Anita’s passion for nature and heart for the protection of animals and the landscapes they live in ignited at a very young age during family holidays to exquisite natural environments such as Kruger National Park, Etosha, the Drakensberg and the Eastern Cape coast.

The foundation for her career was laid during her tertiary education at Stellenbosch University. 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 (BSc Hons Zoology), 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 (MSc Zoology).

She worked at Homebrew Films as a content researcher and production manager, for two years, on the acclaimed SABC2 series Shoreline. However, she has a deeply rooted passion and fascination for felines, and her involvement in the establishment of CLT Boland project was the realisation of a lifelong dream.

Anita joined the CLT team in March 2010 and together with her colleague Jeannie Hayward coordinated the Boland Project. They conducted a large-scale camera trap survey to record mammal and leopard distribution in the Boland study area and she investigated the diet of the leopards in their Boland Mountain Complex. She played a pivotal role in initiating the CLT’s snare research projects and awareness campaigns. As senior researcher she is currently involved with the planning and execution of annual leopard population surveys, the management and curation of the CLT’s leopard database as well as the fulfilling task of mentoring various post-graduate students and volunteers who participate in CLT research projects.