Core Team

Harry Biggs
Harry Biggs
Governance Integrator
Kamva Zenani
Kamva Zenani
Intern
Karen Milne
Karen Milne
Financial Administrator
Kelly Bernard
Kelly Bernard
Intern
Luvuyo Ncula
Luvuyo Ncula
Technician
Marion Whitehead
Marion Whitehead
Journalist
Mike Powell
Mike Powell
Director
Nicholaus Huchzermeyer
Nicholaus Huchzermeyer
Geography & GIS Scientist
Rina Grant-Biggs
Rina Grant-Biggs
Plant-herbivore Scientist
Rory Biggs
Rory Biggs
Mathematician & Programming Wiz
Profiles
Harry Biggs
Harry Biggs
Program Integrator
Kamva Zenani
Kamva Zenani
Intern
Karen Milne
Karen Milne
Financial Administrator
Kelly Bernard
Kelly Bernard
Intern
Luvuyo Ncula
Luvuyo Ncula
Technician
Marion Whitehead
Marion Whitehead
Journalist
Mike Powell
Mike Powell
Director
Nicholaus Huchzermeyer
Nicholaus Huchzermeyer
Geography & GIS Scientist
Rina Grant-Biggs
Rina Grant-Biggs
Plant-herbivore Scientist
Rory Biggs
Rory Biggs
Mathematician & Programming Wiz
Profiles
Harry Biggs
Harry Biggs

Harry qualified originally as a veterinarian in 1974 and worked in private practice, then in Namibia in the state as a veterinary researcher and epidemiologist. At that time he studied statistics, computer science and systems analysis, which stood him in good stead when he moved to the Kruger National Park in 1991 as what was called a 'quantitative ecologist' in the scientific field.

Later Harry changed course and worked with catchment rehabilitation initiatives in the Park and Lowveld generally, and did a great deal of facilitation in resource management, becoming a so-called program integrator, working in several large, longer than usual term, regional landscape programs. When he retired to Bathurst he continued for a while working part-time in the Lowveld for the NGO AWARD in the Olifants Basin, but gradually became more involved locally as a part-time adviser for Tsitsa and Thicket Programmes.

"I feel I have helped different people and groups to work together and develop and show progress in these programs, to the point where I can start stepping back slowly. This has been very satisfying."

biggsharry@gmail.com

Kamva Zenani
Kamva Trevor Songo Zenani

Kamva is a native of the Eastern Cape; he enjoys working in the outdoors collecting data and being surrounded by nature. He holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Applied Geology and a BSc (Hons) in Applied Geology from the University of the Western Cape. He also holds a BSc (Hons) in Environmental Science from Rhodes University. He is currently pursuing an MSc in water resource management at Rhodes University.

Kamva is an intern with the Rhodes Restoration Research Group (RRRG). He is currently working with Kelly for the RRRG to produce brochures for farm workers in the Eastern Cape.

kamvazenani@gmail.com

Karen Milne
Karen Milne

Originally from Gauteng, Karen has been living in the Eastern Cape since 2007. Having always been an avid gardener, it seemed a natural fit to work for the Rhodes Restoration Research Group (RRRG) making it possible to feed her passion for all things green while plying her bean-counting trade. She has been working with RRRG at Rhodes University since 2015 as the research financial administrator for RRRG, Tsitsa, and Thicket projects funded by DFFE as well as the GEF5 UNDP funded project.

karen@restoration-research.co.za

Kelly Bernard
Kelly Bernard

Kelly has many interests in the natural world and enjoys art, yoga and trail running! She has undergraduate degrees from Rhodes University in Journalism and Media Studies, Art History and Visual Culture, Environmental Science, and Anthropology. She pursued her Honour’s in Environmental Science with the Rhodes Restoration Research Group (RRRG) on the use of artificial feeding trays to assess fruit removal by birds in Albany Thicket. She graduated with her Master’s in Zoology in October 2022 with a project on puma (Puma concolor) diet and habitat use in south-west New Mexico. She is also a qualified FGASA field and trails guide, and a yoga teacher.

