Cat's Whisper

As part of its routine work, AfriCat North staff regularly patrol the southern Hobatere boundary fence at night. Here are some of the findings and events of the past months:

The lion cub at right was snared by a farmer who has lost most of his donkey herd to lion predation over a period of 12 months. He was left with 4 donkeys. AfriCat North donated mesh wire to upgrade his small kraal and requested the farmer to pack a dense barrier of thorny acacias around the base of the kraal, to prevent the lions or any other predator, from digging underneath. The AfriCat-Okorusu Communal Carnivore Conservation Programme (CCCP) passed by his kraal on a regular basis during their night patrols, only to find that the farmer had ignored our warnings and advice, only to lose a donkey foal to lions a week later.

Unbeknown to us, he had set snares in the Hobatere fence, a mere 100m from his homestead. A photograph sent to AfriCat North by the Conservancy office, showed the snared lion cub in a tree. AfriCat visited the farmer and he admitted to having snared the cub, hanging it in the tree to attract the mother. Fortunately, due to AfriCat's routine patrols, which pass by the farmer's homestead, the lioness did not return.

In May 2011, AfriCat also rebuilt and upgraded a 40m x 70m kraal at Kamdescha Cattle Post, situated approximately 3 kms from the Hobatere fence. A relatively influential farmer, Mr. Uheja has approximately 550 head of cattle, owns a rifle and has threatened to shoot any lion he finds!AfriCat was called to assist after Uheja had tripped and fallen, losing his rifle whilst chasing lions after dark.

The small lion cub caught and hung in a tree.

The remains of a sub-adult, male lion.

The rifle was found in a dry riverbed and to Uheja's dismay, fresh lion tracks over his own footprints in the sand! After much deliberation, Uheja agreed that a stronger, larger kraal was needed to better protect his livestock. An agreement was reached between AfriCat and the farmer: that the cattle should be in the kraal by late afternoon/early evening, the CCCP should be called if lions are sighted or tracks found and no lions should be shot or trapped.

Some of our night patrols are accompanied by the Khoa di //Hoas game guards, who appreciate our assistance as they do not have the appropriate vehicles or spot-lights. On the night of 11 August, 6 snares found in the Hobatere fence were removed by our CCCP team; another 4 snares were removed on 30 August. These incidents were reported to the traditional Headman as well as the Khoa di //Hoas Conservancy office. At a general meeting held recently, the Headman reprimanded the farmers responsible for setting the snares, reminding them of the law against setting snares or traps in the Hobatere fence. According to the headman, a gin-trap may only be set at a carcass; however, according to the Conservancy representative, NO traps are permitted according to the Conservancy Management Plan. This discrepancy has been brought up by the CCCP, and we are awaiting feedback.

Investigation into the snaring and shooting of a sub-adult, male lion has revealed some disturbing information: it would appear that the farmer Uheja had paid someone to set the snares in the Hobatere fence. After lengthy discussions, we have tried to convince communal farmers that Africat's continued support depends on their cooperation; should they continue to set snares, our support will be withdrawn.

The dilemma that is presented by this situation is that offers to set snares for payment as well as sell the lion's teeth to Chinese prospectors, are hard to turn down. One local farmer has lost all of his livestock save one donkey – he has four children at good schools; how does one change his attitude to predators when he has nothing more to lose, despises these predators (lions), has no income from a tourism venture (via a Conservancy lodge or camp-site), which could be used as an argument for protecting these lions as well as the fact that living on his communal farmland restricts his options for improving his financial status? How to turn such farmers around? If we leave him be, we won't change his attitude, so we intend to keep working with him to try and effect change.

Snares and gin-traps are the most common methods used to catch wild animals. In some cases, rural community members trap or snare animals for food (antelope and other small mammals); the use of hunting rifles to shoot antelope for food is only permitted on private land, where certain animals such as kudu & oryx, may be shot without a permit (other species require special permits). Hunting for food on communal farmland may only take place once the Conservancy Management Plan has been approved and then only undertaken by Conservancy-registered hunters, allowing for certain species & number to be shot and in clearly designated areas.

Vermin or so-called 'problem animals' are regularly trapped by communal and free-hold (commercial) farmers throughout Namibia: small-stock farmers (sheep & goats) trap large numbers of Jackal & Caracal per year and in an attempt to protect their larger livestock from Leopard, Lion, Cheetah & Hyaena, farmers will set especially gin-traps at carcasses or in well-used pathways. In many cases, when livestock is caught by a predator, the 'culprit' has eaten its fill and does not return to the carcass – it is the other harmless animals attracted to the carcass by the scent or to scavenge, that are caught (warthog, vultures, honey badgers, etc). Thus, the success-rate of catching the culprit using gin-traps is debatable, but often the only means to eradicate the predator, albeit short-term.

