As always, we’d like to start by thanking our generous donors and supporters for helping us to raise funds that go towards our conservation projects here in Limpopo. We have many ongoing projects such as improving and increasing our wildlife monitoring equipment, assisting the reserve’s Anti-Poaching Unit (APU) with essential supplies and equipment, and supporting projects in our local community that work towards educating and re-connecting local learners with wildlife and the natural environment. By utilising donor funds for these projects, we hope to have and maintain a more positive and sustainable impact in our area.
Since our last report, we have participated in the GlobalGiving ‘little x little’ campaign. At the start of April our participants took part in a ‘Are you as tough as a Rhino’ challenge. This had our participants showing off their strength through a circuit-based intense workout which included ‘sponsored’ sit-ups, pull-ups, long-distance running and much more. We raised $40 plus the 50% GlobalGiving match, taking the total to $60! These funds, alongside the funds raised at the end of 2022 during our annual Pub Quiz, have already been put to good use supporting our community engagement project through one of our partner organisations Koru Camp, who take learners from the local schools on an environmental education experience in the heart of the Greater Kruger. Each camp allows for 10 students and 2 teachers to join and costs ZAR3200 (roughly $170) for a 3-day camping experience. Thanks to funds raised, we were able to organise two separate trips with Koru Camp in April and June this year which has allowed a total of 20 learners to participate in this incredible experience. We even have plans to send a further 20 learners to Koru Camp before the end of 2023!
Our new order of charitable t-shirts was a massive success, so much so that we placed a second order alongside another order for our Rhino hoodies. These are a must-have during the cold mornings here in the Lowveld and as such, have nearly sold out within just 2 weeks so we will be looking to place another hoodie order soon! All profit from the t-shirts, hoodies and caps support our projects.
Our online funds will continue to be put towards the larger (and generally more expensive) projects assisting the reserve’s APU with equipment and supplies such as repairs to their patrol quad bike and installing additional cellular camera traps around the reserve. In April this year, we were again able to cover the costs of the APU operations base annual Wi-Fi subscription of ZAR6,135 (USD330), maintaining an essential communication line for the team to effectively coordinate and monitor the reserve’s security.
We are planning to hold a fundraiser Karaoke night on the 15th of July, with the kind permission of our hosts for the night, Three Bridges Restaurant. The money raised from the event as well as from our online platform will primarily go towards the purchase of a satellite collar for a newly introduced female cheetah to the reserve. This hi-tech collar will cost ZAR25,000 (roughly US$1,300) and will enable us to increase and improve our monitoring efforts of the female cheetah, including more frequent kill utilisation data collection as well as contributing data to the Cheetah Metapopulation Initiative. Watch this space for some more exciting updates to come on our predator monitoring projects!
Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to highlight that none of this could be possible without the support of both our participants and partners in the field, as well as our alumni, friends, family, and partners all around the world.
Thank you so much for your continued support and engagement in the projects that we here in the field are so passionate about.
Love,
The GVI Limpopo Team
As always, we’d like to start by thanking our generous donors and supporters for helping us to raise funds that go towards our conservation projects here in the Limpopo Kruger 2 Canyons Biosphere. Projects such as purchasing new wildlife monitoring equipment, assisting the reserve’s Anti Poaching Unit (APU) with essential supplies and equipment, and supporting projects in our local community that work towards educating and re-connecting local learners with wildlife and the natural environment are just some of the ways in which we utilise donor funds to create a more positive and sustainable impact in our area.
Since our last report, we are thrilled to announce that our annual Pub Quiz was a huge success with a whopping US$1,332 (roughly ZAR24,000) raised online thanks to our GlobalGiving fundraiser page and an additional ZAR11,200 (roughly US$600) raised as cash donations on the night. We had a fantastic turnout on the night from our regular supporters, with a huge thanks going to the Swanepoel family of Mahlahla Game Lodge for once again hosting us for the evening. These funds will be put to good use, supporting our community engagement project with a new partner, Koru Camp, which takes learners from the local school out on an environmental education experience in the heart of the Greater Kruger region.
Our online funds will continue to be put towards the larger (and generally more expensive) projects assisting the reserve’s APU with equipment and supplies such as repairs to their patrol quadbike and installing more cellular camera traps around the reserve. Our more intensive wildlife monitoring projects have also been able to continue thanks to our charitable funds, with the latest project consisting of hiring a drone and purchasing an ankle collar for use on one of the rhino bulls that has been of particular interest to us and the reserve management team since last year, a project which cost ZAR9,000 (roughly US$500).
We’ve also taken the opportunity to start the year fresh with a new supply and re-branding of our charitable t-shirts sold on our hub to participants and partners, with the addition of branded hats with all profits going towards our GVI Charitable Program fund. They’ve been an absolute hit with our new participants who have been rocking the merchandise so well that we’re almost ready to place a second order!
Once again, we would like to take this opportunity to mention that none of this could be possible without the support of both our participants and partners in the field, as well as our alumni, friends, family, and partners all around the world. Bring on 2023!!
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much for your continued support and engagement in our projects.
