Anti-Poaching & Conservation In South Africa

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