Malcolm Thomson , wildlife manager in South Africa Born ? . Pongola Game Reserve in northern KwaZulu-Natal is home to an impressive array of wildlife, including four of the Big Five (excluding lion), hippopotamus and crocodile. The reserve (and in particular, one of its main landowners, the Karel Landman Trust) recently broke the news that it would no longer be keeping elephants on its property. In this opinion editorial, the general manager for Pongola Game Reserve, Malcolm Thomson, explains the management challenges that led the KLT to this decision: "We introduced elephants in 1997 as part of the transfrontier park vision. At the time, there were no restrictions placed on elephant management and they were managed in the same way as we manage all our other Species, which is as it should be. Restrictions were only placed on their management in 2008 when the government issued National Norms and Standards for the Management of Elephants in South Africa. This was when our problems began."