Currently, Kelly is employed as a biodiversity intern with the RRRG and heads up the capacity building branch with Kamva making useful brochures for farm workers in the Eastern Cape. She is a Thicket local and grew up in Makhanda, spending 24 years there before moving to the Lowveld! She loves South Africa very much, and hopes to explore more of the country and continent in the years to come! She loves all animals, especially dogs and needs to spend time in nature every single day ?

kellymonicatandi@gmail.com

Luvuyo Ncula
Luvuyo Ncula

When Luvuyo finished school, he studied IT. Due to financial constraints, he could not complete his studies, so he participated in a school gardening project assisting students with planting basics. He then got a job as a gardener. In 2018 he joined the Rhodes Restoration Research Group (RRRG) as a Fieldwork assistant, and since 2019 he has been working as a data technician managing the tunnels at the RRRG research facilities.

l.ncula@ru.ac.za

Marion Whitehead
Marion Whitehead

Marion is an author and freelance photojournalist with a deep interest in natural history, the environment, conservation, health and travel. A Rhodes Journalism Honours graduate (English and Journalism), she has many years’ experience in media and is a former assistant editor of Getaway magazine. Her latest book, Burchell’s African Odyssey: Revealing the return journey (Struik Nature), co-authored with Dr Roger Stewart, follows her popular travel guides, South Africa’s Favourite Passes & Poorts and Visitors’ Guide: Flower Route (both MapStudio). A member of the Botanical Society of South Africa and WESSA, she has a passion for plants. Marion lives in Bathurst in the Eastern Cape, heart of the thicket biome, and serves on the committee of Friends of Waters Meeting Nature Reserve.

marionwhitehead.co.za
MarionM.Whitehead@gmail.com

Mike Powell
Mike Powell

Mike is the director of the Rhodes Restoration Research Group. He is completing a PhD in the Department of Environmental Science; his thesis is seeking to tease out some of the complexities (tipping points, thresholds, and barriers) in thicket restoration.

m.powell@ru.ac.za

Nicholaus Huchzermeyer
Nicholaus Huchzermeyer

Nicholaus holds a MSc in Geography with a focus on fluvial geomorphology, a BSc Honours in Geography, and a BSc in Geography & Geology. A varied and interesting tertiary education path equipped him with the requisite skills to work in various fields of geography, with specific reference to catchment systems, geomorphology, habitats and ecology.

Nicholaus has been working in integrated catchment systems and has experience in field-based biophysical research and has a comprehensive knowledge of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and their use as a tool in catchment management. He is involved with the GIS analysis of degraded thicket, avoided degradation of intact thicket, thicket restoration, thicket mapping (species, extent, clearing etc.), and prioritisation of areas of thicket for protected area expansion, biodiversity prioritisation and protected area corridors. He has a keen interest in remote sensing techniques using satellite and drone imagery to map, monitor, and evaluate thicket condition and land cover change and linking this to overall catchment condition.

In addition to working with RRRG, Nicholaus is an independent researcher and consultant for various projects (conducted in South Africa, Lesotho, Tanzania, and Belize) in the field of environmental science and geography with a focus on geomorphological studies, aquatic environments, catchment systems, and GIS. He is also part of the Sediment and Restoration team for the Tsitsa Project based in the Southern Drakenberg.

nicky.huchzermeyer@gmail.com

Rina Grant-Biggs
Rina Grant-Biggs

Rina qualified as a veterinarian in 1974. Starting off at the veterinary laboratory in Windhoek, she was responsible for the diagnosis of plant poisonings and nutritional deficiencies in farm animals. This work kindled her interest in understanding the interactions between animals and plants. She used this work to complete her PhD in veterinary physiology in 1989, looking specifically at mineral and protein deficiencies related to vegetation and soil type.

Rina pursued her interest in understanding plant-herbivore interactions after moving to the Kruger National Park: She did a post-doctoral study to understand how nutrients in the vegetation determine how the wild herbivores utilize the vegetation. She was involved in developing ecozone maps to enrich the experience of visitors to the Park by giving them a deeper understanding of the plant-animal associations. She also co-authored a series of Sappi Tree Spotting books aiming to help laymen identify common trees in the various biomes of South Africa using easy clues (such as tallest and most striking trees).

