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Gareth Mann (M.Sc. Conservation Biology, B.Sc.Hons. Zoology) has lived and travelled in Europe and South-East Asia. With a lifelong interest in conservation, he is fascinated by both by the inherent beauty and secrecy of leopards, as well as the conservation challenges that they present.  

Read more about Garth here.

Dear Cape Leopard Trust Supporters,

Thank you for your amazing support of our work. It is quite difficult to conceive that 2009 has almost run its course. It really feels like the year has flown by very quickly. However, when one considers all that has been accomplished and everything that has happened, it makes it more plausible that another year has passed in the work of conserving leopards, broader conservation and environmental issues as well as the tackling of an education facet of the project.

Please take the time to read our annual report.

 2009 Cape Leopard Trust Annual Report 1.64 Mb 

Special thanks must go to our brilliant Board of Trustees, to all our sponsors, camera trap donors, spot adopters and general supporters, who have contributed so generously to the continued success of this growing project.

We wish you all a wonderful festive season, a Merry Christmas and safe travels over the New Year. See you in 2010!

The Cape Leopard Trust is taking some time off during the December period. We will be back in the full swing of things in January. However, before we sneak off to avoid the holiday rush, we would like to thank the following supporters for recent contributions made to the project.

Firstly, we would like to thank Matthew Philogene for his website support and tenacious attitude, forcing us to feed information on the project to him. Thanks Matthew & raramuridesign  for your amazing work on the site!

Imagining

The site was perfect and my imagination roamed between the poplar trees, rustled through fallen leaves…a distant chatter and laughter of children to come…sandy paths winding to surprising bathrooms…a fire burning, the light reflecting on the leaves above…a shelter from the rain and sun…reeds creating spaces…bucket showers on pulleys...a shake of curiosity and a stir of peace…

Building

Once all were agreed on the plans and with the permission and full support of Cape Nature to build the campsite on Matjiesrivier Nature Reserve, the very first step was having the Wendy House put up – this has a division down the centre and would act as kitchen and storeroom.

by: Elizabeth Martins

From the 30th October – 1st November the Wupperthal Secondary school grade 9’s joined The Cape Leopard Trust on a camp in the Cederberg, sponsored by the Claremont Rotary Club. The camp was a huge success. Wupperthal is an isolated Moravian settlement in the Northern Cederberg. Willem Titus and I ran the camp. Willem had been a scholar at this school, so had been taught by some of the teachers on the camp. 

The first task on a camp is always setting up the tents. This is not an easy task and one that requires teamwork and physical effort – which is why we have children put up their own tents. Each tent sleeps three, but it is easiest to set up with four. It was interesting to watch as the two groups of boys set up their tents next to each other, and both got to the point of needing another person. A dilemma - everyone else looked busy – until they realised, it’d be easiest if all helped to set up each others tents, which they then did.

The Cape Leopard Trust (CLT) is one of South Africa’s most successful and forward thinking environmental NGOs with long-term projects running across the Western and Northern Cape Provinces of the country. The CLT in conjunction with Cape Nature and the Animal Demography Unit (ADU) at the University of Cape Town is pleased to be in a position to offer a 2-3 year postgraduate scholarship for the following exciting project:

Leopard population study in the Boland Mountains, Western Cape, South Africa.

The following article appeared in the Stellenbosch Waldorf School’s weekly Update (13 November 2009):

Last week the peace and quiet of the Cederberg was temporarily disturbed by the arrival of Class 6 from Stellenbosch Waldorf School. Our camp was run by Elizabeth Martins (better known to us as Liz Bond), who was our school’s Class 7 teacher last year. She led us up mountains, through tunnels, under and over boulders; and back in time as we examined ancient San sites and searched for even more ancient fossils. 

We learned to read animal tracks, and were rather worried to discover a puff adder track leading right through our campsite one evening! We were challenged and awed; sometimes hot and sweating; sometimes chilly and shivering; but at all times up for the adventure. The children helped and entertained each other, and no-one was left behind! We even managed a good few minutes of total silence in Wolfberg Cracks – bliss! 

Many thanks go from Class 6 to Liz and Quinton and the Cape Leopard Trust; it was great to see you and be introduced to your beautiful wilderness home. 

Virtuoso is an American Association of Independent Travel Agents. There are over 540 members of which 250 specialise in Southern Africa.

The Virtuoso Properties from Southern African attend a large conference in Los Vegas every year where they host these specialists to a lunch. Each Property pays towards the lunch and the remaining funds are donated to charities in Southern Africa. This year's theme was animals and 7 associations were chosen of which The Cape Leopard Trust was one.

The Cape Leopard Trust has been fortunate enough to have, over the past 4 years, the ongoing and generous support of one of the world’s best tourism establishments. Bushmans Kloof, set in the northern Cederberg, was voted as the worlds best hotel in the Travel and Leisure magazine in 2009. Furthermore, their contribution towards conservation has been outstanding.

The Cape Leopard Trust now has the very valuable support of Bridgestone South Africa. This amazing support is in the form of a set of new Dueller All Terrain tyres, including spares, for the Trust’s fleet of five 4x4 vehicles as well as a generous cash donation. Five vehicles! Gone are the days of Quinton hitch-hiking to his study site in the Cederberg!

“We are delighted to associate ourselves with the Cape Leopard Trust,” said Romano Daniels, Bridgestone South Africa’s general manager of group marketing and communications. “They are doing important conservation work, while at the same time providing valuable learning opportunities, in particular to children, about the endangered Cape mountain leopard. Our support is in line with our commitment to conservation and the environment as embodied in our 4x4 Fundi programme.”