One of a number of snares found and removed.

A Khoa di /Hoas Conservancy Game guard indicating the snare set by communal farmers.

A gin trap snapped onto the paw of a lion.

Fencing materials for kraal building and predator proof fortications are donated to farmers in the communities.

Spotting Leopards on Okonjima
by Nigel Berriman - Okonjima guide

If you thought a guide's only work is telling entertaining stories while pointing out Leopard and other interesting sightings on Okonjima, you would be very mistaken. They also gather critical data on the animals in the reserve and feed this back to AfriCat HQ who in turn use the information for strategic planning and research of the animals in their care. The Leopards and Spotted Hyaena in the 4000 hectare reserve have been monitored on a regular, almost daily basis since May 2008. Guides have been taking notes on the animal's positions, movements and prey species.

At present there are six leopards fitted with radio collars in this area: TJ (Tyson junior), Mafana, Nkosi and Scarface (males) and MJ, (Maha Junior) and her cub Oshiwa (females).

Oshiwa left her mother during September last year and is now hunting independently. MJ has since given birth to two cubs that are now about 8 months old.

During the 39 month period from May 2008 to the end of July 2011, 2099 leopard sightings were made and 301 kills recorded.

Like Nkosi, TJ is more secretive than Mafana and MJ, and is very adept at hiding his kills. Mafana's radio collar stopped working towards the end of last year and he led us on a merry dance before being recaptured and fitted with a new collar. Very little data on Scarface is available as he has only been recently caught and collared. Analysing the collected data has provided the following statistics on hunting and prey preference:

• 1 leopard kill every 4 days & 1.7 sightings per day during a period of 1185 days.
• Over a long period of time – no leopard had a preferred prey species – at times it may be warthog (28%) for the stronger males – then kudu (21%) – proof again that leopards are 'opportunists' and will kill whichever prey is easily available.
• Altogether, 19 species of mammals, two species of birds and one species of reptile were noted. From Aardvark to Zebra and including Bat Eared Foxes, Black Backed Jackal and Caracal. Nkosi was once observed killing and eating a Leguaan (Monitor Lizard).
• Contrary to popular notion the chacma baboon is also not the preferred prey for leopard. Only one baboon kill was witnessed during the 1185 day period! In fact, Nkosi has been seen fleeing from a troop of angry Baboons in hot pursuit on two occasions...

Leopards are notoriously silent, solitary hunters who will often drag their kill into a tree, perhaps to avoid having to share with other scavengers on the ground.

Guests have a more than 90% chance of seeing any one of the many leopards at Okonjima.

A leopard skillfully drags the carcass of a Chacma Baboon to a nearby tree.

Oshiwa patiently waits and watches a herd of kudu. Although slender and shy, Oshiwa is a photographer's dream.

Footprints in the Sand

WildTrack visits Okonjima and AfriCat

Earlier this year, we had the great pleasure of a visit to Okonjima – home of the AfriCat Foundation, at the kind invitation of Wayne Hanssen and his family. Our mission was rather different from other visitors - we were not there to look for cheetah, or leopard, or hyena but rather we were searching for their footprints.

WildTrack (www.wildtrack.org) is our endangered species monitoring organisation. We were in Namibia co-hosting a carnivore monitoring workshop at N/a'an ku se Wildlife Sanctuary, which Wayne Hanssen – representing AfriCat, attended. Our primary interest is in using footprints to monitor endangered and elusive species. Using our Footprint Identification Technique (FIT) we can identify individuals, and sometimes also their age and sex.

Monitoring endangered species is central to successful conservation. Take the cheetah as an example. Unless we have accurate figures for the numbers of cheetah in Namibia, and where they are, it's very difficult to implement a successful conservation strategy. Yet current estimates range from around 2,500 animals, up to more than 9,000.

How can we get more accurate figures? In the past 30 years radio-telemetry (fitting collars, or transmitters) has been widely adopted, but as anyone using this technique will tell you, it is very expensive, collars are often unreliable, and the animal has to be routinely immobilised for the procedure. That's not to say that collaring doesn't have a role - it can be invaluable for monitoring a few animals if funding is not an issue and welfare is carefully maintained - but it's just not practical for population censusing.