After retiring in the Eastern Cape, Rina was struck by the incredibly wide variety of plant species and how different these plants behave to those in the savanna. This led her to join the Rhodes Restoration Research Group where she still works on understanding plant-herbivore interactions (now in thicket): how thicket responds to herbivory, the importance of short grass patches to provide nutrients to herbivores, and the role of thicket in providing ecosystem services (especially biodiversity). She is currently the Chair of the Friends of Waters Meeting which organises regular talks on aspects of the thicket, as well as the annual Thicket Festival.

rinagrant@gmail.com

Rory Biggs
Rory Biggs

Rory is a Mathematician and is the resident web & programming wizard. He grew up in Skukuza (Kruger National Park) amongst a family of "more ecologically inclined" Biggs's. Nevertheless, he headed to Rhodes University to study Mathematics and ultimately completed a PhD in Differential Geometry. After several years in academia, Rory decided to strike out on his own and is now pursuing miscellaneous projects while living the good life.

rorybiggs.co.za
rorybiggs@gmail.com, rory@restoration-research.co.za

Collaborators and Research Associates

Jan Vlok
Jan Vlok

Jan is a botanist and vegetation management expert specializing in the Eastern Cape Thicket, Little Karoo and Fynbos vegetation types. His business is Regalis Environmental Services and he is based in Oudtshoorn. Jan has been a member of The Botanical Society of South Africa since he was 18. The society presented him with the prestigious Marloth Medal. The award was made in recognition of his immense contribution to flora conservation by spreading botanical science to civil society in simple language by means of publications, popular articles in newspapers, on radio, television and personal presentations.

janvlok@mweb.co.za

C Bolus
Cosman Bolus

Cosman is a restoration, carbon and social ecologist with over 15 years of experience in regenerative land projects, with a focus on sustainable land management, ecological restoration and carbon sequestration. He has extensive experience in biodiversity assessment, soil and above ground carbon monitoring, as well as carbon and feasibility projections for ecological restoration and regenerative agriculture. Part of his primary experience was built up doing work with the RRRG between 2009 to 2014. He has grounding expertise in project management, facilitation and cross - cultural communication through work he has done on communal lands with rural farming communities in the Eastern Cape.

Cosman is interested in transdisciplinary approaches, innovative restoration and regenerative practices which bring together affected stakeholders such as local communities, farmers, NGO’s, private companies, government and centres of learning faced by the challenges of global climate change and land use impacts on agro-ecological systems. He is also interested in doing this work in communal rural areas in ways that foreground issues of socio - economic development and learning for sustainability.

He is currently the founding director of Sustainable Landscape Solutions (SLS). Cosman has a BSc (Hons) in Botany from the University of Cape Town, and a MSc in Environmental Science (on Natural Resource Management on South Africa’s communal lands) from Rhodes University.

Students

Students supervised by RRRG

Masters

Honours

  • 2020, Kelly Bernard, The use of artificial feeding trays to assess fruit removal by birds in Albany Thicket.
  • 2020, Yenziwe Mbuyisa, Paleoenvironment insights for the thicket using the Baviaans Cedar, Widdringtonia schwarzii.
  • 2019, Chelsea Botha, Carbon modelling of Portulacaria afra (spekboom).
  • 2019, Georgia St Anne-Quintin, The use of smartphone technology to provide veterinary services to smallholder farmers, in Machubeni, South Africa.
  • 2019, Brownwyn Trafford, The use of remote sensing and field sampling to analyse the effects of land transformation in the thicket biome in Addo Elephant National Park.
  • 2019, Kamva Zenani, Testing the soil properties in intact and transformed thicket in Addo elephant park.
  • 2018, Kyle Johnstone, Mesic Thicket Biomass accumulation on a naturally restoring old field.
  • 2018, Refentshe Ledwaba, Time-series analysis of the Lower Kowie River Valley Thicket Transformation.
  • 2015, Roxanne Starkey, The effect of herbivory on below ground root-carbon storage of Spekboom (Portulacaria afra), Baviaanskloof Nature Reserve, Eastern Cape, South Africa.
  • 2013, Zoe Palmer, A feasibility assessment of using AIP biomass as a source of bioenergy in the Kouga Catchment, Eastern Cape, South Africa.
  • 2012, Kyra Lunderstedt, Quantifying the rate of natural vegetation recovery, changes in species composition and vegetation structure for a small private nature reserve, Bathurst Eastern Cape.
  • 2011, John-Rob Pool, Carbon content of Portulacaria afra (L.) Jacq. A suite of factors to aid the carbon model.
  • 2010, Steve Berriman, The effect of herbivory on survivorship and growth rate of subtropical thicket species following restoration plantings.
  • 2010, Caroline Clark, Perceptions of Climate Change and Adaptation Strategies amongst the Commercial Livestock and Game Farmers in the Middle Fish River Valley, Eastern Cape, South Africa.
  • 2010, Caroline Evans, Assessing the rate of degradation and deforestation of the Xeric Subtropical Thicket Biome through livestock farming in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.
  • 2010, Steve Johnstone, Assessing the differential growth rates and carbon stocks for Acacia longifolia re-growth as a function of Working for Water management actions.
  • 2010, Dawn Lagerwall, Is the Subtropical Thicket Restoration Project cost effective?
  • 2010, Ryan Rossler, Ground water salinity and soil types affect the growth and survivorship of Portulacaria afra (L.)
Other students funded by RRRG

