Elephant Database
African Elephant Specialist Group

South Africa, 2007

All Years for South Africa: 201620132007200219981995

2007 Summary Totals for South Africa

Data Category Definite Probable Possible Speculative
Aerial or Ground Total Counts17,501000
Informed Guesses346063822
Totals 200617,847063822

Interpretation of Changes in Estimates from Previous Report

Cause of Change Definite Probable Possible Speculative
Repeat Survey+3,412000
New Population+259000
Different Technique+690-1000
New Guess+350-51+22
Population Lost00-660
Totals+3,7760-217+22

Area of Range Covered by Each Data Category (km²)

Data CategoryKnown RangePossible RangeTotal Range
Aerial or Ground Total Counts29,204029,204
Informed Guesses1,25101,251
Totals30,455030,455

South Africa : Elephant Estimates

Cause ofSurvey Details2 Number of Elephants Area Map Location
Input ZoneChange1TypeReliab.YearEstimate95% C.L. SourcePFS3 (km²) Lon. Lat.
Addo Elephant National ParkRSIR1A2005459EMOA, 200521,250 25.5E 33.3S
Atherstone Nature ReserveRSAT3A200560EMOA, 20053136 26.8E 24.5S
Balule Nature ReserveRSAT3A2006457Whyte, 20063400 31.0E 24.2S
Greater St Lucia Wetland Park (Managed Nature Reserve)RSAT3A200545EMOA, 20053539 32.5E 27.9S
Great Fish River Reserve ComplexNPIR1A20052EMOA, 20053440 26.8E 33.1S
Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game ReserveNGIG3D2004346 22*EMOA, 20052965 31.9E 28.3S
Itala Nature ReserveRSGT1A200584EMOA, 20053297 31.3E 27.5S
Kapama Private Game ReserveNPIR1A200536EMOA, 20053246 31.1E 24.4S
Kariega Private Game ReserveNPIR1A200511EMOA, 20053190 26.7E 33.5S
Klaserie Private Nature ReserveRSAT2A2006569Whyte, 20062628 31.2E 24.2S
Knysna Forest ReserveRSIR1A20054EMOA, 20053126 23.0E 34.0S
Kruger National ParkRSAT2A200612,427Whyte, 2006119,624 31.5E 24.0S
Kwandwe Private Game ReserveNPIR1A200529EMOA, 20053158 26.6E 33.1S
Lalibela Private Game ReserveNPIR1A200511EMOA, 2005375 26.2E 33.5S
Letaba Game RanchPLGT1A20060Whyte, 20061420 31.1E 23.7S
Madikwe Nature ReserveRSAT3A2005455EMOA, 20052700 26.3E 24.8S
Makalali Private Game ReserveRSGT1A200572EMOA, 20053140 30.7E 24.2S
Makuya National ParkRSAT2A200654Whyte, 20063165 30.9E 22.6S
Manyeleti Game ReserveDTAT2A200671Whyte, 20063228 31.5E 24.6S
Marakele National ParkRSIR1A2005110EMOA, 20053380 27.6E 24.4S
Mkuzi Game ReserveRSIR1A200537EMOA, 20053380 32.3E 27.7S
Mthetomusha Nature ReserveNPIR1A200530EMOA, 2005380 31.3E 25.5S
Munyawana Game ReserveNPIR1A200585EMOA, 20053245 32.4E 27.8S
Phalaborwa Mining CompanyRSAT2A200677Whyte, 2006441 31.2E 24.0S
Pilanesberg National ParkRSAT3A2005140EMOA, 20053553 27.1E 25.2S
Pongola Nature ReserveRSIR1A200555EMOA, 20053119 32.0E 27.4S
Private ReservesNGIG3D2005578EMOA, 200514,000
Sabie Sands Game ReserveRSAT2A2006857Whyte, 20063572 31.5E 24.8S
Selati Game ReserveRSGT1A200585EMOA, 20053300 30.8E 24.0S
Shamwari Game ReserveNPIR1A200561EMOA, 20053200 26.1E 33.4S
Songimvelo Game ReserveNGIG3D200560EMOA, 20052490 31.0E 26.0S
Tembe Elephant ParkRSIR1A2005167Morley, 20053300 32.5E 26.9S
Timbavati Private Nature ReserveRSAT2A2006712Whyte, 20063494 31.3E 24.4S
Umbabat Private Nature ReserveRSAT2A2006163Whyte, 20063144 31.4E 24.1S
Venetia-Limpopo National ParkRSAT3A200561EMOA, 2005391 29.3E 22.2S
Welgevonden Private Game ReserveRSAT3A2005100EMOA, 20053330 27.8E 24.3S

* Range of informed guess

1Key to Causes of Change (only tracked since 2007): DA: Different Area; DD: Data Degraded; DT: Different Technique; NA: New Analysis; NG: New Guess; NP: New population; PL: Population Lost; RS: Repeat Survey (RS ́ denotes a repeat survey that is not statistically comparable for reasons such as different season); –––: No Change

2Key to Survey Types: AC: Aerial Count, not specified; AS: Aerial Sample Count; AT: Aerial Total Count; DC: Dung Count; EX: Extrapolation from GIS; GD: Genetic Dung Count; GS: Ground Sample Count; GT: Ground Total Count; IG: Informed Guess; IR: Individual Registration; OG: Other Guess. Survey Type is followed by an indicator of survey quality, ranked from 1 to 3 (best to worst). Survey Reliability is keyed A-E (best to worst) as outlined in this table.

3PFS: Priority for Future Surveys, ranked from 1 to 5 (highest to lowest). Based on the precision of estimates and the proportion of national range accounted for by the site in question, PFS is a measure of the importance and urgency for future population surveys. All areas of unassessed range have a priority of 1. See Introduction for details on how the PFS is derived.

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