Data Crunching
Community Projects
Presentations & Discussions
Habitat Conservation
Bushwalks
Photography Tuition
Critiques & Editing
Large Predator Focus
Big 5 Research
Rhino Monitoring
AVG TEMP:
LANGUAGE LESSON:
“Hello, how are you?” 28 C
“Avuxeni, Unjani?” in Shangaan
WHAT’S NEW ON THE GROUND? 1.
Sarah Curtis joins the team as Principal Researcher - we foresee great things from this impressive young woman!
2.
Samuel Cox, our esteemed and talented colleague receives a well-deserved promotion to African Impact’s Photography Manager. Congratulations Sam!
• Our volunteers had a spectacular and rare experience of watching a giraffe give birth – such a special experience for everyone • Volunteers had the great honor of attending a rhino de-horning, one of the anti-poaching efforts employed by reserve management • With new ions on the scene, we have created numerous new ‘ID-kits’ making our future impacts even greater • Volunteers have helped clear 4462msq of alien and invasive plants, a very important task for the sustainability and health of reserve ecosystems • 48 snares were removed from Ambrosia Farm, protecting the lives of at least 48 different animals
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We have managed to collect location data - along with images - of many individuals. All of these leopard pictures will now be sorted to create identikits for each individual. This will then give us and our partners a better idea if and how the leopards move from one property in the area to another
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Research intern, Julie Buerskens, studied leopard territories on the surrounding Big 5 reserves and the results will give us a better insight on how the different individuals share the land and what differences exist between the males and females
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The ultimate goal of this project is to map and track population numbers of leopards, their distributions through an enormous area and the dynamics between individuals; adult and young, and male and female, for example
“What can I do? How can I make a difference? African Impact have shown me how I can contribute and how I can make a difference. It is up to each of us to do that which we can to protect the worlds environments and wildlife”. Photography & Conservation Volunteer
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430 books have been read by our Reading Club this quarter. This has resulted in 18 students progressing in reading level and 48 certificates being presented
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Volunteers have spent a total of 65 hours at Sasekile Gardens helping our Farmers of the Future prepare the soil, plant seedlings and harvest produce – helping them generate their own income
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There has been a lot of cooperative learning on our community projects – something we love to see and facilitate!
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A new farm has been established at Maripe High School and we have several new project participants joining us
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Samuel Cox - our wonderful Photography Manager - collaborated with Natalia Gaal - a photography intern with us for 3 months - and attended a nearby rhino dehorning. Together, they wrote a photo essay and article that was published in Africa Geographic. This is a HUGE success for the photography project as one of the main aims is to be able to teach and demonstrate how photography can be used to support and enhance conservation topics
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Having articles such as this published has a great and powerful impact as it helps spread the word about conservation in Africa
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Furthermore, Samuel worked with Sophie (our on-site Photography Assistant), on an article showing a giraffe giving birth - an exceptional and rare photographic opportunity to experience. This too was published in Africa Geographic. Needless to say, this does an amazing job at promoting wildlife conservation in Africa!
“When the twenty elephants emerged from the bush behind the watering hole, to join their fellow beings, my eyes started leaking. I was humbled. Unequivocally humbled. Beautiful made insignificant, but nonetheless permitted to witness life at its greatest before me. What did I do to deserve this privilege? I thought being in Africa itself was stellar, but to see a sight ripped straight form my dreams? Elephants are my favorite animal! They-re godlike in a way that words can’t do justice. I crept forward to soak in a vista so magnificent that I had to constantly swivel my head to even remotely comprehend its magic. I would trade nothing, nothing at all, to sacrifice this moment. I continued to cry bulbous tears of joy. I didn’t know how else to express myself, so overwhelmed with emotion was I. I didn’t want to express myself in any other way. How can you, when that image in your head presents itself in reality? Natures shining grace. Earths infinite magic…
Peter Carellini, Photography & Conservation Volunteer
THE TEAM IN GREATER KRUGER