Lionel hails from Clanwilliam and now lives at Langkloof in the Wupperthal area. After finishing primary school at Wupperthal, he decided to start farming with sheep. This led to big problems with predators and a struggle to advance with the farming enterprise.

Then he heard about the Cape Leopard Trust based at Matjiesrivier in the Cederberg. He contacted the CLT about his problems and decided to join the VO project to learn more about predators and their behaviour. In this way, he can now farm with nature in order to make a success of his farming.

Lionel is one of several Verification Officers nominated by their communities and trained by the Cape Leopard Trust to monitor leopard activity in their respective areas. Working alongside CLT Community Outreach Officer, Chavoux Luyt, the Verification Officers have been trained to keep a predation incident register, photograph and log the GPS locations of predation incidents, use a camera trap for monitoring predators and use a Blackview smartphone for data collection with Cybertracker. It is hoped this recorded information will lead to an improved understanding of leopard behaviour and ultimately aid conservation. This outreach forms part of the Cape Leopard Trust’s broader environmental education project as well proactive human-wildlife conflict prevention.