The Cape Leopard Trust Newsletter
March 2006
We would like to update you on some new developments. This
newsletter is a little longer than usual, but you would be hard done
by if all of this exciting news was not shared with you.
LEOPARD COLLARING AND MOVEMENTS

"Johan"
WE HAVE FINALLY CAUGHT HIM!! As you may have gathered from our
previous news or updates on our website, we have captured and
collared "Johan" – the "Main Man" of the Red Cederberg. This
happened on the 23rd of February. He weighed in at a hefty 45kg and
is in outstanding condition. He was caught in a superbly constructed
cage trap made by Jaco van Deventer, a Cape Nature (CN) colleague of
ours. Rika du Plessis (CN) was once again on hand to assist in this
capture procedures. Pictured above from left: Willem, Rika, Johan &
Quinton.

As a matter of interest, "Johan" was our very first leopard
photographed at 23h19 on the 23rd May 2004! Since then we have
captured 51 photographs of this elusive and charismatic leopard. I
have often tracked him, and although I had never seen him prior to
his capture, I know HE has seen me. On the 26th August 2004,
Leopards Leap Wines and Africa Geographic magazine went into
partnership "adopting" and naming him after our founding trust
member Johan van der Westhuizen. This may all seem old hat to some
of you, but what certainly isn't, is the information we will be
getting from this GPS collar. Thus far, our camera trap surveys have
indicated that he is utilizing a massive area which is certainly
greater than 400km2. Previous work estimated ranges of between 40 &
70km2. The GPS fixes will give us an accurate idea of how big his
home range really is.

"Houdini"
We are receiving unbelievably valuable data from Houdini's GPS
collar. To-date we have downloaded 860 GPS points showing latitude,
longitude, time, altitude and temperature. By separating this data,
we can for example, see when his activity peaks are. This
information gathered so far corresponds with our data showing a
preference for nocturnal movement in the Cederberg. We would expect
a variation of this in winter – we will see…

GPS Collars
Our aim is to purchase several lighter collars that we can use on
the much smaller female leopards. This would give us ample
opportunities to discover and view den sites, get a better idea of
cub mortality and general ecology of leopards in the western Cape
Folded Mountains. We would have had an opportunity to collar a
female caught in our traps in January, but she turned out to be too
young to collar. Trapping has been suspended till the smaller
collars arrive.

PROGRESS OF OTHER CLT WORK AND LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Nicole's Genetic work
Nicole is enjoying a lovely, rainy, freezing Norwegian winter. I
have offered for her to return to sunny SA – to no avail. Her
dedication to her work is unsurpassed so she will hang in there,
endure the sniffles and snow so that she can complete her Masters
thesis. This will be the longest four month wait since I counted the
days to my 5th birthday.

Dassie study
We have an American student, Sarah Smith, coming out from Colorado
State University to conduct a preliminary study on the health of our
Dassie (Rock Hyrax) populations here in the Cederberg. Why dassies?
Well, they are a common prey species for leopards as well as other
predators such as caracal and Black Eagle. Their populations have
also shown a dramatic decline over the past 20 odd years. This may
be a natural cycle, but may be due to unknown viruses in the
population, as this cyclical variation is generally only found in
northern hemisphere populations of animals. Dr Bill Horsnell, an
expert immunologist from the University of Cape Town, will assist
Sarah in this project. Jaco van Deventer (Cape Nature) will help us
with the practical elements of capturing these guys in cage traps so
as not to do any destructive sampling.

CLT Employment
Willem Titus, a resident from the Eselbank/Langkloof region of the
Cederberg, is our chosen candidate beginning his apprenticeship as a
field assistant with the CLT. RMB & the GCBC have sponsored his
salary. All I can say is we have chosen the right man for the job!
Within the first 2 weeks I had him typing up his notes on our
computer – this from a 25yr old STD 6 graduate who has never used a
computer before! He is getting in some driving experience in
Frikkadel & we hope he gets his drivers license soon. From catching
leopards to handling reptiles, nothing seems beyond this
enthusiastic young man's capabilities. We will keep you updated on
his progress.

