Where are eShowe’s hornbills?
Have you seen eShowe's Southern Ground Hornbills which were last seen in November last year?
THE Mabula Ground Hornbill Project is concerned about the apparent disappearance of the Southern Ground Hornbills (iNsingisi), which used to frequent the eShowe Sports Club and surrounding farmlands.
According to project manager Dr Lucy Kemp, eShowe is home to one of the most amazing groups of Southern Ground Hornbills in all of South Africa, and the project hopes it is still true.
This group successfully fledged a chick for the past successive six years, something almost unheard of for such a slow-breeding and long-lived species.
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This is even more successful than nests safely within the protected areas of the Greater Kruger National Park and Hluluwe-iMfolozi Park.
Little of their natural habitat still exists around the town of eShowe yet this wonder group has persisted and thrived …. until now.
Dr Kemp says, ‘There have been no reports of this group, regularly seen on the outskirts of the town, on various sporting grounds and moving across the cane plantations to the north of the town, since November 2017.’
If anyone has recently sighted this large group of hornbills, or has any information that may help understand where they are, please contact Dr Lucy Kemp (project@ground-hornbill.org.za; whatsapp 083 2898610) or Sharon Louw at EKZN Wildlife (Sharon.Louw@kznwildlife.com or 083 4972955).
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