Displaying items by tag: cederberg

As many of you will be aware, last year the Cederberg team completed a year-long camera trap survey with 146 camera traps covering an area of 1700km2. It was a huge undertaking, but from it we were able to collect some amazing footage of leopards and other wildlife that call the Cederberg home. With a massive task like that behind us, one would assume things are all plain sailing from here on.  Far from it, the physical survey is just the first step.

The cameras generated around 500 000 photos that had to be sorted as well as logged into excel, and we are finally in the process of analysing the data, with the intention to submit the results for publication by the start of next year.

While this process alone is a mammoth task, it’s not the only priority for the team, and this year has brought its own challenges and opportunities. Over the past few weeks there have been some exciting developments for the Cape Leopard Trust Cederberg project. We are now extending our reach to the mountains surrounding Piketberg and rolling out a new camera trap survey. Preliminary recognisance is in full swing and the project has been well received by landowners and farmers, but there is still much to do before the deployment of our remote cameras. Tracks and signs are plentiful on many of the sites and promise to yield insightful information on this enigmatic leopard population.

To our dismay, an emergent snaring problem has been surfacing on farmlands under the Cape Leopard Trust’s watch, which has given rise to an entire division entirely dedicated to tackling this issue. We will continue to monitor and record snare activity as part of our broader leopard conservation work, and to investigate area specific drivers of this indiscriminate killing that has a massive impact on wildlife.

The Cederberg project arose out of the dire need to try and estimate leopard population density, as well as to understand their behaviour and movements, as well as the threats they face in order to better protect them. The most important result from our work will be the ability to use this information to develop a sustainable management plan for leopards which will hopefully reduce the immense predation pressures farmers are currently facing in the area and thus minimize persecution, which remains one of the biggest threats to leopard populations in the Cape. We have recently recruited a MSc student that will take the lead in this research. We would like to specifically thank Piketberg farmers Jacobus and Rens Smit for their support.

Watch this space for more updates!

We are thrilled that Ford Wildlife Foundation has chosen to renew our partnership with another year of vehicle sponsorship for the Cederberg Project.

Extending this support means that the long-planned camera survey in the mountains surrounding Piketberg can go ahead. Remote-sensing field cameras is one of the most useful and affordable monitoring tools for researchers studying the Cape's elusive leopards.

Over the past years, there have been worrying reports of increased conflict between leopards and livestock farmers in the Piketberg area. By understanding how these cats traverse a landscape, we are able to share vital information with farmers and guide them on how to reduce the risk of potential conflict.

Mobility is everything in our work, and there is always heavy equipment to transport and deploy, especially in the set-up of a survey.

Having a vehicle of this calibre join the fleet means that we can keep the team moving, and reach all the places we need to as quickly, safely and efficiently as possible.

It was a perfect Freedom Friday afternoon when Helen Turnbull and Lana Müller collected the new Ford Ranger XLT Double Cab Bakkie from Jaffe's Ford in Worcester, and we sincerely thank Ford Wildlife Foundation and Jaffe's Ford for being part of our conservation journey.

Worldwide, conflict with humans is one of the major threats to the survival of leopards and other wildlife. Leopards are often killed in retaliation for livestock losses, and it’s easy to understand why this happens. After all, leopards are predators, and communities living in and around the Cederberg wilderness area have experience of losing more than 18 sheep in one night. These tiny, hamlet communities are mostly subsistence farmers and therefore these losses can be devastating. Livestock not only provides food but also acts as a “bank” and as their financial security - currency to be used for emergencies or major expenses. It is to reduce such conflict between livestock farmers and leopards and to mediate where livestock has been lost, that I was appointed as Community Outreach Officer at the Cape Leopard Trust in April.

The first project I encountered was already underway when I joined.
It was an initiative to help communities keep livestock “off the menu” for leopards by making kraals predator-proof. Most livestock are kept in a kraal at night, but sometimes a leopard will enter the kraal and can often be bold enough to kill more than one animal, even when the kraals are close to family homes.