Anatolian dog sponsorship
News on our two Anatolian dogs sponsored:
Tabs (sponsored by Margaret Baran): - Hennie & Rienie Spamer of
Driehoek (Cederberg) are doing a great job of taking care of Tabs.
She is doing very well so far & we have noted from the GPS collar
information of "Houdini" that he has walked close to where she and
the sheep hang out but has not taken a chance to test her strength
or dedication to her flock.

Sheba (Pictured left & Sponsored by Peter Braat): - Feedback from
Barend Le Roux (CN) who is monitoring her progress on Ampie
Albetyn's Overberg farm – "In general I am happy with Ampie and
Sheba's progress thus far and think that Ampie is doing a great job."

Well there you have it! Pip Niewoudt's 2 dogs in the Cederberg are
also continuing to work well in the field with him having ZERO stock
losses.

Search for the extinct Zanzibar Leopard
Nicole & I were commissioned by the IUCN, WWF, EWT, CI, WCS and all
other conservation based organizations worldwide to conduct a week
long search for the extinct Zanzibar leopard (WE WISH!). We headed
out to the island on the 15th of January anyway. The results of the
search proved that, while soaking up the sun, sipping exotic
cocktails and eating delicious seafood on the beaches of the North
coast, we managed to find one leopard – PAWS! Actually, truth be
told, we seriously needed a holiday, and this is the wonderful
island where Nicole & I eloped to just over 4 years ago. We had a
fantastic break.


MEDIA

Greenstone Productions – Trent's Wildcat Adventures
A few weeks ago, I was set upon by a group of Kiwi's – a film crew
out to film the work the CLT is doing on leopards. This was not an
attempt to study strategies used by various predator-named rugby
teams in SA, but for an actual wildlife program in New Zealand.
Trent, the star of the program, and I had a great time hiking in the
mountains tracking Houdini. I expect the camera crew were certainly
not as carefree and happy - having to lug their very heavy and
expensive equipment up & down our mountain sides in very hot
conditions. All in all, it was a good 4 days which included a
fantastic Bateleurs Flight with Johan Ferreira – more on this below.

50/50
Bart Smithers and his trusty intern, Muffin, have completed their
work towards the 50/50 program. We are just waiting on when it will
be aired. Bart has done some classic programs, including an anti-
whaling documentary and how rats sniff out land-mines in Mozambique.
We cannot wait to see what he has done with this one…

Die Burger
Jorisna Bonthuys went all out to do a series of comprehensive
articles on the CLT's work & CN's move to abolish gin traps and
educate farmers regarding a more holistic approach to problem animal
control. The fantastic articles appeared in the Burger on the 7th
March.

PRESENTATIONS AND LEOPARD FORUMS
Presentations
I have recently had several opportunities to conduct presentations
at various venues and events. Just to mention the most recent:

CC Africa invited us to do a presentation so as to become more
involved in our next anniversary event – By the way this year's
anniversary event will be AMAZING!!! Ok then…even MORE amazing than
last year!

I was invited by Leopards Leap Wines to do a presentation to a group
of 80 guests at Reuben's restaurant in Franschhoek – you can just
imagine – rough! Cocktails, 5 course meal, great wines…Mmm.

Next up - BushmansKloof Wilderness Reserve invited Nicole and I to
their conservation weekend. Being in Norway, Nicole could of course,
not make it, so I had to endure the pampering ALL ALONE! Who said
this life we lead is rough…Everyone had a brilliant time, attending
fascinating talks on Cape Mountain Zebra (by Peter Lloyd – CLT
Trustee & CN Scientific services); Indigenous Fish of the Western
Cape (Dean Impson, CN); walks; a classic caracal sighting on a kill;
flyfishing…

I attended our second meeting of the SALF at the EWT head office in
Jo'burg on the 3rd of February. This proved to be a very productive
exercise and we are working well together towards the preservation
of the species. Thanks to the EWT for allowing us to use their venue
in Johannesburg.

