Items by Nakedi

AWF Blog

• The Passing of Ozias Kubayi

  Posted: October 4, 2011, 11:10 pm by Nakedi

  I am very sad to announce the passing of Mr. Ozias Kubayi who worked with us on the Leopard Project from November 2010 to May 2011. The time he spent with us, albeit brief was very pleasant and educational. He was passionate about the African wilderness and was very professional in his approach. During my work with him I learned a lot, beyond just survival in the bush, but a whole new perspective on life. With this, my condolences go out to his family.

   

  A picture of Ozias while we were out doing field work. He was proud of his SANParks Uniform and loved being out in the field.

  After a day’s work we normally sat and relaxed a little. Here we are sitting with Mark Freeman, a volunteer from Israel who became good friends with Ozias. In the afternoons when we got back from the field we would cook supper, but before that Ozias would shave, polish his shoes, and make sure that his uniform was properly folded and ready for use the following day.

  When there was an opportunity to take a picture Ozias always made sure that he had a proper pose. This was his favourite rifle and he refused to use any other weapon. The rifle is for protection in case we are in danger, but he never had to use it because he always made sure that we avoided thickets and places that were likely to harbour dangerous animals.

  Here we were walking back from collecting cameras and found the two elephants foraging and thought it would make a good picture. Again you can see Ozias’ dignified pose versus mine with broken battery shells on both hands and a roughed up shirt.

   

• The Hippo Encounter: Part 2

  Posted: September 15, 2011, 5:09 pm by Nakedi

  I found a donga (the bank of a gully) along the way, which I jumped over and stood on the other side. I was confident that even if this were a super athletic hippo, the Michael Jordan of hippos, it would take him a month to jump across that part of the donga. “This would buy me time to get into AWF’s research vehicle,” I thought. Indeed, when the hippo finally caught up with me, there was a donga separating us. I think that donga saved my life because all the big trees where in Kaizer’s direction and there was no way I could out sprint a charging hippo to get to them.

  The hippo stood on the other side, looking at me and at the donga at the same time. Understandably, he was furious. He had been infuriated and wanted us to feel his wrath, or the sharpness of his enormous tusks. In addition, he was still bellowing, as if saying: “I’m coming for you buddy, just wait until I jump this trench.” For a moment I stopped the idiocy of comtemplating the hippo’s lack of athleticism and ran into the car. Meanwhile the hippo went to the shallow end of the donga at the same time looking at the car with malevolent hatred.

   

  Hundreds of hippos are shot each year in “controlled management” schemes, despite the fact that hippos are easily deterred by ditches or low fences.

  When I got in, my whole body was in tremors. I started the car and revved the engine with my trembling right foot in the hopes scaring the hippo away. That was a big mistake because the hippo took it as a challenge opened its mouth and came for the car. My thoughts were: “Uh oh, what am I going to tell AWF happened to the vehicle, which by the way was kindly donated to us to carry out leopard work; not to wrestle hippos?” I reversed the car away from the hippo. There was dust everywhere. The hippo suddenly stopped looked at me and then ran into the bushes and disappeared. All I could hear were branches breaking and his angry bellows.

  Meanwhile, Kaizer was still up in the tree, out of sight. I cautiously opened the car window and shouted that the hippo was gone. Something tells me that Kaizer didn’t believe me because he stayed there for about fifteen minutes after the hippo had left. When he eventually emerged he looked traumatized, but obliviously walking in the same direction that the hippo had gone. I jumped out of the car and mentioned that he was following the hippo. I have never seen so much fear on a man’s face before. He ran like an Olympic sprinter with his eyes bulging out. He threw himself into the car. Nothing was mentioned of the hippo until we got back to camp that evening. But the trauma stayed with us for days after that. Our senses became sharp. We ran from elephants that were at least 200 metres from us, we even ran from the noise caused by the wind against the trees. In the end I had had enough of running with those heavy batteries and cameras and one day when we were about to leave the vehicle I said to Kaizer: “Okay, before we go out there, when do we run and when do we walk?” We decided then that we would not run again and then normality ensued. That afternoon we confidently walked past a herd of elephants and a big elephant bull.

  We started to respect and appreciate the field way more than ever before. It was a great lesson. It was stupid of us to disrespect the poor animal. We were lucky to survive the attack.

  Unfortunately Kaizer left the leopard project and in the months that followed, I worked with Mr Ozias Kubayi. I will tell you more about him in the next post.

• Leopard Project Progress and the Hippo Encounter

  Posted: August 23, 2011, 6:47 pm by Nakedi

  During the month of August in 2010, after our CEO had visited and left, but before the Corne family visited, Kaizer and I were out looking for the best sites to place cameras when we came across a puddle of water in a dry river bed. It really looked like a puddle and Kaizer and I stood in front of it and discussed the best direction to go to set a camera station. Suddenly there was whirl wind, which came in our direction and went right over the puddle. Suddenly a ginormous, hippo head popped up like a bobble-head and scuttled to the opposite end of what was a puddle a few moments earlier. My thinking at the time was that we were standing there and this hippo was probably looking at us from under the water all along. I told Kaizer that we had to leave instantly as hippos are really dangerous and accounted for more human casualties than any other large mammal in Africa. That is what I wanted to tell him at the time, but what I actually said was:

   

  The hippopotamus, whose hide alone can weigh half a ton, is the third-largest living land mammal, after elephants and white rhinos.

  Me: Kaizer, let’s get out of here, hippos kill people.

  Kaizer: I want to see how big it is.

  Me: No, let’s go dude. That thing runs faster than us. Let’s go.

  Kaizer (Picks up a pebble and throws it at the hippo’s head): Nothing will happen; I lived with the big five for two years. Two years, without taking a shower or anything like that. I was like an animal and nothing happened to me. (Picks up another pebble)

  Me:  No man, don’t do that. Okay if you want to die, you do it alone. I’m leaving.

  I turned around and started for the car, which was about 200 meters away. I barely took ten strides when I heard Kaizer screaming “HELP”, and the billowing of a clearly upset animal coming from behind me. My first instinct was to turn around and see what was going on. Kaizer was running in my direction with the rifle in his right hand and behind him, was an ill tempered hippo in pursuit. For a moment there, time stood still and everything seemed to be going in slow motion. The hippo was rapidly closing in on Kaizer, who while screaming tried to change direction, but then slipped and hit the deck hard and got up like a ping pong ball. As he changed direction, the hippo saw yours truly, who by the way was still shell shocked and frozen. The hippo stopped for a second because Kaizer was running in the other direction now. I guess it was deciding on whom to take on first. It went after Kaizer and they disappeared in the bushes.

  The noise that came from there was disturbing. Trees were shaking vigorously. I wanted to run after them and see what was going on, but I couldn’t. I just stood there in awe, like a lightning victim. My mind was working though. I thought Kaizer was being killed and I couldn’t do anything to help him. Disappointment in my lack of courage to help Kaizer took over. “It all happened so fast”, I tried to look for an excuse for my cowardliness. Suddenly I heard Kaizer shout: “Nakedi run to the car, he’s coming for you.”

  … To be continued next month.

   

• Pafuri and plans for the year: The monster survey has began

  Posted: April 2, 2010, 10:33 pm by Nakedi

  The great Kruger Park leopard photographic survey has begun. The thought of covering the whole Park is overwhelming, but exciting at the same time. I now work with Kaizer Mathebula. Kaizer is a trained field guard and he knows the bush very well. On Saturday February 13 we arrived at the Pafuri Section, which is the northern most section of the Park. Along the way we came across a stranded man who was trying to cross into South Africa through the Park. He asked us for water but we didn’t have any and said we would take him to the authorities who would in turn help him. Apparently he had not drunk water for three days. This made it easy for us to try and convince him to come with us. He agreed to our proposal and so we took him with us, and later that morning we handed him over to Sergeant Tshabalala, who took forth the proceedings. The important thing is that he got his water. While we sat with him and Sergeant Tshabalala it dawned on us that the man had had enough and was keen to go back home. He told us that at one point he could not take the pain from the thirst anymore; and when he was asked about the dangers of walking in the Park unprotected he said because of the thirst, he was ready for anything, but was disappointed when the elephants and buffaloes ignored him. It turned out that he had a sense of humour and this made everyone laugh and he just sat there looking down and scratching his forehead.

  Later that morning we met with the Pafuri section ranger, who said that most of her game rangers were already out in the field; as such Kaizer and I couldn’t get started with work. In addition they were busy with construction, meaning that accommodation was not possible for us. This was a bit of a challenge since I needed a place to charge batteries for the cameras as I had a few that still needed to be charged. We left the section ranger’s house to go and look for a place to stay and to charge the batteries. We found a camp site just outside Pafuri gate and we arranged that I would pitch my tent there while Kaizer would stay with one of the guards for a while. The camp site didn’t have any electricity…ouch, so we drove to the nearest village, Bennde Mutale (Bennde is Venda for Bend and Mutale is the name of the River that runs through the village). The village therefore is situated where the Mutale River bends. Our plan was to knock on the first house that we came across and since I can speak Venda, we would try and ask for help.

  River gorge in Pafuri

  We drove to one of the houses and found a young lady (Livhuwani), whom I asked if it was okay for us to charge the batteries. She said she didn’t mind but we had to wait for her mom to get permission. We said we would wait, but then I had to take Kaizer to a place where he would sleep and then I would come back and hopefully the lady of the house would be back. When I got back she was there and I was able to tell her about my problem. I said that I was willing to contribute towards the amount of electricity that the batteries were going to take. She said it was fine and so my problem was solved and the family charged all the batteries for me. I became good friends with the family and they were very friendly and took me as if I was one of them. Sometimes after work when I went to pick up charged batteries for the following day, they would share their meals with me. Sometimes we had maize meal and Mopane worms, which I gobbled greedily unaware that they were scraping the skin off my palate, and the one day we had locusts. Later when I had to leave and I went to bid the family fair well, the lady (Emily) said it was like one of her own children was leaving.
  

  Hlongwane left and Kaizer right

  Lesson learned: eat Mopane worms singly!

  Out in the field work was fun. Kaizer and I took to the field with great enthusiasm and on that first day we went out with the corporal of the Pafuri section, Corporal Hlongwane. We went out and we were lucky to find leopard tracks where I had intended to be the first station. We later walked for about two kilometres to place another camera in the next block (according to the map). We decided to walk along the dry river bed. After 1 kilometre Kaizer instructed Hlongwane and I in an animated fashion to stop immediately. We both looked at him as if he were a mad man with question marks on our brows. He pointed in front of us. Right there, about 50 metres from us, sat the most beautiful animal I had ever seen while walking on foot. Yes you may say it….it just sat there facing the other direction and oblivious to our presence. There was tremendous amount of excitement in my heart; I wanted to scream with joy, but had to bottle all that inside. That was hard because I was on the verge of exploding. Inside I was having a good heart to heart talk with myself as I needed to explain and account to myself why I didn’t bring the camera. To this day I have no answers. Yes, I can proudly say I stood behind the king of stealth for a good five minutes without being detected (probably three in real time). We then decided to give the unsuspecting handsome fellow a wide berth and go around him. I wanted to sit there and watch him for as long as possible, but didn’t like the prospects of having to stay there alone without the protection of man pack; just in case I get detected. I therefore obliged, but with a heavy heart!

