First warden of the Sabi Nature Reserve

James Stevenson-Hamilton, born in Dublin, Ireland on 2 October 1867, was the eldest of nine children and the legal heir to the family title and home at Fairholm near Larkhall in Scotland. He was educated at Lockers Park School, Rugby, and Sandhurst before opting for a career in the military. Commissioned into the British Army as a second lieutenant on 14 March 1888, he served in the Second Boer War from 1899-1901, receiving both the Queen’s South Africa Medal and the King's South Africa Medal for his service.

At the end of the war, he was promoted to the substantive rank of major on 12 November 1902. In 1902, he was appointed as the first warden of South Africa's Sabi Nature Reserve, which was later expanded under his watch and renamed Kruger National Park in 1926. He focused on convincing companies in the vicinity to lend him land, and believed that by banning hunting in the reserve, animals would lose their fear of human beings. He served as warden from 1902-1946. He was dubbed 'Skukuza' by the Tsonga people.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons