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With the continual support of the Bateleurs, we have saved an enormous amount of time and resources in order to track our very elusive leopards in the Cederberg. Our most recent flight, on the 27th February, was exceptionally productive. We were able to get GPS downloads and track Amber, Oom Arrie, M11 and Trompie.

Uitkyk Pass in the Cederberg is one of the only places one can get cell phone reception in these mountains – thankfully...but that’s another story.

Within this 50m2 area, sitting on a rock looking out over the beautiful valley I received a message on my phone from the Three Cities Group saying they had a “little” contribution to make to our project and will Quinton go to Durban to collect a cheque.

Douglas Eason Lederle :  10.7.1971 – 20.2.2008

“Some people tread lightly on the earth, whilst others leave a huge footprint.”

Douglas was a supporter of the CLT right from the inception of the project. Our first fundraising event saw him bid for an auction item way out of his price range – to the horror of his wife Wilmien - I think. I met him when doing my rounds collecting auction money from the previous night’s function, then learning of his passion for nature.

SA 4x4 magazine were out in the Cederberg for a weekend recently – Patrick Cruywagen was the man on the scene. Note there will be an extensive article on our project in next month’s edition of this outdoor 4x4 magazine.

We are particularly pleased to see that the 4x4 public are obviously interested in conservation in our country.

The CLT are pleased to have facilitated the sponsored of an Anatolian Shepherd Dog to Gerrie Mathee, one of the local Gamka farmers who has experienced leopard problems in the past. He was very excited to receive “Woofie” who is now employed to safeguard Gerrie’s goats.

We visited the Gamka/Swartberg in December to look at potential camera trapping sites for the project. An area of 100 000ha was divided up into grids cells of about 5000ha each and areas within these were identified as potential camera trapping sites. Leigh & her assistants (Johnny from Cape Nature & Fiona Pamplin) went to set up cameras later in January, identifying suitable locations to try capture leopard photographs. The results...

Six leopards in six months!!

GPS collar data from the leopards in the Cederberg are revealing fascinating information on the ecology of these elusive animals. M11, the adult male leopard collared in Houdini’s territory last year, has taken over the exact same area Houdini patrolled.

We have managed to track this male on foot a number of times now using telemetry equipment, however, he is certainly not as confident and “visible” as Houdini was. It seems almost certain now that that old cat, Houdini, is no longer. Unless he has pulled yet one more trick over us, he may well have succumbed to one of his favourite prey items, namely, porcupines. A strategically embedded quill from one of these animals has often seen the downfall of even the largest African carnivore.

University of Bristol
Quinton is working hard on his PhD – this along with the 2 new projects has kept him pretty busy of late. The following year will be spent working with the substantial amount of data captured on leopards in the Cederberg over the past 5 years. If he doesn’t respond to e-mails within a week or 2 of it being sent, it’s because of an inordinate workload and not a lack of interest.

The Cape Leopard Trust (CLT) has lost its first collared female leopard – due to natural causes.

F6 (or “skinny legs” as she was known by children visiting the project) was found dead at the base of a steep cliff in the Cederberg Mountains. It appears she had been hunting on a treacherous slope where she miscalculated a charge, and fell to her death.

Quinton Martins, project manager of the CLT has been tracking this leopard for over 3 years now. After a leopard tracking flight with the Bateleurs, he managed to determine from the GPS collar data that F6 had not moved from an area for some time. “I knew that the collar had either come off or she was dead – I really hoped it was the former” A long hike into this rough terrain provided the dreaded answer.

DAAR word ook nou ’n groot poging aangewend om die geheimenisse van die luiperds van die Gamkaskloof (Die Hel) te ontrafel.

“Ons is besig om kameras in CapeNature se Gamkaskloof- en Gamkaberg-reservaat te installeer om meer van die luiperds hier te wete te kom,” het me. Leigh Potter van die Cape Leopard Trust gesê.

Dié projek, wat in 2003 deur Quintin Martins in die Cederberge begin is, is verlede Oktober uitgebrei na die Gamkaskloof en Gamkaberg, wat deel vorm van die Gourits-megapark. Martins is die projekbestuurder en Potter die assistent-projekbestuurder wat in die twee reservate woon en werk.