  Lesson learned: Always carry the camera with you, no matter how heavy it is.

  On our way back from placing the cameras we almost walked in to a breeding herd of ellies. That was a scary encounter because Corporal Hlongwane changed direction really fast pulling me by my shirt in the process and the intensity on his face was telling me that we were in a grave situation. I have never seen a man change direction that fast. We had to climb on to the nearest rocks as soon as possible or face the tuskers. Stupid me, I resisted because I wanted to see what was so scary that everyone had to move in a hurry. Coporal Hlongwane was not impressed and called me about five times before I looked at him. I reluctantly followed with my heart beating like jungle drums (yeah I could hear my heart pumping) and he told me that he had seen the ellies. The ellies were standing right in front of us and I didn’t even see them. It later occurred to me when we were away from that area that Corporal was once attacked by an elephant and was lucky to survive the assault, hence the respect.

  Lesson learned: respect the wilderness always!

  It took us about seven days and almost 1500 kilometres of driving to deploy 100 cameras. The walking was wonderful and sometimes we had to walk in the rain, but it was fun and a wonderful thing to have experienced. I hope that we will have plenty of leopard pictures, which will help us quantify leopard abundances in the Pafuri section of the Kruger National Park. Next week we will pace another 100 cameras in Punda Maria section and I hope that we will be successful in our plans. I have also attached a map of the park and our work plan for the year. If we stick to the dates, the survey will be finished by mid March 2011.

  Figure 1. A map of the Kruger National Park showing areas where we intend to survey for leopards during 2010.

  
  

  Table 1. Camera trap plan for the year 2010.

• Life changing experience at the University of Oxford

  Posted: October 14, 2009, 12:45 am by Nakedi

  From arriving here five months ago, being introduced to all the wonderful people at WildCRU (great bunch of dedicated people) getting stung by nettles (in a touch rugby match), catching chicken pox (which was thought to be swine flu), and going on with the studies, studying at the University of Oxford has been a great experience. I find this place fascinating and rich of history. The landscapes and meadows look like they were painted by one talented landscape artist. I was shocked to learn that a 200 year old building is considered young around here. Come to think of it, this makes my country almost an infant as we slowly write our own history. I hope it will go on and in a thousand years down the line people, wildlife and wild lands will stay intact and continue sculpting the history.

  Studies have been good so far and are going from strength to strength. Also getting opportunities to meet some of the leading figures in conservation is inspiring indeed. As our biodiversity is faced with possibilities of mass extinctions, the onus is on each and every one to make a change. As such we cover a whole range of subjects ranging from proper research planning to carrying out the research and eventually coming up with solutions that would be beneficial to both man and beast. Ideally after the solutions are found, monitoring is required to continue for as long as possible. For example, I was inspired upon my arrival at WildCRU when someone said in passing: “Badger work at Wytham has been running for over 30 years”.

  Our badger work at Wytham has been running for over 30 years

  I miss the bush back home and will head there in two months time. Nnzumbeni is doing a wonderful job. Our pilot study is approaching an end and we are now preparing to take on the mighty Kruger National Park. The complete survey establishing the baseline data in terms of leopard numbers will take up to six months, so it is going to be punishing; hopefully we will have a few volunteers who will keep us focussed on accomplishing the task ahead. I am looking forward to that.

  Thank you for all the continued support.

• First week — removing camera traps, sighting a leopard

  Posted: July 30, 2009, 4:53 pm by Nakedi

  I would like to say hi to all of you who have been following and supporting Nakedi’s work. My name is Nnzumbeni Tshikalange — Nakedi introduced me in the previous blog. I am going to share with you my first experience in the bush.

  I spotted this beautiful leopard during my first week on the project.

  On my first day I had to remove all the cameras Nakedi had installed so that they could be moved to new positions.  I went out early in the morning with one of the trackers. We drove around so I could see the roads and know my way around. The road network in the concession can be confusing for a new person in the area. I managed to get three of the cameras and then took the tracker back to the lodge. I later had to go back on my own, but with the maze of road network that I was in, it was difficult to find the cameras. Luckily Nakedi programmed the position of all the cameras in the GPS. That made it possible to look for and find the cameras. It all got interesting when I realized that some of the cameras were placed up to two kilometers in the bush. How was I to get those cameras? I was given the rules that I don’t have to off road because it damages vegetation. I had to park the car and walk to the cameras. I was nervous during the walk, even though I was with a tracker with a rifle. Honestly walking in the bush for the first time was scary. I was asking myself a lot of questions, like what is going to happen next? What if we come across a lion? How about a buffalo or most of all an elephant?

  The ranger urged me to relax and concentrate on my job. The walking got better with the day because I had to remove lots of cameras. When we moved to the next camera I felt more confident than the first one. On one of the cameras I came across a crèche of rhinos standing exactly where the camera was, we had to wait for them to move. In short my first exercise was very exciting.

  Thanks to all the trackers who have been of great help and some rangers from the concession and the Kruger National Park rangers. Most of all working in the bush is a great adventure and good experience as I learn a lot, including different animal behaviour. Sorry for the long the long delay — I know you’ve always enjoyed reading Nakedi’s blog and I will always do my best to keep you updated.

• Oxford

  Posted: May 13, 2009, 10:11 pm by Nakedi

  I apologise for the long pause in posting a blog. I have temporarily left the study site to pursue a Postgraduate Diploma in Wildlife Conservation Practice offered by the University of Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) and funded by the Panthera Foundation. WildCRU is a unit of the Department of Zoology and is led by Professor David Macdonald. The unit is based in Tubney at the Tubney House, located in the countryside of Oxfordshire approximately 16 kilometres outside the Oxford city centre.

  The Tubney House

  The course started on Monday April 27th and will run until November 27th 2009. It is a Master’s level course in wildlife conservation and management for professional conservationists from the developing world and is designed to help participants:

  1. Work on practical skills for conservation action;

  2. Understand the theory behind the above-mentioned skills;

  3. Plan, manage, analyse and appraise their research and conservation actions; and

  4. Create lifelong collaborations with other conservationists from other parts of the world.

  The course is directed by Prof. Macdonald and is coordinated by Dr. Lucy Tallents. Our senior tutor is Dr. Claudio Sillero and Lynne Larkman is the course administrator. There are seven students from different parts of the world, namely (excluding yours truly):

  1. Herizo Adrianandrasana from Madacascar (critically endangered species of Madagascar);

  2. Anthony Kasanga from Kenya (lion, Panthera leo);

  3. Hemanta Kafley from Nepal (Asiatic rhino, Rhinoceros unicornis, and the Royal Bengal tigers, Panthera tigris tigris);

  4. Karma Jigme from Bhutan (different mammalian species, including the Royal Bengal tiger);

  5. Godfrey Mtare from Zimbabwe (white rhino Ceratotherium simum, black rhino, Diceros bicornis and lions of the Hwange National Park); and

  6. Afredo Romero Muñoz from Bolivia (jaguar, Panthera onca; puma, Puma concolor, Geoffrey’s cat, Leopardus Geoffrey; and ocelots, Leopardus pardalis)

  Collectively we are called the WildCRU Panthers, Panthera wildcruensis (I just made that one up!). So far our lessons have gone very well and everyone seems to be on the same page and the camaraderie is high. Everyone is looking forward to a rewarding year.

  The Panthers

  Next week I will introduce you to Nndzumbeni Tshikalange, who is taking over the Leopard Project while I’m away.

• Washing Scat

  Posted: April 6, 2009, 4:37 pm by Nakedi

  So far the cameras haven’t captured any leopard with the new method that we are trying out. Using the biased sampling design, after three weeks (21-22 days) we had already captured three different leopards. The new method therefore must be jazzed up a little (thanks Craig!); hopefully this will influence the chances of capturing leopards. This means that we need to take things one step further, by luring the camera stations.

  I have heard that leopard scat could work, but we need leopard scat for diet analyses. Then there is leopard urine, but I don’t think it is advisable to bring foreign biological material in to the park; that could have some devastating effects on the ecosystem should there be unwanted organisms in there.

  Then there was perfume, yes perfume! So far I have been able to find out that Hugo Boss may be the best one to go for. Apparently there are some very useful pheromones in there. I will as a result try it out. Some other researchers have used it successfully in the past. If anything at all, the lure will at least slow down any cat that will walk past the camera, which would be very helpful when trying to identify captured leopards.

  In the meantime I started washing the scat. After avoiding that part for some time I finally plucked up enough courage get it done. It is a smelly business, but I think it will be less smelly after all the scats have been washed. After just over one year I’ve been able to collect about 50 leopard droppings, mostly opportunistically while driving or walking.

  Going through Theodore Bailey’s African Leopard one picks up that leopards tend to leave their droppings in high places and on the roads to mark their territories. That is if they do not decide to bury the scat. The most difficult scats to identify are the old ones, as there are no fresh tracks to supplement their source. In that case, Singita’s tracking team has been most helpful in identifying them.

  So… how do we wash the scat? Ideally we place them in nylon stockings and wash them in water until all that is left in there are just bones and hair. A few ladies laughed hysterically (some mumbling all sorts of things under their laughs — they think they have a psycho in their midst) at me when I asked for their old stockings, such that I had to go and buy cheap ones from the store myself. Even that was difficult as the lady at the pay point processed the whole event with a wry smirk patched on her face. Walking out of that store was quite a relief.

  The hair and bone fragments will be identified and added to the leopard prey species list in the area. For the hair, I have a catalogue of hair that I have been putting up together for different animals. This will help in identifying hair samples from the scat. A minor glitch here is with regards to equipment to use when identifying hair samples. For that we need a dissecting microscope. If there is anyone out there who has an old dissecting microscope and does not use it anymore, would you consider donating it to us? The list will be used to help us quantify the leopard prey preference in the area and later compared to lion prey preference.

• The Fat Leopard

  Posted: April 2, 2009, 3:32 pm by Nakedi

  I must apologise for the long silence regarding the emergence of the fat cat. Thank you to Rob and Tionette Geddes for willing to share pictures of this lovely creature.

  The leopard looks like he swallowed a three and a half metre long python.

  Enjoy!

  Check out that fat belly!

• New Cameras

  Posted: March 11, 2009, 5:02 pm by Nakedi

  Receiving the 20 brand new cameras is a blessing for us. I am extremely grateful for this. We are finally able to experiment further on the most efficient way to get reliable results from the use of cameras.