Love,
The GVI Limpopo Team
Since our last report the Limpopo Project team has been very busy making purchases to aid our wildlife monitoring and anti-poaching efforts. We also have lots of exciting fundraising activities and events being planned before the end of the year.
Thanks to our generous donors and supporters we have been able to raise funds that will go towards purchasing new wildlife monitoring equipment, continuing to assist our Anti Poaching Unit with essential supplies and equipment and improving our community engagement and education programs.
Since our last report, with the funds raised both online and in-country campaigns, GVI has been able to make the following purchases for our monitoring and security projects:
Hyena collar (Aug 2022) - R4,500
Double-swing gate (replacing Spectra Gate) (Aug 2022) - R2,580
TR-4 Receiver with accompanying Rubber Duck Antenna + postage (Aug 2022) - R37,168
Batteries for cellular camera traps AA x80 (Aug 2022) - R3,600
TOTAL = R77,733!!
In progress currently is the planning of our annual Pub Quiz fundraiser, held at Mahlahla Game Lodge with the kind permission of the owner. In the build-up to the Pub Quiz fundraiser, we have an online fundraiser running. With the dedication of our participants’ families and friends, they are going head to head to complete challenges to raise money for our wildlife monitoring and protection funds. So far our online fundraiser has raised $590 with a total target of $1500 (roughly R27,000) These funds will go towards ongoing upgrades to our monitoring equipment, improvements to our community engagement program including increasing our efforts on women's empowerment projects as well as assisting our security team on the reserve with essential repairs to the Anti Poaching Quad Bike that aids the dedicated anti-poaching unit with constant patrols of the fence line.
In addition, The Oaks Colour Run with the teacher and students at Diputhi Primary School will be returning. Our aim is to use funds raised from our Colour Run fundraiser to purchase reading and writing materials, furniture and learning posters for the tutoring room. The room will help tutor those learners that are still struggling with the basics of reading, writing and mathematics before they are pushed forward into high school.
None of this could be possible without the support of both our participants and partners in the field, as well as our alumni, friends, family, and partners all around the world. Despite global challenges and unrest our work and impact in the area have continued to increase, and we can’t wait to see what next year has in store for our program!
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much for your continued support and engagement in our projects.
Love from the Limpopo project team
Since our last report the team have been very busy with lots of exciting fundraising activities and events.
Thanks to our generous donors and supporters we have been able to raise funds which will go towards purchasing new wildlife monitoring equipment as well as assisting our Anti Poaching Unit with essential supplies and equipment.
In December 2021 we hosted a fundraising Pub Quiz night, with the help of nearby owners and operators of Mahlahla Game Lodge. The night was a huge success, raising R20,874 ( roughly USD$1,346) on the night, with our online GlobalGiving campaign contributing a further R17,700 (roughly USD$1,142) towards our Anti Poaching and Wildlife Conservation in South Africa GCP Fund. In total this event raised R35,350 (USD$2,280) which will allow us to obtain additional cellular camera traps and the equipment required for their implementation on the reserve.
In May 2022 we held a ‘Sokkie 4 Rhinos’ fundraiser at Maroela Bar, one of the local restaurants in town. The event was organised by one of our interns as part of the leadership program and was yet another successful night! In total this event raised USD$2,773 (roughly ZAR44,300)which includes the cash made on the night as well as our online GlobalGiving campaign. The event was held to raise funds primarily for our Anti-Poaching Unit who recently put together an equipment ‘wish list’ which includes everything from boots for walking patrols, more cellular camera trap packs for real-time monitoring (which will cost ZAR9,000 to run for one year), as well as essential vehicle repairs for the reserve warden.
Now comes the best part! After two successful fundraisers both online and in-field, we will be sitting down with our partners of Karongwe over the next couple of weeks to start purchasing this crucial equipment and hike up our monitoring and security systems in place. This comes at a crucial time, as the number of reported cases of break-ins by poachers on nearby properties has significantly increased in the last few months.
None of this could be possible without the support of both our participants and partners in the field, as well as our alumni, friends, family, and partners all around the world. Despite ongoing global challenges, our work and impact in the area has continued to increase, and we can’t wait to see what the rest of the year has in store for our program!
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much for your continued support and engagement in our projects.
Love,
The GVI Limpopo Team
With the ability to set up all our camera traps in the field with the additional sponsored batteries, this will not only significantly increase the amount of area on the reserve being monitored, but also increase the frequency of us recording spatial utilization, as well as potentially behavioural and interactive data on our focus species and monitoring of the local rhino population. These funds allow us to support the anti-rhino poaching units with equipment and gear that they need to be effective - this includes camera traps to monitor locations and movements of the rhinos, rechargeable battery packs for communication devices to maintain contact with the anti-poaching units and general supplies and medicines.
None of this could be possible without the support of both our participants and partners in the field, as well as our alumni, friends, family, and partners all around the world. Our work and impact in the area has continued to increase, and we can’t wait to see what the rest of 2022 has in store for our initiatives and partners!
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much for your support and engagement in our projects.
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
Make a monthly donation & get 
