African Wildlife & Environment Issue 83

ECO HERO

For the record For the record I would like to add something on the termination of his career. In 1991, while he was CEO of Kruger, the post of Chief Director of SANParks became vacant. There were two candidates for the post – Salomon and the then Director of Southern Parks.At that time, Salomon still had many plans for Kruger, and he felt that his work there was not yet finished. He pledged his support to the other candidate and opted to stay in Kruger. In 1994 however, and in spite of his pledged support for the new Chief Director, Salomon was suddenly and perversely side-lined into a lesser post whose main aim was to facilitate the alignment of the respective management policies of the KNP and the Associated Private Nature Reserves (APNRs) on the Park’s western boundary. These two conservation areas had by then become a single ecological entity with the removal of the western boundary fence in 1993. This unpragmatic restructuring policy also had similar negative consequences for other senior SANParks staff. But despite this shameful treatment he remained true and loyal to the KNP and his colleagues there. Salomon’s removal from KNP came as a huge shock to those of us who served him and hugely respected him.And I know that this also came as a crushing blow to Sollie who, as I have said, still had many visionary and ambitious plans for Kruger. This also effectively ended his career in Kruger, and severely restricted his ability to influence policy – a sad loss to that great national park. But he will long be remembered for his integrity and leadership and his many outstanding contributions to conservation in southern Africa. May he now rest in peace! Salomon Joubert’s daughter Magdalene (Maggie) Holliday is thanked for her invaluable contributions of text edits and photographs.

Maria, he built himself a cricket net and, by studying the MCC’s Cricket Coaching Manual, he taught himself to bowl! He spent hours on his own practicing, and by the time he came to Skukuza, he was a reasonably accomplished seam bowler and played many games for the Skukuza Cricket Club. But Salomon also played tennis and squash, and once the golf course was created, he became a very enthusiastic golfer, serving as the golf club’s chairperson for quite a number of years. After his retirement Salomon worked on comprehensively documenting the history of the KNP in a three-volume work entitled, “The Kruger National Park - A History”. This was first published in October 2007 after many years of painstaking and dedicated research. It is an expansive consolidation of all aspects of work done in the many departments of the KNP up to that point, and a massively important contribution to the literature on Kruger, SANParks and to conservation in South Africa as a whole. He also kept in close touch with the KNP through regular visits and continuous engagement with researchers, staff and management on many aspects of conservation in KNP. Sollie shared with many people a concern about management in KNP today, particularly with regard to what is perceived to be a massive over population of elephants resulting from a lack of proper management, and a disregard for the consequences to the Park’s biodiversity. He had been a dynamic part of a few private initiatives which have been active in seeking to redress this situation. Salomon and his daughter-in-law Lourette Joubert (married to his son Dusty).The photo was probably taken in Sango (Zimbabwe) where Dusty was working

This Eco-Hero series is edited by Dr Lynn Hurry and comments or suggestions for future articles are welcome. lynn@ecology.co.za or 083 631 2658 Contact Ian on ian.john.whyte@gmail.com

59 | African Wildlife & Environment | Issue 83 (2023)