  In the first part of the survey we relied heavily on what the guides knew about leopard activity in the concession. We then placed cameras in those areas, and later in similar areas. As a result there was a lot of bias in our sampling design. Furthermore, somehow the results from the first survey suggested that there were more males than females in the area. This is highly unlikely as it is well known that a male leopard’s territory should overlap territories belonging to two or three female leopards.

  The following may help explain what we have:
  1.    We left out a lot of gaps in our first trial;
  2.    By moving the cameras around we created a few discrepancies; and
  3.    We are dealing with a whole new leopard feature altogether.

  The second step in this series of experiments is to place cameras in the form of a grid in a given random area on the concession.

  I managed to place the cameras in the form of 5 x 5 grid, which will allow us to see the random movements of the leopards. I placed the cameras at 1 kilometre apart.

  The red dots are where I placed the new cameras. Click to enlarge.

  It requires a lot of walking. It takes two full days to get it all done, but it is enjoyable. We get to see a lot of game along the way mostly giraffe, white rhino, wildebeest, to name a few. We have yet to walk in to a pride of lions and when that happens, I hope to be able to tell you all about it. Who wants to walk with me? In reality though, it is a challenge to get people to join on a daily basis. It can get strenuous and tiring.

  Below is the list of people who helped or attempted to help:

  Day 1: 9 hours/12 cameras set
  Shadrak Nyathi (Kruger Park Field Ranger): Survived the onslaught, mentioned the hours in passing with a smile.
  Kim Laxton (Visitor): Brought the wrong shoes and had to quit along the way.
  Nakedi Maputla: Overslept, had to apologise for what felt like an eternity and ruined a pair of socks from carrot seed grass.

  Day 2: 10 hours/13 cameras set
  Shadrak Nyathi, the field ranger from Kruger National Park: Survived, said something about the hours while smiling.
  Nakedi Maputla: Ruined a pair of socks from carrot seed grass.

  Day 3: Checking cameras; 7 hours/12 cameras checked
  Ben Delport, Singita guide: Ruined a pair of socks from carrot seed grass, his last pair, but said he enjoyed it.
  Nakedi Maputla: Ruined a pair of socks from…

  Lesson learned: Never oversleep

  This method should theoretically be much easier to analyse than the biased method we used earlier.

  We will leave the cameras in the same area until an apparent asymptote is reached. We will later bait the cameras to see if baiting will have a significant effect on the capture success.

• Spending Time With the Collared Leopard

  Posted: March 8, 2009, 9:18 pm by Nakedi

  The second leopard that we collared has started giving us some valuable data. We already know that there was a considerable amount of space overlap with the previous leopard that died from porcupine inflicted injuries. Unlike the other leopard however, this one seems to spend a considerable amount of time in the open. Up to now I have been lucky to see one of his kills, which was a porcupine.

  He is oozing confidence and this can be seen with his movements in front of the car. Last week I spent about seven hours with him, which was a waste of precious time as I was hoping he would do something, but he just slept, and occasionally rolled on the grass to change sides; Lazy leopard!

  The good thing is that he seems to be gaining his condition, is not limping anymore and enjoys an arboreal life once in a while. Thrice we found him sitting high in the trees.

  Below are a series of photographs of him that I took yesterday.

• Dr. Philip Muruthi Visits the Leopard Project

  Posted: February 27, 2009, 4:08 pm by Nakedi

  Dr. Philip Muruthi, AWF’s Senior Director of Conservation Science, recently came from Nairobi to visit the leopard project. During his stay he managed to hold very important and fruitful meetings with Dr. Sam Ferreira from SANParks, Mr. Thomas Ramabulana also from SANParks as well as Mr. Jason Trollip, the General Manager at Singita KNP. Through the meetings Dr. Muruthi got an opportunity to see the project from different viewpoints and in the process share his own insights with the above mentioned gentlemen.

  After all the meetings were done, we went to the field where I showed him some of the cage traps. I was hoping to take him on a long walk to check some of the cameras that I left out in the field to help me answer, though not statistically relevant, some of the outstanding questions.

  Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out as we were hoping: we met some people who told us that there was a lioness covered in porcupine quills somewhere in the west, 30 kilometres away. The lioness was also apparently in a bad shape.

  Compared to other animals, porcupines appear as easy prey to most carnivores because their movements are rather sluggish. This makes them come across as easy prey; however, a slight misjudgement by would-be attacker may result in some nasty injuries, which may be fatal as was seen with Paddy a few weeks ago.

  We went in that direction, but were unsuccessful in locating the cat. We then headed back to the concession.

  It was time for the next part: locating the recently collared leopard. That took us a while and when we finally got the signal, the leopard was too far in to the block to follow up. No off-road driving is allowed in Kruger National Park. We then headed back to the lodge to discuss some of the methodology surrounding the project.

  Dr. Philip Muruthi checks out my radio antennae.

  On Sunday Dr. Muruthi had to go back to the airport, so on our way there we stopped at Satara, where we met with Rob and Tionette Gedes who are both very dedicated Friends of the Kruger National Park. They are currently involved in the Bird Census. I met them while following the previous leopard.

  It turns out they had a lot of leopard pictures that they have taken over time in the Kruger Park and were willing to share so that I can add those to the current leopard database. On that day they were very excited because they had just seen the fattest leopard they had ever seen. I didn’t believe them at first, but when I saw the cat on their video, it was the fattest leopard I have ever seen. They gave me all the pictures they had together with GPS position of each animal.

  Thank you very much Tionette and Rob!

  After that we were on our way and we managed to drive through some of the villages surrounding the Park. I would like to thank Dr. Muruthi for making time to come and visit the leopard project.

• New Blogs on AWF

  Posted: February 13, 2009, 5:47 pm by Nakedi

  I would like say how excited I am that my colleagues Dr. Bernard Kissui (Lions: Lions of Tarangire — www.awf.org/lionblog) and Dr. Paul Muoria (Grevy’s zebra: Guarding Grevy’s Zebras — www.awf.org/zebrablog) have started blogging about their work.

  During August in 2008 I had an opportunity visit their project sites in Tanzania and Kenya respectively and saw firsthand what wonderful work they are doing. They both have immense experience in their respective fields; I must say I have learned a lot from them during my visit. I am also secretly looking up to them, to get where they are in terms of applied research.

• Capturing Leopard #3

  Posted: February 11, 2009, 11:59 am by Nakedi

  After the leopard scare, Clement and I waited to see what would happen. Within a few minutes hyenas surrounded the area of the cage and in the meantime we thought they scared the leopard off. After waiting for a while we decided to go back in and re-set the cage.

  That went well, but to tie the bait back on to the trigger meant I had to stick my upper body into the cage with all those maggots as the meat was starting to putrefy. I did that with ease and came out reeking of impala meat.

  The following day at the same trap, we found that the same thing had happened again. This time the meat was almost completely covered with maggots. As I didn’t want to mess up the uniform like I did the previous day, I took off my shirt, went up the tree and stuck my upper body in the cage to fix the bait, maggots and all.

  I was disappointed because this meant we missed this animal twice in a row. After fixing the cage we visited the other cages with no luck until….on the last cage we saw from a distance that it was closed.

  We checked with the binoculars and saw that we had captured a leopard! We were so excited that we gave each other high fives and went back to call the Dr. Peter Buss from Game Capture unit. When he arrived, we had to go and get the leopard from the tree. That is such a scary moment and it gets me every time.

  Dr. Peter Buss anaesthatises the leopard.

  Because the leopard was high in the tree I had to take the ladder up to the tree while everybody hid behind the bushes. Just between us I was trembling from my head to my toes during that trip and it felt like forever to complete.

  During that time the leopard was looking at me with scorching eyes. He was extremely angry. What scared me the most was that he seemed to know where the door was…

  My thoughts during that long trip, besides reflecting on my short life:

  1. If he comes out that door, you know what will happen;
  2. If he comes out that door, hit him with the ladder square on the forehead, maybe he’ll faint;
  3. If that doesn’t work, shield yourself with the ladder; and
  4. If he comes out that door… no he can’t!

  I put the ladder under the tree and made sure that it was firm in between those scary growls. Peter then came along with the dart gun to anaesthetise the leopard. During that time I tried to divert the leopard’s attention by waving my arms on the ground while Peter successfully injected the leopard on the neck region.

  After a short while he was out. We brought him down and it was quickly established that he was a post-prime male. This made me a bit sad, because that means he is an old guy. Babu’s wise words started echoing in my head. With each capture it becomes more and more apparent that the leopards we capture are either old, or injured. It seems Babu is right on this one.

  Carefully lowering the captured leopard from the tree.

  Taking measurements, assessing status, and putting on the tracking collar.

  We made the decision to fit a tracking collar on him. This could provide valuable data that indicates how leopards change their behaviour as they age. For instance, what happens when they get thrown out of their territories by younger more powerful counterparts?

  The leopard waking up with his new tracking collar.

  Just like the previous two collared leopards, I sat with him after we were done to make sure he was okay.

• Baiting Traps - Who’s the Bait…?

  Posted: February 10, 2009, 11:33 am by Nakedi

  So I started baiting the cages on Tuesday January 27rd. With the loss of the research leopard due to a porcupine incident, I needed to fit another leopard with the tracking collar.

  It so happened that at that time I had a visitor to the leopard project. We went out on that morning and while we were baiting, it became boring for everyone, Clement, Nicky and Wayne (which is completely understandable!) so I suggested everybody head back to the lodge while I continued with the work.

  I managed to bait all the cages. After baiting the last cage, I left a little bit of meat outside just to see if a leopard patrolling the area would show some interest.

  The following day Clement (tracker) and I went to check if there was anything caught in the cages. We went through the first three cages with no luck, but when we got to the last cage it was closed and the bits that I had left outside were gone.

  I then got off the car and started towards the cage. Upon approaching the closed cage I realised something had been tagging on the meat. I then told Clement what I thought. He didn’t believe me, so we started debating. I would say something and then Clement would counter it.

  During the debate, while it was Clement’s turn to state his thoughts, I heard Grrr! I quickly stopped Clement and said with a whisper, “listen.” There was Grrrr again. The growls came from within ten meters of us, but we couldn’t say from where. I whispered, again “this must be a leopard.” Clement said, “yes, and it is eating the bits that you left outside.” Without saying a word, we each started walking towards the car.

  We didn’t take more than five steps when we heard a much louder GRRRR! We immediately stopped, I felt my thigh muscles tighten…it was the world famous “fight or flight” moment. Obviously my legs were prepared to run as all the blood was rushing there, but then I remembered one of the most famous bush commandments: THOU SHALT NOT RUN. Besides, I doubt if I would have been able to outrun Clement, he looks more athletic than me. After we stopped, there was another GRRRR! Somehow this prompted us to hold hands. That was a scary moment as we both had no clue from which direction the assault would come from.

  The thing was so close that when it growled it sounded like we were surrounded. How was holding hands going to help us? After the three second halt, we cautiously and slowly - without looking back - made our way to the vehicle. Of course the speed with which the vehicle was approached increased with the shortening of the distance. I don’t remember when we let go of each other’s hands, but after we sat down in the vehicle we both burst out laughing. I could hear my heart pounding and felt the sweat streaming from my forehead. We were relieved to be in the safety of the vehicle.

• Attending the Green-Flag Award Ceremony

  Posted: February 4, 2009, 2:21 pm by Nakedi

  On Friday January 23rd I had the privilege to attend the Green Flag Award Ceremony for Eco-Schools in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The ceremony was organised by Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa & World Wildlife Fund task team in association with De Beers Mines & Nampak.

  The aims of having Eco-Schools in my view are to:

  1. Encourage sustainable development in education and management;
  2. Improve the environmental performance of schools by teaching learners the three “R’s”: RECYCLE, RE-USE, and REDUCE; and
  3. Uplift local communities through the knowledge gained by the learners.

  The day started well; among the speakers were representatives from WWF-SA, Department of Education in the Limpopo Province, De Beers Mines, and lastly we were honoured with the presence of the reigning Miss Earth South Africa, Matapa Maila who happened to sit next to yours truly during the ceremony!! More importantly though, she is from Limpopo Province, which I think meant a lot to everybody, especially the learners.

  Miss Earth South Africa was here to honor the learners.

  All the speakers stressed the importance of community upliftment through education, especially environmental education.

  The learners during the award ceremony.

  The highlight of the day for me was listening to the learners recite poems they wrote for the day. They all sounded convincing; in addition their attitude showed that from then on there would be no going back. The learners also showed us some of the objects that they made from recycled materials, pictured below.

  Crafts made from recycled materials.

  Later during the day, best performing schools and educators were given awards for their hard work towards environmental education.

  Although this is not directly relevant to the leopard research, I hope in the future I will have the opportunity to present the leopard work to the learners.

  Naturally, Miss Earth wanted to sit by me during the ceremony.

  Judging by the distance between me and the nearest person I must have been wearing my leopard perfume!

  
  I would like to thank Cathy Dzerefos of Eco-Schools Limpopo Province for inviting AWF to the ceremony.

• Next Steps for Leopard Collaring

  Posted: January 27, 2009, 9:53 pm by Nakedi

  After losing the collared leopard I spent the week moving cage traps to other areas in the hope of capturing two other leopards to collar for research. During that period I worked with some of the guys from Singita’s guiding department. This was a very good exercise as I could see how well those guys know their area; it was as if they knew each tree or grass at a personal level.

  We successfully moved two cages on the first day and the last cage two days later due to the rain. The thing with setting traps is that we have to look for trees with big NO LION signs on them. These trees as you can imagine have to be almost impossible to climb and much worse, to place a cage trap on them. Sometimes we have to climb these trees in the process. So when it rains the bark becomes slippery making it a tricky business to climb.

  I remember falling hard the other day after baiting one of the traps. Of course we use ladders, but on that fateful day I tried to see firsthand how they did it during the stone ages. NOT A SMART THING TO DO!!

  I will start baiting traps in a few days time and hopefully we will have a successful run and capture two leopards next week. The picture below illustrates how high some of the cages have to be placed.

• The Leopard’s Final Days

  Posted: January 15, 2009, 6:36 pm by Nakedi

  Sunday January 11th – Tuesday January 13th: The last days

  After Saturday the collared leopard moved 10 km south towards Satara and rested near a culvert, he probably used the road for protection from other carnivores as he was heavily compromised.

  He stayed on the side of the road during which time I monitored him closely. His condition deteriorated daily. On Tuesday he was at his worst condition, even in a number of disturbances including the rain, he just slept on the same spot without moving. He looked so bad that I had difficulties looking at him.

  The veterinary scientists came later that afternoon to euthanize the leopard and took him back to Skukuza. There was no struggle!

  Wednesday January the 14th: Post-mortem

  The post-mortem on that morning suggested that the porcupine quills led to his rapid decline in condition combined with septicaemia from the quill-inflicted injuries.

  A tip of one of the quills was still stuck deep into his forehead, and in addition he had several tips spread across his neck, chest, front legs and hind legs. One of the quills, the one that dealt him the most severe blow, penetrated the chest cavity and in the process collapsed the lungs. One of the lungs had a lesion, which is suspected to be of the tuberculosis family, but still has to undergo further tests. The liver also looked like it had some kind of viral hepatitis, which also needs follow-up tests. The kidneys had numerous small lesions, suggesting that they did not function properly.

  All these suggested that the leopard was old and had multiple infections. I asked if the collar might have added to the leopard’s condition, but the vets said that the collar was not a problem.

  Now we cannot say with confidence whether he was still in his territory or was kicked out by a younger stronger competitor. He was more than 30 km away from what we thought was his core area. This is a major set back to the project, but that is how life is here in the bush.

  We take the good with the bad.

• The Collared Leopard Not Doing Well - Will He Make It?

  Posted: January 12, 2009, 11:14 am by Nakedi

  The collared leopard is not healthy!

  Three weeks ago when I went away on holiday I went out on a few occasions together with the tracking team to track the collared leopard. He seemed to be doing well, but sometimes he looked a bit hungry. At that point I thought he might have been struggling to catch food.

  This was also explained by his constant movements; that is, he had been moving constantly for a number of days. Naturally, this means he was not killing anything big, like an impala for instance. If he would bring an impala down, then he would hang around that area for a number of days before moving on.

  A thought arises therefore that the dry season might have kept him going due to a high number of weak prey. Before he was trapped in the cage trap, he visited the cage on three occasions before finally giving in to the temptation, further prompting me to think of him as a struggling leopard.

  Then it was time for the impala to drop their young. That could have been providing him with easy food from the hidden impala lambs. I therefore left with the thought that he preferred to feed on smaller animals like impala lambs for instance, which explained his constant movement.

  Getting back to our head office in Johannesburg on Thursday January 08th, I called Dr. Sam Ferreira, the Large Mammal Community and Species of Concern Scientist, who also oversees this current project from SANParks, to inform him that I was back and ready to expand the project since we received 20 additional camera traps.

  Before I could tell him anything he told me about this collared leopard that looked old which had seen around the Satara area by some tourists. Apparently this leopard was in a very bad shape and to make things worse he had a number of porcupine quills stuck in to his face and neck region.

  Sam didn’t have a lot of information, so he suggested I call Dr. Markus Hofmeyr, the Director of Game Capture Unit to confirm. The thought of starting the New Year with a bang started dwindling.

  I managed to get hold of Dr. Hofmeyr that evening and he told me that he thought the animal needed attention as the quills prevented him from hunting. After our conversation my holiday plans for the rest of the week were wiped out into oblivion. My plans were to:
  1.    Arrange to bring a mobile cell phone tower to the study site because of poor reception in the area, which makes it difficult to obtain data from collared animals;
  2.    Plan the activities of the year and engage my superiors in the process. Talking to them in person beats e-mail and telephone conversations by far;
  3.    Get most of the administration stuff sorted;
  4.    Play some basketball;
  5.    Go clubbing. I wanted to go dancing just once before heading to the bush!
  6.    Go to the Transvaal Museum (now called the Northern Flagship Institute) to work on some things there; and
  7.    Take the broken cameras to Pretoria to try and get them fixed.

  These plans were then replaced by the new plan: Pack your stuff and go to work!!

  That evening I packed my staff, went to the office to fetch the research vehicle and headed to the Kruger National Park, but not without fuelling the car first and getting myself lots of coffee and four Red Bulls!

  And so I drove for the whole night and by 04:00am I was at the Kruger Gate. When the gates were opened I made my way to Singita Kruger National Park, got the tracking devices and headed to Satara to hear what the problem was.

  I first ran in to the hospitality manager there and he said he had heard the problem was with a cheetah and not a leopard. I was relieved for a second, but something told me that maybe the hospitality manager was not a very good source of information. My thoughts:
  1.    Leopards and cheetahs are the same thing to a lot of tourists.
  2.    Some of my friends still think I work with cheetahs, what a shame!
  3.    The poor guy has to deal with visitors (who probably gave him this information by the way) all day, give him a break.
  4.    Try the section ranger and hear what she says, and then you can celebrate.

  The section ranger confirmed it was indeed a leopard, burying my short-lived excitement. She told me in which direction the leopard was last seen and even suggested I go with one of the guards. The guard and I then headed off to find the leopard. Arriving at the area where he was believed to be I tried his frequency on the telemetry equipment.
  Results: it was his frequency.

  We then actively searched the area and when we found him he looked extremely emaciated. He looked (and still does), like he had not eaten in days. “No wonder some people called him a cheetah,” I thought. This made me sad. He didn’t have the quills on his neck and face anymore. This gave me hope that he might still recover. I’m fighting the urge to show you his pictures.

  I then called Dr. Hofmeyr, who came through yesterday (Saturday) morning to have a closer look at the animal. He looked bad, with a swollen face and neck, obviously from the porcupine quills. At that point, I thought how desperate must he have been to attack a porcupine? Is it because he is struggling to catch impalas (and impala lambs)? Dr. Hofmeyr told me that the prognosis of the leopard was not good at all, but he might just make it although he was heavily compromised at that stage.

  We then had a choice to make: dart the leopard, treat him for the swelling, remove the collar, and let him go or leave him as he is and let him recover on his own. Choosing the former would mean that with his condition we ran the risk of losing him to the anaesthetic. Taking the latter would mean that I will have to monitor him on a daily basis and see what would happen. Here we run the risk that should he not make it and hyenas get to him before I do, all the information from the collar would be lost for good.  We chose to let him be and monitor his progress on a daily basis.

  In all that bewilderment there were a lot of people who got to see the poor leopard in his frail state. Most of the people were really concerned about the leopard and were (and still are) willing to share their photos of him. I am really sad that he got to be seen in that state, but it happens.

  I am as a result monitoring him on a daily basis to see his progress.

• Saving a Leopard from a Snare

  Posted: December 15, 2008, 6:50 pm by Nakedi

  I managed to capture another leopard last Wednesday, December 10th. On that morning I went out with the tracking team including Eckson Ndlovu, Johnson Mhlanga, Sipps Maswanganyi, and Glass Marimane. When we got to the first trap Eckson, Johnson and yours truly stepped out of the vehicle to go and check if the trap had caught anything.

  We walked for less than ten steps and suddenly Eckson jumped up in front of me with his hands raised and pointing in the direction of the trap “Xhi khomile!” meaning “it caught!”

