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Tiger Canyon Private Game Reserve

Two Young Tigers at Tiger Canyon, by Daniella Kueck Wildlife Photographer.

Tiger Canyon Private Game Reserve is a ex-situ endangered big cat conservation project located near the historic town of Philippolis in South Africa’s Free State (province). Situated on 6,100 Hectares (61 sq km; 24 sq mi; 15,073 acres) of reclaimed Karoo and Highveld farmland where the original natural ecosystem has been restored, Tiger Canyon’s purpose is to contribute meaningfully to global efforts to save Asia's endangered wild tiger alongside Africa's endangered cheetah from extinction.

The ethos of Tiger Canyon Private Game Reserve is unlike any other private game reserve in South Africa. A Tiger Canyon safari experience is thus somewhat different to the normal African safari on offer. The biggest difference is that the more traditional private game reserves have a paramount objective to preserving indigenous animals in-situ (in their natural home range), while Tiger Canyon’s ethos more specifically focusses on conserving endangered big cats, no matter where in the world their normal home range is located. Today (2023), Tiger Canyon is the only private game reserve in South Africa specialising in ex-situ conservation practices.

“To restore stability to our planet, therefore, we must restore biodiversity, the very thing we have removed. It is the only way out of this crisis that we ourselves have created. We must re-wild the world!” - Sir David Attenborough.

Founded by John Varty (JV), co-owner of Londolozi Private Game Reserve, in 2000, Tiger Canyon was originally established as a sanctuary for captive-born tigers to roam freely. The first tigers were imported from zoos and captive breeding facilities in Canada and South Africa.

In 2010, Lorna and Rodney Drew got involved by progressing the organisation and, in 2013, they purchased three neighbouring farms and conjoined the properties by establishing 30km of suitable fencing. Lorna and Rodney then moved to Tiger Canyon from Johannesburg in 2016 to dedicate their lives to the cause of endangered wildlife conservation and to manage the construction of the lodge which opened in 2017.

By January 2018, JV and the Drew's formalised their partnership, and Rodney Drew took over as managing director of Tiger Canyon. By 2020, John Varty moved back to Londolozi and stepped down as a director of Tiger Canyon. Today the Drew family are at the helm of this conservation and tourism organisation.

Since 2013, the Drew family turned a small tiger sanctuary into a wild and expansive South African private game reserve focussed not only on endangered big cat conservation but also rewilding, ecotourism and offering a unique lodge built on the edge of a dramatic canyon with professionally guided game drives for visiting tourists.

Tiger Conservation

Wild Tigers traversing their territory at Tiger Canyon Private Game Reserve. Photo by Nick Kleer.

Tiger Canyon are committed to helping save this apex predator from Extinction in Asia where their natural habitat is slowly being destroyed, degraded and fragmented by human activities. They have successfully established an ex-situ population of wild tigers outside their Asian homeland where tiger numbers are steadily declining.

With fewer than 3,140 adult tigers remaining in the wild in Asia, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN Red List, it is a sad fact that there are more tigers held captive in cages around the world than exist in the wild. Ex-situ projects such as this, which primarily assist by empirically researching new habitats, rewilding methodologies of big cats and keeping the species genetics healthy, are becoming invaluable to global conservation efforts.

Tiger Canyon’s original tigers arrived in South Africa in the year 2000. Nearly 20 years later, they have third and fourth-generation, wild born, wild raised tigers. There are three climatic territories where tigers used to occur naturally; the frozen tundra of Siberia, tropical forests and mangrove swamps, and open grasslands. The Karoo resembles some of these climatic regions, which has aided the adaptation process. The experiment in ex-situ conservation has proven that captive-born tigers can be rewilded and that they can adapt to African conditions.

Tiger Canyon contributes meaningfully to global efforts to save the endangered wild tiger from extinction by means of a respected ex-situ conservation model proudly located in South Africa, by:

1. Developing the concept of a global tiger meta-population programme similar to the cheetah meta-population programme that is being successfully managed in Southern Africa;
2. Raising awareness of the plight of the endangered wild tiger in Asia, and the thousands of tigers living in captivity globally. The tiger is one of the world’s top 10 most endangered species;
3. Educating people on the importance of nature, apex predators and biodiversity to humans and society;
4. Establish methods of safely breeding the valuable genetics inherant in captive population back into the dwindling wild population, thus proving that critically endangered subspecies (currently extinct in the wild) can once again live wild and natural lives, so long as land in made available;
5. Becoming a modern blueprint for future ex-situ conservation projects who specialize in big cat conservation, funded by eco-tourism.

Cheetah Conservation

Cheetah mother and cubs at Tiger Canyon Private Game Reserve. Photo by Daniella Kueck Wildlife Photographer

The Cheetah is the most endangered African big cat, with fewer than 6,517 adult individuals remaining in the wild according to the IUCN Red List. In 2013, the Drews introduced wild cheetah into the reserve, in a separate area from the tigers' territories, adding a second big cat to the conservation efforts of the organisation. Tiger Canyon was the first reserve in the Free State (province) to reintroduce wild cheetah back into the area after an absence of over 100 years .

Tiger Canyon works closely with the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) and the Cheetah Metapopulation initiative. Both of these important initiatives aim at increasing numbers of wild Cheetah in Africa and internationally. It has been estimated that in 1960 there were around 40,000 cheetah in the world, then by 1975 that had halved to 20,000. In SA the numbers dropped to between 550-850 in 2007, and then that number increase to 1,200 in 2013. The metapopulation initiative supports populations in several game reserves including Tiger Canyon. The project swops cheetahs between participating reserves to simulate the natural spreading out of cheetah populations which guards against inbreeding, encouraging genetic diversity and strengthening the gene pool. Through EWT's relocation process, Tiger Canyon has supplied 10 cheetah into the metapopulation in South Africa, Malawi and Mozambique since joining the project in 2017. Tiger Canyon is the only reserve in South Africa to successfully breed wild-born and captive-born rewilded cheetah which is an incredibly valuable feat in terms of ensuring genetic diversification for the conservation of the species.