My very first day on the job involved meeting some of the trainee Verification Officers (VOs) in the outer Wupperthal communities. I would be responsible for supporting and developing their roles. The VOs help our work by identifying the guilty predator species when livestock are killed, and recording such events. They are also the first line of contact between the Cape Leopard Trust and communities. The community of Kleinvlei was very interested in the predator-proof kraal concept, having already lost livestock to leopards last year. Frank Scheepers, our VO in Kleinvlei, identified those individuals for whom predator proofing was of the greatest priority and encouraged them to participate. Each farmer was asked to make a small financial contribution to enable us to get the required tools and materials together.

On Wednesday, 15 May I visited the communities and measured the kraals to determine how much fencing material each person would require. Plans were then drawn up to see how the reinforcement could create a kraal that would be more resistant to predators.

It was on Saturday, May 25th that we finally delivered the fencing material to Kleinvlei. Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve kindly provided us with a vehicle large enough to transport the wire fencing from where it had been stored, at Driehoek Farm. We left early in the morning to make our slow and careful journey over the rough roads to Kleinvlei.

At last, the real work could begin... First, the materials were distributed to each person according to the plans drawn up. Each farmer was supposed to be responsible for building his own kraal. However, it was soon clear that “many hands make light work” and everyone worked together, taking turns to predator-proof each kraal, one after the other. The work was only interrupted for a funeral, or for having to rebuild the road to Kleinvlei after some rains.

Eight kraals in Kleinvlei and the neighbouring communities of Agterstevlei and Grasvlei were made predator-proof by mid-June. By being able to better protect their livestock, the major source of conflict with leopards has been alleviated. A number of community members commented that now they can sleep better at night without lying awake worrying about the safety of their livestock. The small hamlet of Kleinvlei is the trailblazer for the kraal-strengthening project, and it will be replicated elsewhere as the project goes forward.

A special word of thanks to Cederberg Wines for sponsoring the wire fencing, Driehoek Farm for storing the material, and Bushmans Kloof, who donated their time and a robust vehicle to transport everything over the rough roads to the communities where it was needed. From myself, as well as on behalf of Cape Leopard Trust, the community of Kleinvlei and the leopards, thank you!

- Chavoux Luyt, Community Outreach Officer

Clement Zimri, showing how easily a leopard could enter his kraal.
With his sheep safe in their new predator-proof kraal, Clement Zimri can sleep peacefully at night

A short report by Ewan Brennan, intern on the CLT Cederberg Project, May to September 2017

After becoming dissatisfied with the prospects for my role in wildlife conservation in the UK, I decided to leave my job and explore the potential for a career in Southern Africa. Having never set foot on the continent, needless to say, I was slightly apprehensive. No matter the amount of research and preparation, I’ve found that new places are never quite as you expect them to be.

As it turned out, my concerns were totally unnecessary. The Cederberg team is so welcoming and friendly, as is everyone else at the Trust I was introduced to during the course of my stay. With limited knowledge of ecology in the Cederberg, wildlife in South Africa and African conservation, in general, I was bursting with questions. Every time, the team was most willing to answer and to translate countless Afrikaans conversations so that I could be included as completely as possible. I learned a huge amount from these exchanges and even picked up a few words of Afrikaans.

The major focus of my time in the Cederberg was assisting in the camera trap survey setup – one of the largest of its kind in South Africa – with 150 cameras to set up across 1700 square km of mountain habitat. Naturally, this involved many hikes over rugged terrain, in isolated river valleys and on scenic hiking trails, often ending with pitching camp in the field above stunning vistas ideal for seeing the sunsets and sunrises over the mountains. This allowed me to really get to know the area and to understand how the leopards might use and move across the dramatic Cederberg landscape. Tracks and signs were in no short supply, and we even came across a couple of old leopard den sites, all of which was very exciting.

Another definite highlight of my time was meeting the people in the Cederberg. From the large private reserve owners with whom we worked closely to the local farmers, livestock herders and tourist accommodation owners, everyone was unbelievably friendly and keen to offer assistance in any way they could. Invitations for braais or coffee offers of accommodation and being hailed by passersby for greetings or anecdotes about local leopards were part of everyday life.

In short, I consider myself very fortunate to have had an internship with the Cape Leopard Trust. Working in a small team, I always felt closely involved and that I could make real contributions during team meetings and fieldwork. As the first step on a career path in conservation in Africa, I think I couldn’t have landed in a better organisation or with better people. Perhaps most importantly, for me, it was an unrivalled learning experience. I’ll be taking away a huge amount from the internship and would most strongly recommend this invaluable experience to anyone in a similar position.