  We stopped walking and looked at the cage that was roughly 30 metres away from us and saw an extremely beautiful male leopard pacing to and fro in the cage. There would be no running for me this time, I was not alone. Instead I kept my cool and pretended that I had done it a thousand times before. That was of course a lie because inside my heart was racing like an excited hamster and the little voice in my head was singing all sorts of happy songs.

  Everybody around me was extremely excited. I could smell their energy in the air, it was beautiful. Imagine five grown men in a car, all of them smiling. That’s the perfect world I one day want to live in.

  I then got hold of the vets to come and help us out. They said they would arrive in two hours. We then went back to do some tracking and check the other cages.

  We managed to track the collared leopard and headed back to the lodge to find Dr Peter Buss waiting for us. We got all the equipment ready and headed for the trapped leopard. Getting there I realised that it was one of the leopards that I had captured on camera before. A big young male probably four or five years old with a pink nose still. He looked perfect and he finished all the meat in the cage. Surprisingly he was more leopard than the collared one.

  Dormicum did not have a big effect on him. He looked like he was ready to bite someone’s head off. Peter, Jacques (Camera man) and I went up to the cage and asked every one to stay behind the bushes, out of sight. I had to create a diversion by walking past the leopard while Peter would dart him from the blind side. That didn’t take long and in a few minutes he was out.

  When I walked past the leopard in the cage I saw something that made my heart sink with great sadness. It was like a dark cloud coming over me. The leopard had a big wound on the neck. The wound went all around and there was a wire deep inside the neck.

  Treating the leopard’s wound from the snare.

  It was a snare; the ugly head of snaring is haunting me. “Not again,” I thought. After we had lowered the leopard to the ground we all came to see how brutal snares are. According to Peter, had we not caught this animal in three to four weeks he would be dead. That’s because the snare would keep tightening until it got to the windpipe and that would deal the leopard a fatal blow. Finding the snare wound also meant another thing… there would be no collaring!

  Sad as I was I drew comfort in the thought that we saved a leopard’s life that day.

  After everyone had left I stayed with the leopard until he woke up. Due to Dormicum in the meat he slept for the whole day. The sun was blazing that day. I sat there with him and when he woke up I was there. He snarled at me and tried to get up but he failed and fell asleep again. When he woke up for the second time I was still there. He snarled again and gave a warning growl and tried to run away. He ended up at the next shade and passed out again.

  Voices in my head:
  1.    This is clearly not a morning leopard;
  2.    The telepathic connection exercise will not work;
  3.    He wants to eat you Nakedi, do you want to go pet him?*
  4.    Or maybe play the game, “Poke the sleeping leopard and run”*;
  5.    He looks like he feels offended; and most importantly
  6.    What are you going to do about Mozambique

  When he eventually woke up he snarled and growled one more time. I said: “Okay, Okay, grumpy! You’ve made your point,” He went up the mountain and went in to a cave. That is when I headed back to the lodge holding the last thought.

  Removing the snare.

  *Please note that of course I am not serious about these two points. A leopard is one of the most dangerous animals in the wild. It is equipped with all the equipment and technique to kill a fully grown man within seconds…. So please give respect where it is due!

• Babu and Mama’s Visit to the Leopard Project

  Posted: December 8, 2008, 6:36 pm by Nakedi

  This is way overdue, but was eclipsed by numerous events that took place in between. I apologise for that. Following the Aspen Seminar that was held in Johannesburg and Singita Sabi Sand in October 2008, Babu (who is on the AWF’s board of trustees) and Mama visited the leopard project at Singita Kruger National Park (SKNP). Having spent four days with them I got to see and understand how insightful and young at heart they are. As a result I got to relax a little around those two…

  Arriving in the Kruger Park, Jared was there waiting together with Sunday. After a brief introduction we took off to SKNP. The trip from the airstrip to SKNP is about 40 minutes, so we got an opportunity to go over the project and what I was doing at that time. We arrived at the lodge and they both decided they would like to rest before going to the field.

  About two hours later we drove to the field to check the cameras. Prior to that I warned them that there would be some walking on rocky ridges in order to get to the cameras to which Babu responded “We are tough people, we don’t mind walking!” That was good to hear.

  I was planning to take them to my favourite camera station in the south of the concession, a camera that I had high hopes for. The four of us, Jared included, headed for the bush. We checked the first camera, which was not far from the lodge. The camera had taken only nine images, the last image taken the day that I left (the day that I put in fully charged batteries!). I knew then that it would be downhill from there, I still had my hopes pinned on the special camera in the ridges though.

  Checking the camera trap for leopard photos... without luck this time.

  The second camera had five images. That’s when my head started spinning and disappointment and despair took over. “We’ll find something in the next camera”, I tried to put on a brave face. Somehow Mama and Babu could see beyond that.

  We then moved on to the third camera, the one. For this one we had to walk for a good thirty minutes and along the way while Jared talked about a whole lot of things regarding nature, I didn’t hear a thing. My thoughts were on the next camera, the one that I thought would give results we would all like to see.

  We arrived at the camera. It was in a drainage line that looked like a perfect leopard’s hangout spot. In front of it there was a nice rock that I thought would be a lovely place for a leopard to relax. I was so confident about this camera that I asked Babu to sit on the rock in front of the camera so the camera could capture him. We then opened the camera anticipating images with Babu’s image rounding it all up.

  Results:
  Number of images: 16 minus Babu
  Leopard pictures: what leopard?
  The look on my face: you don’t wanna know
  

  The camera trap caught a bird... but that's about it.

  I was very disappointed. How can this camera pull off something like this? One would think that if a camera can capture a bird in flight it should pick up a person walking.

  I therefore stop here with the report on our camera trap checking exercise.

  The evening on the other hand was very beautiful. We got an opportunity to view the sunset, which in my mind was spectacular. We then drove towards the border with Mozambique and in the middle of all that immense beauty the disappointing camera stunts were briefly forgotten.

  We still had a great time. Here is "Babu" and me with a chameleon.

  I have to say the landscape here is quite lovely. Jared then drove us to the gorge where we spent some time discussing constellations; one of them, the teapot. That is when Babu and Jared started comparing their pointers while pointing at the “Teapot”. I didn’t have any, although I had the spotlight in my hand. The thought of joining the conversation and pointing out that the spotlight that I had would fit in as one of the tools crossed my mind, but I discarded the thought as being dull. After a while and a series of numerous other discussions we headed back to the lodge and discussed the project:

  During dinner that night Babu and Mama said the following:
  •    There seems to be a lot of inconsistencies with the cameras, i.e. some took only a few pictures and others a lot (I have to say this: the one camera had 1600 pictures, a different more expensive model)
  •    What about the days in between capturing? Tough question…
  •    You may want to consider going to communities and talking to kids and inform them about what you are doing. January 23rd 2009, I will spend time with children and teachers from Echo-Schools in the Limpopo Province.
  •    Don’t give up!

  Then it was time for the BIG lesson: The eighty twenty rule.
  According to this rule - also called the Pareto Principle - 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. In other words, once the project is all set up, you put in 20% effort to get more than 80% of results. Now that’s what I call insight!

  With this I would like to thank Babu and Mama for taking their time and resources to come and visit the leopard project and share in its development.

• What Has the Collared Leopard Been Up To?

  Posted: November 28, 2008, 3:56 pm by Nakedi

  Since being collared the leopard has been providing us with very valuable information. Firstly his movement patterns suggest that he prefers drainage lines to open plains. This makes him one tough cat to find even with a collar. He is so good at hiding from this fellow who keeps following him no matter where he is; except of course when he is in Mozambique (I wonder if he’s picking up the trend).

  For instance, three days ago Deirdre Opie (guide) and I went to track him along the ridge. Upon finding him he ran away in a spectacular manner. He kept the same perfect posture as he ran. It was like watching him float over the rugged terrain. I don’t know how to explain this, but for those five odd seconds, time stood still and nothing really mattered.

  Personal observation: the telepathy thing, I am starting to have serious doubts!
  Score board: Leopard 1, Nakedi 0 - since I’m the one doing the chasing.

  Secondly, he likes secluded areas surrounded by numerous tall trees with dense foliage - for example the marula tree, Sclerocarya birrea, which bears marula fruit. The juice from fruit is famous for its intoxicating effects when fermented. For those who enjoy Amarula Cream, remember the collared leopard (and the researcher if you like) when you get an opportunity to drink a glass or two. In areas where pressure from lions and hyenas is high, leopards use such trees to protect their well earned meals from being taken away.

  Thirdly, he has random movements within the study area; the movements appear as such probably because we only have two weeks worth of data. In a month or two we should start getting information that would hopefully be biologically relevant.

  
  Map of leopard movements.

  Map of leopard movements.

  Lastly, he likes to spend time in Mozambique. As I am writing this, he is approximately three kilometres across the border. We don’t have permission to work in Mozambique at the moment, so we must wait until he returns in to the Kruger National Park.

  So far he has given us some information on two of his crossing points along the fence. Next to one of them is a beautiful marula tree that has signs of continued use. Seven days ago while I went tracking with Clement Khoza (tracker) we managed to go to the exact spot where he crossed the fence. That is where the marula tree is.

  I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the AWF supporters for making this work possible. If you’d like to help, please use the donate button to the right or click here.

  
  Clement examining the marula tree.

  Clement examining the marula tree.

• The Story Behind the Leopard Capture

  Posted: November 19, 2008, 2:35 pm by Nakedi

  Ok, I’ll write something then! When I first saw the leopard trapped in the cage, I didn’t believe my eyes. He looked calm and was just sitting there in the cage looking at me. I got so excited that I started running. If you asked me why I was running, I would politely ask you not to ask me difficult questions too early in the morning.

  I got in the research vehicle, looked in to the mirror, and did what most people in my situation would do. I did a lot of things! After recollecting my composure, I started the engine and drove off to the lodge to call the vets from Skukuza.

  In roughly two hours, Dr. Danny Govender (the veterinary scientist/doctor) and her assistant, Khosi - both from Game Capture Unit - arrived at the lodge. Danny looked at me and said with a smile, “Nakedi, don’t you know that people shouldn’t work on Sundays?” I smiled sheepishly, and then scratched my head.

  And so we all went to the capture site. Getting to the trap, it was quickly established that the leopard was a big male. He was unsettled by the number of people who all wanted to witness his fate.

  However, for a leopard, he seemed a bit calm; normally he would slam against the sides of the cage; sometimes resulting in some nasty injuries. The reason for his relative calmness was that when we baited the cages, we also placed five pills called Dormicum® in the meat. Dormicum has sedative properties; furthermore it is known to have skeletal muscle relaxant. It is for this reason that the leopard appeared to be too calm in leopard standards even though he was growling and being a leopard.

  Personal observation: This obviously didn’t work with the lions, last week!

