W A (Wac) Campbell, the patriarch of Natal Sugar Estates, and a foundation member of the newly constituted National Parks Board, bout Mala Mala, Eyrefield and Marthly in this reserve, and subsequently acquired several other adjacent farms.

[During the early thirties almost all the farms in the 'Toulon Block' (Sabi Sand), as well as several other in the neighbourhood, were purchased by private individuals.]

The Game Ordinance was founded

The Game Ordinance provided for the control of many aspects of wildlife, but the continued development of the province, coupled with modern methods of transport and hunting, increased the danger of over hunting and the ordinance soon became obsolete. A thorough investigation was then carried out by a commission of inquiry, into general game preservation.

When the Transvaal Game Ordinance (No 23 of 1949) was changed, people were allowed to form private reserves under certain conditions, and Mostert proposed that the property owners form a mutual game reserve. Col J D Pretorius was extremely enthusiastic and went from farm to farm discussing the proposal with the property owners. It was due to his enthusiasm and work that the 'Umbabat Private Nature Reserve', named after the Umbabat River, became a reality. When the river was later given its original Xitsonga name 'Timbavati', form 'ku bava', meaning 'bitter or brackish water', the name of the reserve was changed accordingly.

The Timbavati Private Nature Reserve was proclaimed in terms of the 1949 Game Ordinance. The first committee consisted of Oswald Pirow KC, chairman, Col J D Pretorius, Dr Pierre A Hugo, Dr AA Shoch and J A McCall-Peat as the secretary. Paul Sauer, Minister of Lands, was honorary President, and Dr R Bigalke, then the Director of the National Zoo in Pretoria, was vice President, Dr T J Steyn, Director of Nature Conservation and N G Gilfillan, President for the Protection of Wildlife in South Africa, were chosen as honorary members.

The Crookes family joined Timbavati as full members, being persuaded by Freddie Gillatt to do so, The AGMs used to be held at Ernest Whittingstall's house at Klaserie.

Timbavati appointed a warden, Ted Whitfield, who used to come over once a month to Klaserie to see how things were getting on. Timbavati was initially not fenced, and there was big block of land between Klaserie and TImbavati that was not included. This land was utilised for cattle and agricultural activities and later became Umbabat.

The Kruger National Park started to fence their western boundary.

The Timbavati Private Nature Reserve was also fenced.

In January Clyde Sussens contacted Jan de Necker and suggested that they consider a nature reserve on both sides o the Klaserie River, De Necker thought it a splendid idea and discussed this with Paul Mouton, Daan du Preez and the others.

Their first task was to approach the individual landowners personally to obtain their approval and support. But their initial problem was to contact the Crookes family who owned four farms along the Klaserie River.

The first meeting of 14 landowners was held on 28 January 1969 in Ransburg to discuss the formation of a game reserve. A committee was elected and consisted of Jan de Necker, chairman, B de West, secretary, P L Mouton, E A Roux, J W Beith, J T Muller and J C Sussens. It was decided that John Muller be supplied with all the relevant information to enable him to approach the Crookes family with a view to inviting them to join the group. Jon Muller was connected to the Crookes family through his brother-in-law marrying a Crookes. They were to be offered pro-rata terms, but these could be altered if they were not considered satisfactory.

The committee had to draw up a constitution that had to be presented to the owners of farms in the envisaged area and to arrange a further meeting of these owners when the constitution was to be submitted for their approval.

After establishing which landowners wanted to become members, they could set the boundary of the Reserve. They approached a fencing firm, H Jacks Gate and Wire Works (PTY) Ltd, in Johannesburg, for a quotation to fence off the approximately 48 miles in dense bush. As this firm had never had to undertake an assignment of this nature they were unable to quote. The only solution was to take the owner of the company's son, accompanied by Paul Mouton, Eddie Roux and Jan de Necker, to Klaserie.

They followed the boundary line where the fence was to be erected by Landrover, which took a week. [They made use of maps and where they could not use motorised transport they had to walk. They had to make camp in the bush at night and the usual night sounds proved to be quite a hair rising experience for the city man.] In spite of all the difficulties, the company gave a reasonable quote between R795 and R950 per mile, excluding the cost of clearing the terrain.

In preparation for the meeting to be held at Fort Coepieba Hotel, at Hoedspruit on the 12th of July, a budget was prepared, copies of the constitutions of Timbavati and Sabi Sand obtained, and attorneys instructed to draft a constitution, which was circulated before the meeting.

The meeting was attended by a large number of landowners, including a representative of the Crookes group. This was a very important meeting and Paul Mouton and Jan de Necker prepared themselves thoroughly. As was to be expected, some of the members were extremely sceptical, but proceedings were generally positive. After a long discussion Leonard proposed that the meeting should proceed with the formalities of founding the reserve and that the meeting should be regarded as the foundation meeting of an association of owners with the purpose of establishing the Klaserie Private Nature Reserve. The proposal was seconded by Daan du Preez, and the motion was carried unanimously.

A meeting in Johannesburg then took place when Col. L G F Wolf proposed that the constitution be dealt with clause by clause. Messrs I F G Gillatt and Col. Wolf proposed amendments to certain clauses which J C G Botha undertook to have redrafted and ready for mailing by the middle of September.

The next, and crucial meeting, was held on Wednesday 8 October at the Boulevard Hotel in Pretoria. The morning before the Committee met to conclude certain last minute details regarding the proposed fencing, gates and the financing of the project. The same afternoon thirty-six owners attended and, after discussing the proposed constitutions, each owner had to verbally confirm that he wanted to become a member of the Reserve and accepted the constitution. Thus, the largest private nature reserve in South Africa was established.

The following owners were unanimously elected as members of the first Executive Committee: J D J de Necker, I F G Gillatt, T C B Crookes, J Ogilvie-Thompson, J T Muller, P L Mouton, J C G Botha, E A Roux, B de Wet ad I Z Lombard MPC. At a meeting of the newly elected Executive Committee, held on the same day at the Boulevard Hotel, J D J de Necker was unanimously elected chairman of the committee and I F G Gillatt the vice-chairman. P L Mouton was appointed secretary. It was then decided that they advertise for a game ranger and the members were requested to draw up a list of duties.

To start the functioning of the Reserve and the erection of the fence, a loan of R20 000 was obtained from the Standard Bank. Jan de Necker was personally the guarantor for the facilities which have been made available from the Standard Bank to the Reserve.

Due to the drought of 1971 the Klaserie River was dry and water had to be obtained from boreholes. The game started moving northwards towards the Olifants River where large concentrations of impala, giraffe, zebra and wildebeest gathered. With the first spring rains that the game returned to Dundee, Northumberland and Northampton. There was also an increase in the elephant population, estimated at approximately 150 animals, and three major breeding herds of buffalo, which moved up and down the Klaserie River.

The Shanatseni-Klaseriemond road was repaired and it was a first class motorway that could be driven at speeds exceeding 50 kph. Unfortunately the untimely death of Charles Engelhard had the effect of preventing the completion of the Klaserie-Copenhagen road (main entrance road), known as the 'Engelhard Boulevard', which had been badly washed away after 125mm of rain fall during October.