Doctoral

Masters

Honours

  • 2010, Ashleigh Connor, The use of remote sensing images and geographical information system (GIS) to identify and determine the distribution of Merxmuellera macowanii wetlands in the Sneeuberg, Eastern Cape.
  • 2009, Pumza Nase, Effects of environmental factors on the photosynthetic state and growth of Portulacaria afra (L.) Jacq.
  • 2008, Dale Hutton, A study of the economic values of non-timber forest products used by local rural households in the Matiwane region (Wild Coast).
  • 2008, Jade Jacobsohn, A spek on the horizon: Expanded Public Works Programmes and the Cambria Community of the Baviaanskloof Mega Reserve, South Africa.
  • 2008, Zuki Kota.
  • 2008, Dylan Weyer.

Past students

2020 — Masters
Bronwyn Trafford
Bronwyn Trafford

"Rewilding in the thicket biome."

Bronwyn is based in the Department of Zoology and Entomology, RU.

Neha Kooverjee
Neha Kooverjee

"Landscape-scale carbon stocks in the thicket biome."

Neha is based at the Global Change Institute, Wits University.

Yondela Norman
Yondela Norman

"Modifying the current planting protocol to improve survivorship of Portulacaria afra in Albany thicket of the Baviaanskloof, Eastern Cape."

2020 — Honours
Kelly Bernard
Kelly Bernard

"Seed removal by vertebrates and invertebrates in intact and degraded Albany Thicket."

Yenziwe Mbuyisa
Yenziwe Mbuyisa

"Paleoenvironment insights for the thicket using the Baviaans Cedar, Widdringtonia schwarzii."

2019 — Honours
Putuma Balintulo
Putuma Balintulo

"Differences in the woody vegetation cover of the transformed and intact thicket, Greater Addo Elephant National Park, Eastern Cape."

Georgia-Ann St Quintin
Georgia-Ann St Quintin

"The use of smartphone technology to provide veterinary services to smallholder farmers, in Machubeni, South Africa.”

James Marriner

"A review of methods for economic evaluation of seagrass Zostera capensis"

Kamva Zenani
Kamva Zenani

My research is about testing the soil properties in intact and transformed thicket in Addo elephant park.

Chelsea Botha
Chelsea Botha

"Carbon partitioning and growth behaviour in spekboom-rich thicket, in the Albany Thicket"

Bronwyn Trafford Honours
Bronwyn Trafford

"The use of remote sensing and field sampling to analyse the effects of land transformation in the thicket biome in Addo Elephant National Park."

2018 — Honours
Refentshe Ledwaba

"2 Time-series analyses of the Lower Kowie River Valley Thicket Transformation"

Kyle Johnstone

"Measuring above ground biomass accumulation for woody and succulent trees and shrubs on a naturally restoring old field in Bathurst, Eastern Cape, South Africa."

2016 — Masters
Kyra Lunderstedt
Kyra Lunderstedt

"Quantifying degraded subtropical thicket structure and composition: a multi-scale approach in the Eastern Cape, South Africa"

2011 — Honours
Kyra Lunderstedt

"Quantifying the rate of natural vegetation recovery and changes in species composition on old lands, for a small private nature reserve, Bathurst, Eastern Cape."