  Danny expertly immobilized the trapped leopard by using the Dan Inject rifle aimed to the neck region. Within a few minutes it was lights out! We then lowered the leopard to the ground and moved him to a suitable area for the collaring.

  Taking down data.

  We took measurements including weight, body length, tail length, leg lengths (hind and fore) shoulder height, sizes of feet, canine sizes, and length of ears. We also took blood samples for disease screening; for example, Feline Immunodeficiency Virus [FIV - the cat equivalent for the HIV; different to humans, cats have evolved with this disease for millions of years] and other diseases, hair samples for DNA analyses. The general condition of the animal was also assessed. He is an old guy alright, with two broken canines and missing one claw.

  After all the necessary information had been gathered, we fitted him with the collar. Danny then injected the reverse drug to wake him up.

  Fitting the collar on Paddy.

  We all then ran to the safety of the cars because leopards are known to attack anything that moves when they wake up. None of us wanted to be living proofs!

  After a while he seemed to be waking up and then everyone decided they were leaving. Matthew Harding (Head Guide) decided to wait with me for a while. After everyone had left the leopard went back to sleep right in front of us. It turns out a combination of Dormicum and other drugs had some serious effects on the leopard.

  Matthew and I waited for about two hours during which the leopard attempted in vain to get his legs under his body to start walking. Then Matthew had to leave. By that time it was approaching dusk. I decided to stay and guard the leopard until he was fully recovered.

  Reasons for guarding the leopard:

  1. With the high lion and hyena densities in the park the leopard was in grave danger
  My game plan: Drive around the sleeping leopard, thereby shielding him from the prospective assailant;

  2. A rival leopard could have taken advantage of the situation if he came across the drugged leopard (proving the point: if you take drugs, your counterpart gains a thousand strides on you; whatever that means)
  My game plan: Same as above; and

  3. A part of me hoped that if I were the first thing he saw upon waking up… we would develop an irreversible bold, a telepathic connection that would keep us going for the next two years
  My game plan: stare in to his eyes and hope he does the same for me.

  In the end I ended up spending the night guarding the sleeping leopard. He woke up early the following morning and gave me the look I was hoping for. He then sleekly disappeared behind the bushes.

  I gave a big sigh of relief and drove off to the lodge…

• First Leopard Captured!

  Posted: November 18, 2008, 1:35 pm by Nakedi

  Sunday November 9th marked the day of capturing the first leopard in my career. The event was too beautiful to mar with heavy words. Here is a full account of what happened that day in pictures.

  
  Removing the leopard from the trap requires a lot of strength (70 kg cat_ an X-cat). Removing the leopard from the trap requires a lot of strength (70 kg cat = an X-cat)

  
  ...and team work. …and team work

  
  ...and an open area …and an open area.

  
  The leopard has a broken tooth. Paddy has a broken tooth.

  
  Examining Paddy. Examining the leopard.

  
  Preparing the collar. Preparing the collar.

  
  Collar fitted and ready to go. Collar fitted and ready to go.

  
  Two days later, Paddy is looking good! Two days later, Paddy is looking good!

• Two Lionesses Trapped

  Posted: November 11, 2008, 3:08 pm by Nakedi

  30 minutes after baiting the leopard traps, and having been reassured that they would be safe from lions, we got a call from Matthew Harding (Head guide). Steve Faulconbridge (Conservation officer) had seen two lionesses get in to the last cage and get trapped!

  I didn’t believe what I heard. How can two lionesses - each of which is probably double the size of a fully grown adult male leopard - fit in that cage? “Someone is playing a prank on me,” I thought. Two people were looking at me with the look: “Nakedi, what have you done?” Then I knew it was real.

  My thoughts at the time:
  •    Scream at the top of my voice and ask God to end my life.
  •    How do I get a lioness out of a cage?
  •    They are two lionesses, Nakedi; not one.
  •    Why me?
  •    Run away and never return.
  •    I miss home.

  James Suter, one of the guides, came in to the picture and said he was on duty and was keen to help.

  Next bunch of thoughts:
  •    Wait a minute, I’ve seen JV work with two male tigers on television before; I can relax a little.
  •    Go and get JV and Andy, they are rugged, they’ll enjoy this right?

  And so together with James and Francois we (JV, Andy and I) headed back to the trap site. When we got there, the tree was shaking vigorously.

  And then the lions heard us, “(GRRRRRRRR x 2)1.”

  We moved closer to the cage and then they saw us “(GRRRRRRRR x 2)1000000.” I could feel the air around us vibrating with the vibrations being earthed through my feet. Better yet, as Bill Altimari says: “your breastbone vibrates like a tuning fork,”

  Hell hath no fury like two lionesses scorned!

  We thought of releasing the animals by quickly lifting the cage door and driving off quickly. James would sit in the back with his rifle aimed at the lionesses should they come out and do what they do best while JV and Andy would attempt to lift the cage door. Francois ran the camera in the safety of the other car. I had to be on the wheel - AWF’s leopard research vehicle was the designated getaway car of mission suicide.

  I thought we were on a suicide mission judging by the snarls and growls from the lionesses. It was like they were saying, “When we get out of here, we’ll take out every last one of you”. I opened the knife from my Leatherman® Fuse™ just in case. I’m not going down without scratching something.

  My thoughts during mission suicide:
  •    This is crazy.
  •    These animals are stressed. Definition: the cage overriding the lionesses’ desire to rip us in to pieces.
  •    If something happens, this project is doomed.
  •    We need to call the vets.

  Finally common sense struck: Call the vets, it was agreed. Hallelujah!

  The trap intended for leopards caught two lionesses instead. We sedated and released them. Photo by Andy Coetzee.

  We went back to the lodge called Peter Buss from Game Capture Unit in Skukuza. He said he would arrive in two and half hours to sedate the animals and release them. By 22:30 he arrived together with Jenny. They sedated the animals and we released them.

  Still no leopards trapped though. Leopards have not moved in those areas…. But in time, they will.

• How to Trap a Leopard - Part 2

  Posted: November 10, 2008, 3:33 pm by Nakedi

  The next day (October 31), John Varty (JV), Andy Coetzee, Francois Botha, Hendri and I went out to bait the cages.

  JV is famous for his work with big cats and his tiger project down in the Karoo. Andy has more than twenty years of experience working with wildlife and has also been in the army. Francois and Hendri are cameramen who will be filming the events for National Geographic Live, which will be airing live in 166 countries worldwide from Sunday November 9th until Saturday November 15th.

  If you have time, please watch the program “Caught on Safari: Live”, you’ll hopefully get a glimpse of the leopard project in the Singita Concession of the Kruger National Park. The leopard project will be aired on day two, that’ll be on Monday November 10th.

  The four of us went out and baited all the traps, save one (a lioness with cubs rested in front of the cage that day) and finished just before the game drives began.

  To bait the trap we use meat, mostly from animals that die from starvation due to dry conditions. We take the animals’ insides and drag them around the trap site to attract leopards, but this method often attract other carnivores. We then place Dormicum® in the meat (to calm the animal down when he/she finds out that he/she is trapped) and tie it to the trigger. When a leopard comes, it should theoretically tug on the meat, thereby closing the door behind.

  The last trap looked worrying, it was set too low. Someone commented (in Shangani) while shaking his head as the trap was set up: “Ti ta ngena tingala la!” (“Lions will get in here!”) I mentioned this to JV while he and I were dragging the lure on a dry river bed. JV’s response: “I wouldn’t worry about it, Nakedi. Lions are too big. I’m worried that even a male leopard may not fit in there.”

  I said: “OK,” not knowing what was in store for us next….

• How To Trap a Leopard

  Posted: November 9, 2008, 8:45 pm by Nakedi

  Day 1 (October 30th)

  At 07:00, Johan Malan of the Game Capture Unit from South African National Parks Board (SANParks), together with three assistants, brought four cage traps to the Singita Concession. The cage traps would be used to capture two leopards, a male and a female, for collaring. Thomas Ramabulana, the section ranger from this area allowed four of his staff to come and help. In total, there were nine of us. Aeron and Francois also tagged along.

  We then went and placed all the cages in areas of prime leopard activities. The cages are placed into trees to avoid lions, hyenas and other non-target animals from getting trapped. Placing a cage big enough to capture a leopard is labour intensive because the cages are heavy. It’s not a piece o’ cake!!

  Leopard trap placed in the tree.

  Good news for us, Johan and his guys knew how to place the cages like the back of their hands. By 15:00 we were done. Johan then took some time to explain to me how to bait and arm the cages. He and his guys then bid us farewell and went on their way. Thomas’ guys did the same. By that time it was too late to go and bait the cages, so I also called it a day.

  I would worry about that the following day…

• Lion Killed by Snare

  Posted: October 27, 2008, 12:17 pm by Nakedi

  In the last blog I spoke about animals crossing the border in to Mozambique. Sometimes they don’t come back!!

  On Friday October 24th I went in to Mozambique together with Francois and Erin and ended up on the border with the Kruger National Park. About 80 metres from the fence we spotted a lioness that lay motionless against a tree trunk. She didn’t look like she was alive, so we cautiously walked towards her.

  Upon arrival we saw that she was dead and had a big wound around her neck.

  The deep wound was caused by a wire that was still tied to a tree trunk on the game path. Judging by the wound it looked like the animal died in the morning hours. The tree on which the snare was attached had been heavily attacked showing that the poor animal tried, albeit in vain to free herself from this wire that kept sinking deeper and deeper in to her neck with each attempt.

  A lion killed by a wire snare.

  That’s the thing about the snares; the more you struggle the deeper the wire sinks in to the flesh; I don’t think animals know that.

  This snare must have been set to catch animals like antelopes. But sometimes the snares catch non-target animals like this lioness.

  We later searched the area for more snares and found ten of them in an area of about 50 square metres.

  On the other hand, people need to eat. How do you tell a man without any sort of income to stop hunting? What options do you give him to feed his family? The method of hunting stated above is extremely crude, but it is also very cheap.

  I’m posing these questions so that you the reader will hopefully empathise with both humans and wildlife in certain parts of the world. What do you think?

  As long as we have people and organisations like AWF there is always hope for our quest that together with people, the wildlife and wild lands of Africa will endure forever. In the next few weeks I hope to write a success story regarding the above mentioned.

  It’s not all doom and gloom!!

• Camera Traps… and Beyond!

  Posted: October 8, 2008, 5:21 pm by Nakedi

  During the week of October 20th we’ll add the second aspect of the leopard research. The first two of the twelve leopards will be captured and collared. The other ten will subsequently be collared, depending on the rate of success with fund raising. The type of collar that we’ll use is the GSM or cell phone collar.

