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South African writer, Sarah Lotz, is about to release her new novel, ‘Tooth and Nailed’, a gripping legal drama set in Cape Town. Through one of the cases in the story she highlights the disturbing changes in animal behaviour in Southern African game reserves due to irresponsible behaviour by tourists.

We are very pleased to report that our Limietberg survey is now officially underway! This is the first of three sub-surveys forming the CLT Boland Project. Forty-six camera stations (totaling 70 cameras) are currently deployed across the Limietberg Nature Reserve, surrounding mountain catchment areas and neighbouring private land.

Study leads to first monitoring of newborn leopard cubs in the Cape mountains

After 7 years of dedicated research and monitoring, a leopard den site, with twin cubs, was located in a remote outcrop high in the Cederberg Mountains. This discovery is hugely significant, allowing, for the first time, researchers to document the maternal behavior of leopards in the Cape fold mountains. Insights from this work will hopefully lead to a more detailed understanding of the reproductive ecology and habits of leopards in the Cederberg representing an exciting new chapter in the work of the Cape Leopard Trust.

Some time ago, we obtained this beautiful photograph from a camera station near the Wemmershoek dam.

Looking closely at the picture, one can just see the end of another tail in the background, and we surmised that it might be a mother with a cub…

Over the past two years, the CLT have received considerable support from the Douglas Lederle Memorial Fund – a trust fund established in memory of Douglas Lederle (1971 – 2008). Douglas had been involved with the CLT since its inception and had a great passion for conservation, and this passion now lives on through this memorial fund.

After just over a month of trapping, the Gouritz team finally managed to capture their first leopard on Groenefontein Nature Reserve, near Calitzdorp. The leopard, an adult male weighing just under 35kg, was in prime condition and didn’t suffer any harm during the capture process. Capturing this particular male was something of a surprise, as he has only previously been photographed at a site approximately 25km west of where we captured him.

We recently received the following story from visitors to the Cederberg:

"My husband and I are just getting to know Cape Town and the surrounding areas – We moved here 22 months ago from Middelburg, Mpumalanga.

We stayed at the Algeria camping site in the Cederberg for the weekend of the 14th of May 2010. On the morning of the 15th, we drove in a South Easterly direction from the camp to do some birding. The weather was cool after a week of rain in the area.