How it all began
In 1950 Lente Roode’s father, Willie Schürmann, bought a 2000-hectare farm in the Hoedspruit district in the Northern Province of South Africa which today forms part of the Kapama Private Game Reserve (situated close to to the Kruger National Park in South Africa).
Lente’s father generated income by farming sheep and cattle. Lions, leopards and cheetah were seen as a dire threat to livestock and were shot on sight as a result.
It was during her childhood that Lente developed a love for animals, the African bushveld, and for the farm which she visited at every opportunity. This was the beginning of a life-long passion for conservation of the cheetah, and of all animal species.
As a child of six, Lente was given an orphaned cheetah cub after a neighboring farmer shot the mother. They called her “Sebeka” and she soon became part of the Schürmann household. Together, Lente and her mother (a nurse) lovingly cared for the animal. Lente and her cheetah were inseparable.
Establishment of HCP
After completing her studies in education, Lente married Johann Roode in 1970.
In 1985, Johann and Lente bought their first farm on the border of her family’s land in Hoedspruit. Lente then inherited her father’s farm. They acquired more land by buying adjoining properties and the first venture that they undertook was to ranch with a herd of Bonsmara cattle. Typical of Johann this was done with thorough attention to detail. The battle with the predators continued until it became clear that although they appeared to be winning it was likely to continue ad infinitum. At the same time Lente’s longing to be involved on the farm and her need to work with animals developed. The decision to change to game farming became inevitable. Further land was acquired and Kapama Game Reserve, 12 500 ha in extent, came into being.
As cheetahs were listed as endangered in the Red Data Book of the Mammals of South Africa, at that time the idea to establish a cheetah breeding project on Kapama developed. This facility would be tasked with breeding the species for possible reintroduction into the wild, as well as providing research opportunities to scientists in zoological and veterinary fields. It would also ultimately serve as an educational centre.
It was at this stage that Lente contacted Des Varaday (a well-known cheetah breeder whose facility was located near Middelburg in Mpumalanga Province) in the hope of acquiring a few cheetah. Lente had known Des from childhood when he used her cheetah Sebeka in his book entitled “Gara Yaka”, and as the subject matter for other detailed illustrations.
Fate is an amazing thing… Des enquired of Lente if it would be possible for her to take custody of all thirty-five of his cheetahs. His motivation was that he was getting too old to look after them, and that he needed a suitable owner to take responsibility for them.
Lente agreed. The then Department of Nature Conservation of the Transvaal facilitated the transfer of the animals from Varaday, in order for Lente Roode to continue the breeding programme on Kapama Game Reserve.
With the help and guidance of the late Professor David Meltzer of the Onderstepoort Faculty of Veterinary Science (at the University of Pretoria) and Des Varaday himself, they planned and developed the infrastructure of the Centre and built the Hoedspruit Cheetah Project (H.C.P) within a year.
It took another year for the animals to settle properly into their new environment before the Hoedspruit Cheetah Project opened its doors to the public in 1990. Tourism, together with sales from the curio shop, helped to generate some of the income needed to run the Project on a day to day basis.
The HCP becomes HESC
Contact was then made with the National Zoological Gardens in Pretoria to cooperate in the breeding of other species at Hoedspruit. As a result, African wild cats as well as ground hornbills and bald ibises were transferred to the H.C.P in 1991 and 1995. African wild dogs (captured as “problem animals” by conservation authorities and brought to the HCP in May 1991) were also included in the breeding programme.
In 1995, the Centre started a black-footed cat breeding programme when landowners that raised orphaned kittens contacted the HCP to take care of the animals.
During the first half of the 1990s, blue crane chicks which had been abandoned after lands were cultivated were brought to the Centre by concerned farmers. The birds were also included in the breeding programme.
The inclusion of other species into the Centre’s breeding programme necessitated the name change from the H.C.P to the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre (H.E.S.C).
Establishing a Veterinary Facility
The need for extensive veterinary support to treat animals at the H.E.S.C, as well as injured animals that were brought to the Centre for treatment, led to the establishment of a veterinary clinic with an animal hospital (housing recuperation and quarantine facilities) in 1995.
Today
The Centre is a non−profitable organization ploughing all funds back into nature conservation in order to help ensure the continued survival of all endangered animal species. Today the Centre has established itself as one of the leaders in the breeding and research of endangered species. Besides this the Centre also provides a safe haven for orphaned and sick animals and also offers an education centre where the public and our younger generations can learn about endangered species by observing them at close range.
The Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre works closely together with advisory committees of the Pretoria Zoo and the University of Pretoria. Since the passing of Professor Meltzer, a specialist Advisory Committee has been appointed to assist the HESC with the management of its many animal species.
