Elephants confined in fenced spaces are an ecological and economic challenge, but removing the species also has consequences. At a time when virtually no one in South Africa wants elephants and the animals cannot be given away, the RoiSan Reserve project in Limpopo is taking in 15 animals to restore its ecological integrity - saving them from a cull in the process.

Elephants confined in fenced spaces are an ecological and economic challenge, but removing the species also has consequences. At a time when virtually no one in South Africa wants elephants and the animals cannot be given away, the RoiSan Reserve project in Limpopo is taking in 15 animals to restore its ecological integrity - saving them from a cull in the process.

Standing in the damp Limpopo veld, Chris Ransome points to the green hills of Marakele National Park looming north in the distance.

"That is where the corridor will be," he says.

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Ransome, an affable accountant, has a vision: the dropping of fences and the establishment of corridors to link wildlife properties and farms in the southern Waterberg into a conservation haven for African wildlife known as the RoiSan Reserve.

The initial 12,000-hectare phase of this project was undertaken in January this year when the common boundary fence between Ransome's Rotavi Private Game Reserve and the neighbouring Elandsberg Nature Reserve was removed.

The current goal is to drop the fences with other private game reserves that Rotavi shares long boundaries with to create a 40,000-hectare biosphere. Discussions are ongoing to reach this goal.

The long-term plan envisions links via...