  For starts, we will collar a male and a female. The use of collars will help us to

  1. Understand the land use patterns of the leopards relative to the other carnivores, namely lions and hyena;
  2. Get an insight in to how far in to Mozambique these animals go. Of interest will be the nearest communal land, Mapulanguene, which is about 10 km from the fence. We can finally follow up on the relationship between leopards and humans as it happens; and
  3. Document the type of prey that will be taken during that period; also relative to lions and hyenas.

• Fixing the Camera Trap

  Posted: September 23, 2008, 11:14 am by Nakedi

  It is a struggle to capture leopard pictures at this point. We are heading towards the end of the dry season and somehow animal movements have been altered. I cannot say this with confidence because I am currently sampling the southern part of the concession, which is a rugged terrain and has a limited number of roads. At the same time however, water is the limiting factor for most animals and as a result their movements should be in association with the distribution of water points.

  The kudus are hit the worst because there are no leaves for them to browse on, so they are dying. This is further exacerbated by their tendency to panic, which drains them of a lot of energy (I think!). For their sake I hope it rains soon.

  The vultures on the other hand are thriving; this is by far their best time of the year.

  The burnt camera was fixed and it is now working properly, sort of. The problem was with the burnt screen, which was blocking out the lens. I was sitting with Jared Glasson, one of the guides from Singita Kruger National Park when we started brainstorming about fixing the camera.

  Jared used to be an engineer before he decided to become a guide. He is some kind of a brainiac. After throwing ideas around, we decided that the camera’s problem was with the screen. We then decided to remove the screen and replace it with laminating sheets.

  Jared fixing the burnt camera trap.

  Next I took it to the field to test it against the elements and it came up with a very curious pachyderm wondering what he/she had stumbled across.

  A curious hippo examining the camera.

  Next the resilient camera captured a large male leopard, but it will be difficult to identify as the image is kind of blurry.

• Cameras Destroyed in Fires

  Posted: September 17, 2008, 10:27 am by Nakedi

  In the last three weeks I was away at the AWF Biennial Meeting held in Nairobi, Kenya. Before I left I thought it would be prudent to leave cameras in the field so they can do the job while I was away. Upon my return I learned there were runaway fires from Mozambique.

  I got even more worried when I saw burnt areas on the map.  Three of my cameras were in those areas. I then went to visit the camera stations to investigate.

  I managed to visit only two stations and today I’ll visit the last one. One of the cameras was damaged by the fire, but luckily the memory card was not damaged and this is one of the last leopard pictures we got out of it.

  I don’t know if it is possible to fix this camera, but I will give it a try. The number of cameras lost due to non-demonic intrusions is three so far (I don’t know if elephant damage should be included in the category “non-demonic intrusions,” - just a personal feeling!).

  As a result this puts a lot of pressure on our already limited budget.

  We need 50 cameras for this project. Currently we only have seven. We will need a lot of help in order to reach that number.

  A leopard captured by one of the camera traps that got burnt.

• Visiting East African Carnivore Projects

  Posted: September 13, 2008, 1:53 pm by Nakedi

  Towards the end of August I visited other AWF’s large carnivore projects. The idea was that I could learn from other well established projects and see how different/similar land-use practices between East Africa and South Africa are. The projects include the lion project in the Maasai Steppe Heartland (Tanzania) and the wild dog project in the Samburu Heartland (Kenya).

  Date: 16 – 19th August
  I first visited Maasai Steppe Heartland where Bernard Kissui is doing lion research in Tarangire National Park. The place is very beautiful. I’ve never seen so many baobab trees in one place. There are also no fences. This means wildlife and humans pretty much share the same resources. That is unheard of where I come from - everything is fenced in!

  A Maasai Boma that Kissui will fortify to make predator-proof.

  Bernard is working with the villagers around the Park. He is working at convincing the locals to fortify their bomas (what we call kraals in South Africa). The problem here is that lions, hyenas, and leopards often raid these kraals, sorry “bomas”. Most of the time however, it is the lions that get to face the sharp ends of the Maasai spears. As a result, the future of the lions is quickly becoming bleak. Bernard is therefore faced with a mammoth task to convince the people (who appreciate him dearly!) to strengthen their kr…bomas.

  I went with Bernard on one of the boma building activities and helped to dig holes for the logs to make a skeleton for the chain link. I tried to dig as well, but came across a rock. I looked at the owner of the boma. I was hoping he would sympathise with me, but instead he mumbled something in Ki-Swahili about a man or woman. Worried that I may be denting the image of my fellow South Africans I dug away at the rock/the hard place. Talk about pressure!
  Results: no results, except of course a huge blister on my hand.

  Kissui (center) at work.

  I was relieved to hear Bernard say it was time to leave. We then went to the other bomas. With the blister in my hand I did very little…more injustice done to southern Africans. We later went back to the place of the “rock” with some of Bernard’s guests who were interested in his work. I was impressed that all the holes were dug and ready for the logs. I secretly examined my abandoned hole to see if somebody had worked on it in my absence. The rock still stood there, strong! I caused myself bodily harm and the locals left the rock in peace, great!

  Lesson learned: Between South Africa and Tanzania ROCKS ARE A CONSTANT.

  I’m now trying to use what I learned from Bernard and attempt to fit it in to the South African context. In South Africa however, everything is fenced in, but cats are not so easy to keep confined. Also, reports of human and wildlife conflicts are sparse and wide.

  Next stop: Samburu Heartland, Kenya.

• A Typical Afternoon in the ‘Office’

  Posted: August 11, 2008, 8:40 pm by Nakedi

  11:00am: I take the research car and go and upload pictures from the cameras. I’m unsettled at this stage because I’m alone. I get to the first camera station. I get out of the car, pick up the stones that lay right next to the car and throw them in to the nearest thickets and wait. At this point I’m standing at the door in the Nakedi’s Ready Position: “if something so much as growls from that thicket, I will dive in to the open door and lock myself in,” I make a mental note.

  Nothing growls and nothing moves, so I take the laptop, walk towards the camera and start uploading pictures. Sometimes I find ungulates grazing next to the camera station, and then I get relieved that they probably moved as far away from predators as possible. This should have happened in the early morning or during the night. I don’t rule out the possibility of an unsuccessful hunter from the previous night though. However, the sight of ungulates in the vicinity still puts me at ease. I hope that I will not be seen as a prey when the familiar staple food is around.

  3:00pm: It is almost time for the Singita Lodge guests to go on the afternoon drive. I must get out of the concession so I’m not in the way.

  3:30pm: I arrive at the lodge, get myself some water and head back to Shishangane (aka Shish).

  4:30pm: Arrive at Shish and start sorting leopard droppings of the day and analysing the leopard pictures that were uploaded. I have avoided the lion areas. I’ll check those the following day, only if!

  5:00pm: Play some football at Shish.

  6:15pm: Shower!

  6:45pm: Dinner!

  7:15pm: I read a scientific paper. When it stops making sense (calculus!), I get grumpy and read a novel. Sometimes I go and have a beer or two with the guys at the bar. After a beer or two I try again. Now it is the beer and me against calculus and stats…. sometimes I win. On such an evening I go to bed with a smile on my face!

  10:00pm: Snooze… with a smile on my face.

• A Typical Morning at the ‘Office’

  Posted: August 8, 2008, 8:36 pm by Nakedi

  4:45am: Wake up and take a shower (I’m extremely grumpy* at this stage).

  5:00am: Still grumpy, I get in to the research car with my backpack and laptop bag and follow the bus from Shishangane (Staff Village) to the lodge (Singita Kruger National Park).

  Contents of the backpack:

  1. Water
  2. Ziplock® bags in case we come across leopard droppings
  3. GPS
  4. Camera
  5. Binoculars
  6. My note book
  7. A sweater (I wonder why)

  5:30am: Arrive at the lodge. Still grumpy!!

  5:45am: Assemble with the tracking team (this depends on the occupancy of the lodge). If there is no tracking team I try and read. Grumpy still!!

  6:00am: Tracking team departs for the Concession. I’m slightly grumpy at this stage.

  6:30am: The sun comes out! Hooray! I start smiling.
  Any time after departure if we come across tracks of animals that need tracking for that day, we get off the Landy (Land Rover) and start tracking (Depends on how old the tracks are). One of the guys remains in the Landy and drives around the block to meet the team on the other side should they not find anything. I take my backpack in case we come across leopard droppings, a leopard, leopard tracks or a leopard kill. If any of these happens, I note it in my notebook and GPS the position.

  One of us, usually Glass or Christoff, always carries a rifle and a radio. For my own personal reasons I always walk next to the guy with the rifle. It might have to do with being the immediate building block of the food chain. I refuse to share this sensitive piece of information.

  Half the time I step on the man with the rifle’s heels. Christoff complains and someone remarks how scared Nakedi is. Everyone starts laughing. I’m not grumpy anymore, so I also start laughing.

  The tracking team is phenomenal; they know the area like the back of their hands. They follow tracks on some of the most unlikely places where one can follow an animal such as on the mountain. I’m not lying; it has something to do with the direction in which the grass is bent. It is incredible what they can do. I’m not that far behind in my tracking skills! I feel like I’m improving by the day.

  After walking for a while Christoff might suddenly turn without warning and walk back in the direction we just came from. I know if he does this there is something farther down the path, usually lions. When I first got here I used to stop and look around, extending my neck and asking questions: “What is it? Why are we turning? Where is it?” The response: “Hai, Nakedi u lava ku dyiwa mpfo!? U ta dyiwa buti (pronounced: boot),” Christoff would say. Translated: “Hey, Nakedi do you want to get eaten boy!? You will get eaten brother!”

  After walking as far away as possible from the animal that was supposed to eat me I would ask again. 100% of the time the answer is: “Di ta ku dya tingala (lions) mpfo!” (Didn’t you see those lions? Lions will eat you, boy!) And I would say: “Was it lions?“

  9:00am: We are all hungry and tired from tracking. I’m grumpy again. We get in to the Landy and head back to the lodge.

  9:45am: We are back at the lodge, breakfast time, Yay!! I’m not grumpy anymore. I eat enough food so that I don’t come back for lunch. After breakfast I wait for the guides to bring their guests back to the lodge. While I’m waiting I do some admin (Grumpy!).

  10:45am: I try and get an update of where all the lions were spotted on that day. I make a mental note not to go near those areas.

  I’ll fill you in on the rest of the day in my next post.

  * I’m not really a grumpy person! Nothing really matters when I’m in the bush.

• Camera Trap Tally

  Posted: July 29, 2008, 10:27 am by Nakedi

  The use of camera traps has proven to be a useful way to get an idea of leopard activities in the N’wanetsi Concession. I’ve been able to capture good quality photographs were taken during the survey. There were 20 leopard photographs taken during the study and about 13 individuals. However, because we only have one camera per station it is difficult to say this with confidence.

  Cameras were placed in areas of known leopard activities and areas which were perceived as suitable leopard habitats. Care was taken to cover as much area as possible while not compromising the capture probabilities for leopards, i.e. to give each leopard an opportunity of at least one capture.