On Wednesday (15th) I will do a presentation concerning our work
within the Greater Cederberg Biodiversity Corridor. This will
include feedback on our recent expedition to the Tankwa National
Park to set up a leopard presence/absence survey (& see if we can
photograph a supposed "Black leopard" sighted in the area).
Regarding the latter, my sneaky suspicion is that it is actually a
caracal that has been sunburnt black in this very hot and hostile
environment.

The EWT & CN are hosting a workshop on the holistic management of
human-wildlife conflict in South Africa in April. I will be
attending this very important 3 day meeting and will certainly
provide insight into the process and outcomes in our following
newsletter. Leopards Leap Wines are sponsoring all the wine for our
first night "Ice Breaker".

________________________


BATELEURS - Flying for Conservation (www.bateleurs.org)
First off – resounding congratulations to Nora Kreher (chairperson
for the Bateleurs) for winning the prestigious Audi Terra Nova
Award. She is truly Brilliant!! Well Done!!!
The Bateleurs continue playing a vital role in our project, enabling
us to track our collared leopards with ease from the air. Johan
Ferreira and Jock Kannemeyer are always supportive and
accommodating – never hesitating to fly when we need it. Our most
recent flight was with Johan and the Kiwi film crew in the Rolls
Royce of bush aircrafts – the Cessna Caravan. We were in the air for
about 90min and captured some great aerial footage of the area and
of us tracking our 2 leopards. Flying high over the Tankwa Karoo was
stunning, but did not prepare us for this harsh, but beautiful area
we drove into this past week.

Africa Geographic competition winners
Mark & Lindsey Burgess were the lucky winners of the Africa
Geographic competition where CC Africa (Londolozi), Mount Ceder and
Keurbosfontein (Johan van der Westhuizen's Bakkrans) sponsored
accommodation for them. Johan & I guided them on their trip in the
Cederberg. It was great and these were really two deserving winners.


_____________________________


NEW SPONSORS AND DONATIONS
Rand Merchant Bank/Leopards Leap
I am still hopping around like a leopard on Tankwa Karoo rocks in
summer - waiting to acquire our new sponsored vehicle. Last year,
RMB provided us with R100 000 towards a research vehicle for the
project. We have in the interim tried to get co-sponsorship from
various vehicle manufacturers, however, as has been the case for the
past 2 years, conservation plays an insignificant role for most, and
what with all those great bundu bashing 4x4's running around…! (this
would exclude the valuable contribution the Mazda Wildlife Fund
makes to conservation).
Well, not all has been lost – Leopards Leap Wines have, Mmmm, leapt,
to the occasion and provided us with an additional R80 000 to help
find a suitable means of transport (and a medical aid scheme) for
the trust – we will, as previously mentioned, call our second
vehicle "Koeksister" – named after all things sweet – it is also a
popular item on any Cederberg menu.
Latest news is that we may have found a vehicle to purchase at a
very good price – I will have to let you know the outcome in our
next newsletter.

Leopard Adoption
The "Pantereus" foundation in the Netherlands (www.pantereus.com)
have recently adopted F6 and opted to sponsor her GPS collar as
well – i.e. if we are able to capture her. This is a fantastic
contribution – we hope that we can catch this girl whose home range
falls well within "Johan's" territory. We also have pics of her
with "Johan" over a 4 day period. It is possible she may have had
cubs in mid-January…



Carole & Rex Harland
The Harland's came out on a leopard tracking trip with me in the
Cederberg last year. Although they were bounced and battered around
in Frikkadel in some pretty chilly weather, they were incredibly
enthused by the project. On returning to the UK, they arranged a
series of dinners with friends as a means to raise funds for the
CLT! Leopards Leap heard about this & sent them some wine – sounds
like they all had an absolute ball, and soon after we received a
generous donation from the UK!! Amazing!

Cage traps
Mike Snethlage of FlexiPave approached us offering us assistance
after our Carte Blanche program was aired. Since then he has built
and sponsored several leopard cage traps to the CLT. The traps are
all built to the specifications of the cages Jaco van Deventer has
designed and built. We in turn have sponsored 3 of these traps to CN
for use in the West Coast region (Porterville CN base). Mike has
been integral in the design and making of the anti-baboon rubbish-
bins seen around the Western Cape. Below: Mike & Quinton



Karl Westwig
Just after our last newsletter, the CLT received yet another
generous donation from Karl and Gabbi Westwig (&kids) – R10 000.
Many thanks for this amazing support.