Recently the Cederberg team was lucky enough to be paid a visit by Mr. Johan Viljoen from the Land Cruiser Club of South Africa. Johan and his partner came to give the team off-road driving training.

The rugged terrain and vastness of the Cederberg regularly present challenging driving situations as part of day-to-day operations, and personnel must be aware of the capabilities and limitations of their vehicles to optimise efficiency and to be able to take adequate care of equipment.

Therefore the training was very welcome, and a valuable skill to acquire. The training started with a morning of theoretical instruction that covered everything from the mechanics of 4 x 4 vehicles, driving safety, vehicle recovery, tyre care and how to assess and approach different off-road obstacles.

Thereafter, the team headed out to apply their newly required knowledge in the field, which proved extremely educational and exhilarating! In addition to the training, the team received recovery and tyre repair equipment sponsored by the Land Cruiser Club of South Africa worth R 8000.

The recovery equipment was kindly supplied and sponsored by 1 st Outdoor and 4x4 centre. We are extremely thankful and appreciative of this generous donation, d would like to thank Mr. Johan Viljoen for taking time out of his busy schedule to train our Cederberg team so they are now well and truly prepared for any situation in the field.

An exciting opportunity to get involved with leopard conservation in South Africa

The Cape Leopard Trust is looking for volunteer field assistant interns to help the Cederberg Leopard Project team with camera trap deployment/servicing and camera trap data entry.

The position would require a minimum 4-month commitment, with interns expected to have a high level of physical fitness: the ability to hike up to 10-15km/day, 5 days/week while carrying heavy gear over rugged and steep mountainous terrain. The candidate should also be comfortable with basic living conditions in a remote area (No mobile phone reception & 1,5 hours drive from nearest town).

Other important requirements include

• Qualification in Conservation, Ecology or similar field of study
• Minimum of 6 months relevant fieldwork experience i.e. remote camera trapping, wildlife monitoring, kill site investigation, animal trapping etc.
• Valid and clean driver’s license
• Ability to drive a manual transmission vehicle (4x4 driving experience beneficial)
• The ability to work well in a group (team player) with good people skills
• Good analytical skills
• Experience in the use of statistical and GIS software
• Comfortable with basic bush camping
• Adaptable to flexible work schedule
• English speaking (proficiency in Afrikaans beneficial)

COMPENSATION: Training and accommodation is provided as well as transport to and from Cape Town International Airport. Interns are expected to pay $550USD per month (International) or R3000 (SA Citizen) and would need to be able to provide themselves with an allowance for food and other expenses. We estimate that approximately $200USD/month will cover food.

Successful applicants will be expected to work approximately 40 hours/week, 5 days/week. Fieldwork will entail extensive hiking, deploying and monitoring camera traps and leopard scat collection. Data entry and participation in social media efforts (blog writing) will also be expected.

CONTACT:  Please send:

• Short cover letter describing interest in the position including dates of availability
• CV and 3 references with contact information to Lana Müller at [email protected].
• Please put “Cederberg Intern Application” in the subject line of an email.

Thank you very much for your interest, we look forward receiving your application!!

During one of our recent camera trap setups in Bushmans Kloof Reserve, we found a cave with a lot of leopard scat close to the location of our camera trap station.

We were very happy, as it was a good indication that we were placing our cameras in the right location. We started the camera trap set up but darkness soon caught us, but we decided to proceed with the setup working in the dark with our head torches as we had already started and wanted to get finished.

At some point, we realised that someone was shining with a spotlight in our direction from the road, +/- 300 m away from us. We thought it was a search party from Bushmans Kloof Lodge coming out to look for us as we had not returned, darkness had fallen and it was late. We did not pay a lot of attention to the lights constantly shining on the rock face behind us as we assumed if it is people looking for us they will soon see our torches and hear our voices and come to us.