  Due to the sheer size of the N’wanetsi Concession (15,000 hectares), and limited number of camera traps, a considerable amount of land is yet to be sampled in the north of the concession. The results obtained in this study are therefore a partial sample of the leopard population in the area.

  After this study, I will now be faced with the humongous task of sampling a 2 million hectare Kruger National Park. To put this in to perspective it is about the size of Wales or about half the Netherlands. As a result more camera traps are required if this mammoth task is to become a reality. Ideally 50 cameras may be sufficient enough to cover the whole Park in a period of 1 year.

  Camera Tally

  1.  Two cameras were broken by elephants. This requires that the steel casings be sprayed with pepper spray and the inside be fitted with some sort of padding to provide shock absorption during elephant encounters. Remedy: pepper spray

  Elephants 2: Cameras 0

  2.  Rhinos did not have an impact on cameras as much as elephants did except that they use them as rubbing posts, which they subsequently manage to bend. Well hidden cameras were not affected by rhinos at all. Remedy: conceal the cameras

  Rhinos 0.5: Cameras 1

  3.  Hyenas were not a factor probably because of the use of steel casings.

  Hyena 0: Cameras 1

  4.  The weather did not affect cameras in a negative way except that during low temperatures battery life was shortened tremendously. As a result if one is surveying during the winter months. The use of rechargeable batteries will in the long run prove to be environmentally and economically friendly. Remedy: wear warm clothes!

  Cold temperature 1: Batteries 0: Nakedi 0

  5.  Rain was also not a factor.

  Rain 0: Cameras 1

• Green Light for Project, Leopard Scat, and Camera Traps!

  Posted: July 15, 2008, 1:06 pm by Nakedi

  After eight months of writing and re-writing the proposal, I am pleased to say that the study was finally given the green light by the South African National Parks (SANParks) Scientific Services (Prior to this I was allowed to use camera traps to do some monitoring while I waited for the verdict from the Scientific Services).

  This means that once the Conservation Services have gone through the proposal, and given it a nod, we can sign a contract and the leopard project can now go full steam ahead. This will allow the project to go in to the next stage, which involves collaring (using GPS collars) twelve leopards, preferably six males and six females, to see and learn about their space use and what they eat in the process.

  Ideally if a leopard spends more than a day in area, it would be possible that there is food there. In turn, we will get an opportunity to see how much time they spend outside the park, if they do that at all. Furthermore we can establish the level of leopard/human interaction.

  Next will be the collection of scat to study what leopards eat. (Actually this had already begun six months ago and was done on an opportunistic manner when walking with the Singita tracking team and driving around the concession). Leopards tend to leave their droppings in the middle of the road or in high places so as to mark their territory. To make sure that I am not picking up cheetah scat, I consult with the very experienced trackers. Tracks also help if it is fresh scat. This will later help us establish the level of diet overlap with lions and hyenas. I will explain later what we do with the scat to determine the prey that had been eaten.

  In addition, this effort might also help us determine the fate of jackals, the population of which is feared to be declining at an alarming rate. Fate here is suggested because it is well known that leopards have a catholic diet and would without a doubt prey on jackals. It is believed that leopards may be involved in the jackal population’s demise. However, other factors such as disease may not be ruled out. Finding or not finding jackal remains in leopard droppings will hopefully point us in the right direction.

  I have been away from the study site for two weeks now. I’m heading there tomorrow and will be able to visit and inspect the cameras by Wednesday July 17th. Elephants can be quite aggressive with them sometimes.

  Twice I found two cameras ripped from the ground, but still attached to the drop poles with signs of having been flung and kicked around until the intruder was satisfied. One camera was broken in the process and I’m busy trying to fix it. The other was still working when I found it and it took some interesting pictures of the world above from a worm’s eye view. I have now taken care to hide the cameras from these brutes and hopefully the cameras can last a long time.

  Some naughty elephants pushed over one of my camera traps.

  The felled camera took some unique - and entertaining - photos.

  This is what a giraffe would look like from a worm’s view!

• A Male Leopard Goes Down

  Posted: June 24, 2008, 6:43 pm by Nakedi

  On Sunday May 22nd we received a call from Steve Faulconbridge, the conservationist from Singita Kruger National Park (SKNP). He had just found the carcass of a male leopard probably in his prime in the north of the concession.

  Matthew Harding (SKNP’s head guide), Liky Gumede (Tracker), and I immediately went to the area to help Steve investigate the cause of death. Evidence suggested that the individual was killed while he was feeding on an impala that he had brought down. It is possible that the assailant was a nomad young male lion that took the opportunity when the leopard let down his guard. This can be expected because recently there were 49 lions spotted in the concession in one day. The concession is only 15 000 hectares suggesting that the lion density is very high.

  Normally leopards place their kills high on the forks of trees. While this ensures that food will not be lost to other predators, it also protects the leopard from being attacked from the blind side while feeding. The dead leopard probably thought he was well hidden. A fatal mistake for a solitary animal! The rest of the animal was pretty much eaten by whatever killed him and other scavengers such as vultures and jackals. We were lucky to find the carcass ahead of the hyenas, or else there would have been no sign of the carcass.

• Counting Leopards

  Posted: June 9, 2008, 10:00 pm by Nakedi

  To successfully estimate leopard numbers in the concession, each leopard has to be individually identified by the unique spot patterns found on its flanks and face. Each leopard has its own unique spot pattern, like fingerprints on humans.

  Up to this point, I have only one camera per station. This is a problem because if the camera photographs a single leopard but captures one flank the first time and the other flank the second time, there’s no proof that the animal is the same individual. This therefore means that a single animal will be counted twice. The solution here is to use two cameras, one opposite the other, to capture both flanks of a moving animal at the same time.

  For example, the animal pictured here (see Figure 1) can be identified as a single individual, because the camera captured only the right flank. Here I was lucky because the animal was repeatedly photographed only on the right side. Another picture of the leopard taken by the same camera, but capturing the left flank, would make it difficult to determine whether it is the same animal (Figure 2).

  
  Figure 1
  Unique markings on the left side of a female leopard, captured by
  a camera on the game path on the bank of the N’wanetsi River
  at Singita Kruger National Park.

  
  Figure 2
  A leopard whose left flank is captured on camera as he moves along
  the N’wanetsi River at Singita Kruger National Park. This leopard, until
  the spot pattern on the right flank of this animal is shown to be the same
  as in Figure 1, will be counted as two different individuals.

  The best solution is to add more cameras, with two cameras deployed at each station. In that way, there’s  no chance of overestimating the number of leopards in the area.

   

• Camera Traps

  Posted: June 2, 2008, 1:44 pm by Nakedi

  Currently I’m in the process of quantifying leopard numbers in the concession. This has proven not to be an easy task which requires a lot of time to plan and acquire proper equipment. Firstly we had to purchase equipment from the United States, but then had to wait for two weeks for the cameras to be released from the customs services at the airport.

  After receiving the cameras, I had to make a decision to put up the cameras in the field and run the risk of having hyenas and elephants crush them to unidentifiable pieces or to make steel boxes to try and protect them. I decided to take the latter. I asked around to find a suitable person to make the units for me, but they were all beyond my budget. As a result, I went on to try and make my own unit pictured below. It didn’t look like it was going to work properly even though I had every intention to put it to the test (I thought it was work of art!!!).

  Then my colleagues talked some sense to me to try and get someone to make the boxes for me. That’s when Mr. Mtungwa came in to the picture. He was kind enough to offer to make the boxes at a reasonable price per unit.

  I am preparing the camera traps

  The next step was to try the cameras out in the field. I was curious to see how the cameras worked and to see if I can use them to estimate leopard densities using the mark-and recapture methods in the concession. I spent three days with a very experienced Glass Marimane, the Head Tracker at Singita. He managed to show me the exact places where leopards were spotted in the last four years and where we were likely to capture leopards. We then put the traps in those areas to test the effectiveness of the cameras.

  The camera traps work!

• Welcome to the Project Site

  Posted: May 19, 2008, 1:11 pm by Nakedi

  The Leopard Project is in the Limpopo Heartland situated in southern Africa. The Heartland is spread over three countries: Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. The work area chosen for the project is in the Kruger National Park and surrounding areas/communities in South Africa and Mozambique. For starts, the project is running at the N’wanetsi Concession (Popularly known as Singita Kruger National Park). The concession covers 15 000 hectares and is situated on the south central part on the eastern border with Mozambique.

  The Lebombo Mountains run from north to south through the concession. The two main rivers, N’wanetsi and Sweni, also run through the concession with their confluence situated approximately 2.5 kilometres from the Mozambican border. The nearest community on the Mozambican side is in Mapulanguene, which is just 10 kilometres east of the border.

  In order to measure the effectiveness of the project, Program Impact and Assessment (PIMA) was designed. To successfully implement PIMA in this project, I had to gather baseline data such as:

  1. Identifying suitable habitats;
  2. Surveying availability of suitable prey species;
  3. Quantifying leopard numbers; and
  4. Establishing contact with neighbouring communities.

  So far I have managed to:
  1. Identify suitable habitats with the help of the Singita’s well trained guiding and tracking teams;
  2. Identify the availability of suitable prey species; and
  3. Establish contact with Mapulanguene community.

  I would like to thank Singita Kruger National Park for all the support in terms of the logistics, accommodation and giving us the opportunity to conduct this work.

• Leopard Bulletin Volume 1.2 (Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park)

  Posted: March 11, 2008, 12:00 pm by Nakedi

  As was said in my previous blog, I had to visit the Kgalagadi Cheetah Project in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park during 02/03/08 till 07/03/08. The main aim of the visit was to spend time, learn, and discuss the proposed leopard research with Gus Mills, one of the leading figures in the field of large carnivore ecology in Africa. I felt very lucky and privileged to get an opportunity to spend time with Dr. Mills in the field and to see how he partitioned his precious time in order to meet his objectives. We got to spend a lot of time in the field following radio collared cheetah and in the process saw how they behaved. While following the animals, we had more than enough time to discuss my project and I am glad to announce that it is finally taking shape. This means that I can spend the next two to three weeks laying the plan on paper and finally sending it to the South African National Parks Board Scientific Services to be discussed as a potential project. Cheers!!!

• Leopard Bulletin Volume 1.1

  Posted: February 25, 2008, 12:55 pm by Nakedi

  There is not much to tell at the moment. I’m still working on the proposal, as most will agree that to work with beautiful animals such as leopards, preparation is of utmost importance. As a result, on Sunday March the 2nd I will travel to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park to see one of the leading authorities on African Large Carnivores in an attempt to share ideas and prepare a suitable project to be conducted in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. The main aim here is to look at the ecology of the leopards in the region for conservation purposes.

Blah blah blah

Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.

The end of the fish cakes