Earth Day at the KZN Botanical Gardens in Pietermaritzburg.
The annual event, organised on a volunteer basis, attracts several hundred primary school children, many from resource-poor areas where environmental education is limited.
“What we try to do at events like these is to encourage young people to become the custodians of the future and realise that these wonderful birds will only survive if there are enough people to protect them. We don’t have much time left to save them.”
He explains to his young audience that the survival of endangered species like the Blue Crane and their close relatives the Grey Crowned Crane and the Wattled Crane, is dependent on preserving their natural habitat, conserving the wetlands where they breed and live, stopping all forms of poaching and eliminating harmful poisons from the environment.
Twenty-seven-year-old Khoza has grown up knowing not only wild birds, but the role that other creatures play in maintaining a healthy environment.
“You show most children a live frog and they will look at you in horror,” he says holding a tank containing a live frog. “And yet these are the creatures that leave when your Poster of the crane species.
area is polluted. When you don’t hear them anymore you must worry. They are nature’s alarm raisers. We need to protect them.” Khoza grew up in Lotheni, in the Drakensberg, where his father worked for Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife.
“He would take me into the reserve and teach me about the environment and the animals, mainly birds and frogs. I used to watch the cranes in the early morning. I knew their sounds. He said to me that one day I must work to keep them flying.”
Khoza knew that in order to do that, he would need to have some sort of training. He enrolled with Damelin, completing a three-year diploma as a tour guide and nature guide, focusing on KZN’S protected open spaces.
There is a part of his introductory presentation on crane species that highlights the urgency of what the Crane Foundation is trying to do to increase the numbers.
“The Blue Crane usually lays two eggs, but only keeps one of them,” he explains. “We carefully remove the discarded egg and incubate it in a special container.”
He shows his young audience a scaled-down cardboard box model of the incubator, which has a flap that opens automatically when the bird has hatched and is ready to fly.
“Who is there to help the baby?” asks one learner.
“No one,” replies Khoza.
“It must be the same as being in the wild – no humans nearby. These babies are the only hope we have of saving the species.”
“We never knew any of this,” said a learner. “I want to do something. We all must do something.” Khoza agrees.
lizclarke4@gmail.com