Transmenu powered by JoomlArt.com - Mambo Joomla Professional Templates Club

18th - 21st March 2011

Spend a long weekend in the wilderness of the Cederberg Mountains exploring and developing the qualities of a leopard within yourself. Imagine possessing the inner Presence, Poise, Power and Purpose of these beautiful creatures...

On Friday evening after setting up camp, the founder of the Cape Leopard Trust, Quinton Martins, will introduce you to the wilderness of the Cape leopard and share his story. Through the course of the weekend, using an experiential process and varied art forms, you will be introduced to the qualities of the leopard and develop them in yourself.

The CLT have had a very exciting 2010 pushing the boundaries to make animal trapping safer.

We were previously using cage traps only, however, cage trapping can on occasion result in broken canines and damaged claws to trapped leopards.  Indeed some other researchers and NGOs have had leopards being killed using cage traps where they were most likely not set properly. To minimise as far as possible the potential for such injuries, the CLT is actively working to develop safer cage traps and trap monitoring systems. We are also exploring more suitable trapping methods. To assist us, we have employed the services of a full-time veterinarian with over 30 years of experience including having carried out carnivore research in Botswana. Her expertise will be crucial to us  improving current and establishing new trapping methods.

For the latest annual report from the Cape Leopard Trust, please download the PDF. 

Cape Leopard Trust Annual Report 2010 (pdf 4MB)

.

By Nadia Hansa, CLT volunteer from Wits University 

Over the last two weeks the grade 10 boys from Bishop’s have been in the Cederberg on their EPIC adventure and, as part of our education programme we have been taking them out on a series of hikes to teach them more about leopards and leopard research. Each of the 10 groups of boys has joined us for an afternoon to help set up or check camera traps, find kill sites or track Spot (one of our collared leopards).

With their help we set up three cameras in an area we have not yet surveyed for leopard activity and we hope to get pictures of some new leopards soon. Although hiking up to the spots for these camera traps was often very hot the boys enjoyed the bundu bashing which is often necessary to find good sites for the cameras.

A few months ago, I received an email from Leo Kahanowitz, a grade 7 learner from Grove Primary School, asking for information about the leopards. He wanted to do a presentation on Cape leopards and the work of the Cape Leopard Trust for his school in order to motivate the children to do a fundraising drive paired with their cross-country running event.

On Monday, the Cape Leopard Trust's Gouritz team were reunited with an old friend; Zak. Zak (or GM9) was the first leopard to be captured and collared in the region, and on Monday he graciously consented to be recaptured in one of our traps. We were glad to see that he's still in excellent condition and appears to be thriving despite regularly trekking right across the rugged Rooiberg Mountains. Zak has gained approximately four kilograms since we captured him at the end of May, although he still has some way to go before he'll reach a similar size to his neighbour, the legendary Oom Pep (who we captured three weeks ago).

Dr Andrew Baxter of the CAPE LEOPARD TRUST will be providing a presentation about their work in protecting and preserving the lives of these beautiful animals.

A mini breakfast will be served (fruit salad, scrambled eggs, sausage, toast, tea/coffee etc) and you can enjoy, not only the beautiful setting at the Clovelly Country Club, but good company as well. We look forward to seeing you there!!

Oom Pep (or GM1 to the scientists) was the first leopard to be photographed by the Cape Leopard Trust’s camera traps in the Gouritz region. He was initially photographed on the Tierkloof hiking trail at Gamkaberg Nature Reserve in late 2007, and made regular trips down the trail over the following few years. We decided to name him after a former CapeNature ranger who once saw a leopard in Tierkloof, and tells the story of the encounter with great excitement and verve to this day!

Two months after the official start of the CLT Boland project Limietberg survey, we are proud to announce that we have identified no less than 12 leopards in this area – 9 males and 3 females! There are three more leopards for which we need more photos before we can make proper identifications. We are starting to learn more about individual leopards’ home ranges, and some interesting patterns are starting to emerge.

Very good news is that BF1’s cubs are both still alive and well (see here). We recently retrieved this photo from the camera in Wemmershoek – and one can clearly see how much the cubs have grown.