After years of work, the Orange River-Karoo Conservation Area (ORKCA) team have carried out their first wildlife translocation, supported by the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative. The inaugural release of springbok, oryx and ostrich represents the first step in a truly ambitious ecosystem restoration project, which is on track to become one of the largest rewilding programmes on the African continent.

The far south of Namibia, along the Orange River, was once home to the largest terrestrial migration on the planet. Eclipsing East Africa’s great wildebeest migration, vast herds of springbok – known as the trekbokken – numbering up to 10 million, would roam through the region from the Kalahari with the rains.

But the past century saw wildlife numbers in Southern Namibia plummet by 90 per cent. With more mass extinctions than anywhere else in sub-Saharan Africa, the region saw the loss of its elephants, hippopotamuses, lions and hyenas, and commercial farmland now dominates the land. With fencing dividing traditional migratory pathways, the mighty springbok migration vanished, with herds of just a few hundred remaining.

Founded in 2020, ORKCA is taking a unique approach to conservation, working to purchase publicly available land and create an enormous conservation area. To date, it extends over 160,000 hectares, with a goal of protecting more than one million hectares over the next 15 to 20 years.

Working in partnership with local communities, and with the support of the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative, the ORKCA team have brought their very first releases onto the land – 10 oryx, 10 springbok and 10 ostrich.

“You could see that excitement and joy as the first springbok jumped off the truck. That was an iconic moment for ORKCA – a big milestone. Even the next day when we tracked the collared animals, you could see the excitement in the team.”
– Nabot Mbeeli, CEO of ORKCA

It took two years of preparatory work to release these first species, whose movements will be monitored to inform future rewilding efforts. Supported by the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative since 2023, ORKCA seeks to ecologically restore and rewild the Karoo desert ecosystem, reconnecting the Nama and Succulent Karoo and driving sustainable economic growth through landscape restoration and community stewardship.

When ORKCA co-founders Andreia Pawel and Red Barthorp first arrived in 2016, the land was “covered in human infrastructure”. War and hardship left a landscape fragmented by fences and scrap metal, preventing migratory wildlife from thriving. After four years cleaning up and running expedition tourism, when travel shut down during the Covid-19 pandemic, the pair realised they really wanted to be working on large-scale conservation.

ORKCA – a completely new model of conservation in Namibia – was born, acquiring farmland and partnering with local landowners to form a large, continuous protected corridor for wildlife to roam freely and megafauna to flourish. Peripheral fences removed from the land are reused to build boundary fences with the neighbouring conservancy, and inclusive land models maintain commercial farming amongst conservation.

“Animals don’t recognise boundaries at all. They’ve been traversing these landscapes for many years. These boundaries are anthropogenic.”
– Nabot Mbeeli, CEO of ORKCA

In recognising the importance of preserving the entire ecosystem, rather than creating a number of smaller, individual protected areas, the ultimate vision is to create a trans-boundary reserve, with the Orange River at its core. ORKCA is working to secure land on the Namibian side and work with partners on the South African side, and ensure the Nama Indigenous people have full access to the river.

“Rolex has really supported us from the beginning, when we were still a dream – they saw something. They’ve supported us in securing land in perpetuity for conservation, in rolling out our scientific research and with wildlife reintroduction. They give us advice and lessons learned from the other conservation projects they support; they have a lot of knowledge.”
– Andreia Pawel, Co-founder of ORKCA

With Namibia having just had its best rains in 100 years, it’s the perfect time to release greater numbers of wildlife to the ORKCA landscape. By moving across the land and grazing it, they naturally till the soil, enabling seeds to grow and cascading benefits throughout the ecosystem. The team is working towards securing the northern boundary of the conservation area to protect neighbouring commercial livestock, so they can one day reintroduce predators, including cheetahs, to keep the herds on the move. The first wildlife release, supported by Rolex, is generating vital digital data. By closely monitoring their movements in order to understand the animals’ migratory patterns and their habits, this information is helping to inform future rewilding efforts.

“ORKCA can be the largest rewilding story in southern Africa. This landscape has so much potential on a large scale that we must keep going. It’s a lifelong work, but it’s very much possible to revive the Orange River corridor.”
– Andreia Pawel, Co-founder of ORKCA

ABOUT THE PERPETUAL PLANET INITIATIVE 
Rolex celebrates human achievement, recognizing journeys marked by milestones and emotions that culminate in defining moments.

For nearly a century, Rolex has supported pioneering explorers to help them achieve countless historic feats. Over time, the company has moved from championing exploration for the sake of discovery to protecting the planet. Through the Perpetual Planet Initiative, Rolex stands alongside those building a better future for all life on earth.

The Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative was launched in 2019 and now has a portfolio of more than 30 partners, active in three main focus areas: Oceans; Landscapes; and Science, Health, and Technology.

For the Oceans, Rolex supports a wide range of projects such as: Mission Blue and Rolex Testimonee Sylvia Earle; Cristina Mittermeier and Paul Nicklen; and Coral Gardeners.

The Landscapes roster includes: a strengthened partnership with the National Geographic Society; Rewilding Argentina and Rewilding Chile, offspring organisations of Tompkins Conservation; and Steve Boyes and the Great Spine of Africa series of expeditions.

Rolex also supports partners in Science, Health, and Technology, such as: Rolex Awards Laureates Andrew Bastawrous; Felix Brooks-church; and Miranda Wang.

Rolex also supports organizations and initiatives fostering the next generation of explorers, scientists and conservationists, such as the Royal Geographical Society, The Explorers Club, the CERN & Society Foundation and the EPFL (the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) in Lausanne.