African Wildlife & Environment Issue 83

ECO HERO

early visits, he meticulously kept records of all their drives and noted all their sightings. He was still in possession of those notes at the end of his life! And so, it is not surprising that in 1963, at the tender age of 22, Salomon (or ‘Sollie’ as he preferred to be called) started his career in conservation as a postgraduate student in the Sabi-Sand Game Reserve. Soon, in November 1963, he gained an appointment as a junior ranger in the KNP, and his dream was realised. He was stationed at the Klipkoppies Section situated to the east of Letaba right on the Mozambique border. At that time, this was probably the most remote of all KNP’s Ranger’s sections. He excelled in his work as a Ranger and in June 1967 he was granted study leave to attend the University of Pretoria where he was awarded the degree of BSc (Hons) in Wildlife Management (Natuurbestuur). On his return to the KNP he was appointed Assistant Biologist tasked with the study of the ’bio ecology’ of the rare antelope species, or more specifically to research the factors which were limiting the growth of the Roan Antelope population. He and his wife Bets, and their small daughter (Magdaleen), were based in a small research house in Punda Maria. His studies were mostly conducted in the N’washitshumbe rare antelope enclosure, about 25 km to the south-east on the ‘northern plains’. He studied the social behaviour of Roan, for which he was awarded an MSc, and subsequently also a DSc degree on the population to unprecedented levels which established new or influenced most of the Park’s many and varied management policies. His unexpected passing came as a massive shock to the many that knew him. On 14 September 2022, one of SANParks’ most prominent and loyal stalwarts, Dr Salomon Joubert, unexpectedly passed away at the age of 81 years. During his time in the Kruger National Park (KNP), he was immensely influential, taking wildlife research Salomon Cornelius Johannes (‘Sollie’) Joubert

Salomon Cornelius Johannes (‘Sollie’) Joubert

Compiled by Ian Whyte

Early days I first met Salomon in the late 1970s when I started working in the KNP. There was an active anthrax outbreak in the far north of KNP and I had been sent to assist. Salomon and his colleague Butch Smuts were busy with calibrating a darting crossbow, which was to be used to immunise Roan Antelope against the disease. The relationship with them both was immediately friendly and cordial, and I consider it an enormous privilege to have had him as a senior, mentor and friend from this time until his passing in September 2022, a period of 52 years. I am therefore grateful that I have been given the opportunity of contributing to the compilation of this tribute. At the tender age of ten years old, on one of their many visits to the park, Salomon, decided that he would one day work in KNP. During those

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