-
Community Engagement
-
Landowner Engagement
-
Habitat Security
-
Gene Pool Security
The KZN Crane Foundation is a non-profit, Public Benefit Organisation (No.18/11/13459), based at the Usher Conservation Centre, which is located in the Bill Barnes Crane and Oribi Nature Reserve, near Nottingham Road, in the heart of Crane country. The foundation was established in 1989, in response to the plummeting numbers of Blue and Wattled Cranes in the wild.
Our funding derives entirely from donations by conservation-minded organizations and individuals and subscriptions from our members. Our committee is made up of individuals with a love of cranes and the natural world, and who give their time in an effort to help conserve South Africa’s three Crane species.
Our initial task, in 1989, was to try to understand the reasons for the decline of the populations of our Cranes and to promote strategies to ensure their survival.
With this in mind;
Our Mission
is to promote the conservation of South Africa’s three crane species and their habitat.
Our Vision
is to create an environment in which cranes and their habitat are recognized as National Treasures by landowners, local communities and government agencies, to the extent that sufficient secure, crane-friendly habitat is made available, to ensure the long-term viability and security of South Africa’s crane populations.
To achieve these ends we have developed a conservation strategy based on creating awareness, research, and habitat preservation. These key areas are the focus of our four active programmes
Without these elegant iconic birds, our world would be a poorer place and unless we take action to ensure their survival, it is quite possible that they will vanish from the wild and the legacy that we will leave to future generations will be lesser than that which we inherited. But our endevour is not only about the Cranes, it is also about their habitat, because cranes are a very visible indicator species. If they disappear, how many other, less noticeable, plants and animals will have gone with them?
For the KZN Crane Foundation, our sponsors, donors and partners, a fundamental question, in the face of plummeting crane populations, has been ‘Can we reverse this trend and save the cranes?’ To find the answer to this and to the question ‘Why Cranes?’ click on the images below.
To see our latest Newsletter, click hereTo see our Brochure, click here
