Dr Quinton Martins is the co-founder, CEO and Cederberg Project Manager of the Cape Leopard Trust. Quinton (PhD Zoology, University of Bristol) has worked in wilderness areas throughout Africa. His work has ranged from guiding and managing safari camps in Botswana to research work in Central Africa. During this time Quinton was fortunate enough to track, observe, photograph and work with many leopards and it is here that his passion for these elusive creatures was born. He completed his PhD…

Elizabeth Martins is the Cape Leopard Trust Education and Outreach Co-ordinator, a branch of the project initiated at the end of 2008. Elizabeth (BSocSc Anthropology and Archaeology, UCT) was a Waldorf school teacher in Stellenbosch for the four years prior to joining the Cape Leopard Trust, where she was instrumental in developing the schools sustainability programme. During this time she developed a love for facilitating learning and development in children. Elizabeth is combining her interests in education and the environment, focussing…

The route to his position as Environmental Educator for the CLT’s Education and Outreach Programme has, for Matthew Dowling, been much like the long and winding path through the Wolfberg Cracks.  From his upbringing in the beautiful Southern Peninsula where time was spent surfing in the cold Atlantic and clambering around the sandstone cliffs and caves leading to a more independent youth exploring further afield; developing a passion for kloofing in the Hottentots’ Holland Mountains, nurturing a lifelong dream to…

Anita (MSc Zoology, University of Stellenbosch) has a passion for nature and a heart for conservation. Fieldwork for her postgraduate studies regularly took her to the Cederberg and Tankwa regions to gather data. She investigated aggregation behaviour of Bibron’s Gecko in the Cederberg, and then went on to evaluate the relevance of the Greater Cederberg Biodiversity Corridor for the long-term conservation of reptile diversity in the region. She has worked at Homebrew Films as a content researcher and production manager…

Jeannie Hayward has a Masters degree (Zoology) from the University of Stellenbosch. Growing up in the Karoo, Jeannie has always had an intense love for the veld and nature. During her varsity studies she spent a lot of time in the Tankwa Karoo, Sandveld and Cederberg doing reptile surveys and research, particularly on the peculiar tail-biting armadillo lizard, known locally as the “blinkogie”. She briefly left scientific research for a stint in the television industry where she worked as programme…

Gareth Mann (MSc, Rhodes University) is the Gouritz Project Manager, where he is studying the leopard population of the Gouritz area of the Little Karoo. He is capturing and collaring leopards to determine the home range and population density of leopards in the area. This will also allow him to gain insight into the ecology and behaviour of this extremely cryptic leopard population. Ultimately, Gareth hopes to analyse the habitat use of the Karoo leopards, with a view to identifying potential movement corridors…

Megan Murgatroyd (BSc Conservation biology, University of the West of England) has had a fascination for African wildlife and the wilderness since she can remember. Her undergraduate degree took her to Namibia as a research assistant to study the effects of diamond mining on the Damara tern. Since completing her degree she has worked for BirdWatch Ireland as a Little tern warden, tried her hand at organic farming, and made an epic journey from Ethiopia to Cape Town by public…