Wildlife Conservation South Africa Project #50699

Anti-Poaching & Conservation In South Africa

by GVI Charitable Programs

Project Report | Mar 9, 2023
Moving forward in 2023

By Zoe Biggs | Project Manager

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

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Nov 10, 2022
Resources purchased to support monitoring and security

By Zoe Biggs | Program Manager

funds support resource purchases

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

2 x Cellular Camera Traps, Solar Panel, Booster Antenna (October 2022) - R15,560

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

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Jul 13, 2022
Fundraising for Change

By Zoe Biggs | Program Manager

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

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