After a while, the spotlighting stopped and we heard a car drive off. We finished the camera trap setup and on our return to the reception of Bushmans Kloof we heard from one of the guides that the guests saw a beautiful leopard on top of the rock face in the direction where we were working. Here are some of the photos taken by Bushmans Kloof guide and guests. Upon close inspection of the photo, we recognised the leopard. It was Crystal, an adult female leopard collared by Dr Quinton Martins (former Cederberg Researcher) some years ago. It is great to see that she is healthy and doing well. It is also very exciting to realise how close she was to us, observing secretly and curiously what we were doing without letting us know of her presence.

It just shows how elusive these cats can be!

We are excited to report that it’s going well with our camera trap survey setup in the field. We have experienced some cold days, rain and even light snow during the time of the big storm in Cape Town. It was incredible to see the white-topped mountains, it felt for a day or two like we were in the Alps. Fortunately, we have good outdoor gear for fieldwork, kindly sponsored by K-way so we are keeping warm in the harsh winter weather conditions.

We have seen very beautiful and remote places over the last few weeks and we feel privileged to be able to experience it. We have seen so many leopard tracks and signs in the places where we have placed our cameras and even explored a few caves, discovering beautiful bushman paintings, as well as old Klipspringer and Dassie (rock hyrax) carcasses dragged into the caves by the leopard.

So far, we have placed out 90% of our camera trap mounting poles in the field and 40% of our cameras have been set up. We are working long hours and straight through now to get it done as quickly as possible and we hope to be finished by the end of this month if all goes to plan. We will leave the camera traps out for a period of two months before servicing them (change batteries and download images). We can’t wait to see the photos and to share them with you.

Just to give you some idea what we do in the field, once we reach the location of the camera trap site we do a thorough search for any tracks and signs of leopard and their key prey species in the area (we search in a radius of +/- 200 meter from the camera trap station and record any signs on our data sheet). We then proceed with setting up the cameras. We have two cameras at each camera trap station, one on each side of the trail to ensure that we get both sides of the leopard photographed for identification purposes (The rosette pattern on each leopard is unique and can be used to identify individuals, that’s how we know how many leopards there are). The camera trap setup entails the mounting of the cameras onto the poles, cutting the vegetation in the direct field of view of the cameras to avoid false triggers caused by moving vegetation or blocking the field of view of the camera. Subsequently, we check if the angle and height of the camera are correct. We do this by leopard crawling in front of the camera. The images are then downloaded from the camera trap onto a tablet to view them and if necessary we adjust the angle of the camera. Once we are happy with the angle and height of the cameras we switch them on and proceed to the following site.

The long anticipated and carefully planned camera survey in the Cederberg is finally underway.

The team has been working in the Northern Cederberg area just South and East of Clanwilliam placing special camera mounting poles. They will then make their way down to Wupperthal before heading back to base in Matjiesrivier.

It is a arduous task with long days out on the road, but thanks to the new Ford Ranger 4X4 XLT bakkie sponsored by Ford Wildlife Foundation, the team will travel in comfort, prepared for all eventualities. If all goes well this week they will have visited about 70 percent of the sites and checked the locations before the cameras are mounted.

Energizer's quality lithium batteries will provide the best possible power for the job, as they are able to operate during the Cederberg's bitter winter and below zero temperatures. Much of the terrain has not been surveyed previously, so time was spent finding the best locations for the cameras, as well as the optimum routes to access the sites. We would like to thank Energizer, Ford Motor Company SA and Ford Wildlife Foundation for their support.

The people in the pictures are as follows:

• Lana Müller - research and project manager, Christiaan Lochner - research assistant
• Grant Baker - international research intern (US) & Ewan Brennan - international research intern (UK)

Tomorrow, 4 May, the #CederbergProject starts with the lengthy camera deployment period of their long-awaited camera trap survey.

With their new batch of cameras all tested, settings adjusted, security boxes ready - the team is geared up to hike to remote locations, clocking long, hot hours in the rugged Cederberg terrain. By end of May they aim to have all 130 cameras deployed at the 65 paired stations in a 1625 square km area of mainly fynbos habitat in the Cederberg Wilderness Area and adjacent private property.

As soon as all the cameras are out - the official data collection period will start. We wish the team all of the very best during this intensive field-work period!!

Camera survey made possible through grants received from Rolf-Stephan Nussbaum Foundation and ABAX Investments.