Premier Auto Rondebosch
Frikkadel had some pampering over the festive season – Harty Korsch,
Rudi Opperman and Richard were on hand to provide some well needed
TLC while Nicole & I were away for a week. And what was the outcome –
a very happy, shiny Suzuki jeep – with an almost Non-existent bill.
These guys are amazing! Thank you.

Southfield Auto Electrical
Andre, his father and Delmaine run a brilliant shop and have once
again provided the CLT (& Frikkadel) with some well needed
attention – ALL FOR FREE. I have been using Southfield for all my
safari vehicle electrical needs for almost 10 yrs and it is great to
see the generosity Andre has extended to the project.


Camtrap Sponsorships
James Wells is a new camera trap sponsor while Jessie Middelmann and
Paul Middlemann have both renewed their sponsorship for 2006. We
have only recently put our cameras back out in the field, so results
should start pouring in soon. Exciting news is that we should be
getting some interesting pics from the Tankwa National park as well.

Donations
Thanks must go to Mrs R Picotti and RM Jones for their generous
donations to the CLT.

Outward Ventures
Thanks to Jeff & co for all their help with my hiking boots &
camping gear. You guys have been really great!

A Special Thanks must go to ALL of our supporters for having the
faith in our ability to make a difference with this project. We will
continue to do our very best and put all our effort into work that
is crucial to our precious environment. If we have neglected to
thank any person who should have been included in this newsletter –
PLEASE let us know so we can include you in our next newsletter.

Kindest regards and best wishes

Quinton & Nicole Martins
Project Managers


Project Sponsors:

Sponsors (R250 000 plus):
Rand Merchant Bank

Sponsors (R100 000 – R250 000):
Bergen University
Eco Aire - Peter Turnbull
Leopards Leap – Historic Wines
Polaris Capital

Sponsors (R50 000 - R100 000):
Africa Geographic
Bushmans Kloof
Capestorm
Engel & Volkers
Rufford Small Grant
Televilt

Sponsors ((R10 000 - R50 000)
Auction Alliance
Cape Nature (House Rental)
CC Africa
Citrusdal Cellars
Frametazia
Fuji Film
Karl Westvig
Keurbosfontein
Mount Ceder
Photo Connection
Premier Auto Group Rondebosch
Sean Caulfield
Sohn, Gordon, Martins, Brandford Attorneys
Stellenbosch University
Two Oceans Aquarium

Camera Trap Sponsors:
Birding Africa; Boland Eco-4's; Hooper Family; Ian Michler; Jessie
Middelmann; Land Cruiser Club of SA;Lehr Family; Mountain Club of
SA; Paul & Kim Woulfe; Paul & Lindsay Middelmann; Peggy Whitson ;
Ubuntu Trust

Leopard Adoptions:
"Johan" - Leopards Leap Wines/Africa Geographic
"Lisa" - Leopards Leap Wines/Africa Geographic
"Ouma Maaitjie" - Leopards Leap Wines/Africa Geographic
"Houdini" - Eco Aire/Peter Turnbull
"Max" - Oelz Family
"Oom Arrie" - Engel & Volkers
F6 - "Pantereus" foundation

Anatolian Shepherd Dog sponsorship
Margaret Baran - sponsored "Tabs" working at Driehoek (Cederberg
Peter Braat - sponsored Sheba to Ampie Albertyn in Botriver.

Donors
Avalon Springs; Melissa Baird; Cederberg Conservancy; Cederberg
Wines; Cheetah Outreach; Clara Anna Fontein; Gate-7; Gerald Hinde;
Guy Hayward; Harley Davidson (Cape Town); Haw & Inglis (Pty); Louis
Kienle; Photo Connection; Picto; MunYaWana Leopard Project; Neil
Jowell; RCS; Sandown Motor Holdings; Sean Caulfield; Steve Tugwell;!
Khwa