Some years ago we worked in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, monitoring black rhino. At that time the Govt. of Zimbabwe had decided to radio-collar every rhino in the hope that this would help protect them from poachers. Over a 10 year period our research found that not only did radio-collars fail at a very high rate, but that female rhino fertility declined dramatically as the animals were repeatedly immobilized for re-collaring. During these years we'd been out in the bush tracking with expert local trackers who were able to identify individuals from footprints. That's when we thought about trying to translate their ancient tracking skills into a format accessible for non-experts, with the benefit of modern technology.

After many years of trial and error, and working with world-experts from such diverse fields as image-recognition, software engineering, mathematics, statistics and forensic science, we published our findings. These attracted attention from wildlife biologists all over the world who were interested in using footprints as a new approach to monitoring their study species. We now have a footprint identification system for several species, including black and white rhino, the Bengal tiger, the Polar bear, mountain lion (cougar), striped hyena, Baird's and lowland tapir and even small mammals at the species level. Development is in the pipeline already for the cheetah, African elephant, brown hyena and leopard.

FIT is able to identify individuals from measurements of their footprints. Each species has a unique geometric profile of the measurements which allow us to identify them at the required level. For most species FIT has provided an accuracy of more than 95% in individual identification. All that's needed to collect images is a digital camera, a GPS, and a ruler! The data processing can be done back at base on a laptop computer using JMP data visualisation software from the SAS Institute.

Footprint impressions taken from Jago, Morticia, Pugsley and Wednesday.

As well as the science, FIT has considerable local community benefits. Because it is based on traditional tracking techniques, local scouts, rangers and trackers find it a very accessible tool. For little or no extra cost they can carry simple digital cameras in the field and collect footprint images. Their participation in conservation will also help make it sustainable - all conservationists agree that conservation can only be sustainable with the support of local people.

Our next step is to bring this technique into the field as a stand-alone package for wider use by wildlife managers and custodians, scientists and researchers. We receive support from JMP software from the SAS Institute, in North Carolina, USA, to streamline the imaging and statistical components, and introduce new features to allow animal distributions to be mapped - all in one package. We hope to develop this for mobile field devices, such as the iPad or Android tablets, so that data can be gathered, processed and relayed direct from the field.

We're working together with a group of Namibian and Botswanan wildlife organisations to get FIT into the field where it is needed. Wayne Hanssen and the Okonjima, AfriCat & PAWS Teams will be collecting footprints from cheetah, leopard and brown hyena in the first instance, from which we will form a reference database for these species. FIT will then be able to monitor these species on site, using footprints.

We're very excited to be working with the AfriCat family to bring this vision to reality for Namibian wildlife!

Keep watching this space, Zoe Jewell and Sky Alibhai.

Sky Alibhai, D.Phil
Zoe Jewell, M.A., M.Sc., Vet. M.B., M.R.C.V.S

Apartado 210, 8550-909 Monchique, Portugal
& The SAS Institute, SAS Campus Drive, Cary, NC 27513

info@wildtrack.org   www.wildtrack.org

Sibling Three
By AJ Rousseau - Field Researcher, Team AfriCat

ABBEY, TINTIN, MULDER, AND SCULLY

This sibling group came to The AfriCat Foundation in 2004 as orphans. As many of the other cats in the care of the foundation, their mother was shot by a farmer for killing livestock. Being around 8 months old when they arrived, they were never handled by people and that kept them fairly wild around humans. Originally they were not picked for the rehabilitation program, but later it was felt that there was still more space available within the Reserve for 4 more cheetahs.

They were released into the Reserve on the 25th of October 2010. It took them about ten days to make their first kill and it seemed that they were on their way to success. Unfortunately, on the 17th of November 2010 Mulder was badly injured by an eland. The group was trying to catch eland calves and one of the mothers managed to corner Mulder on his own. He was badly gored by a horn. He was removed from the Reserve on the same day and rushed to the vet clinic in Otjiwarongo. After he was stitched up he was taken back to AfriCat where he started a 3 week recovery period.

During this period more bad luck struck the remaining siblings. On the 20th of November, Skully was attacked by a warthog and also rushed to the vet clinic. Although her injuries were apparently superficial, she unfortunately died 2 days later due to kidney failure. Scully was the second cheetah we lost in the Reserve.

Even though Abbey and Tintin lost 2 members of their coalition within a week, it did not seem to affect their hunting skills. They still managed to make regular kills. A month after Mulder's attack, he was released back into the Reserve. He was released close to Abbey and Tintin, who recognised him immediately for there was no hostile greeting. 2 days after the reintroduction, Abbey and Tintin went off on their own and left Mulder by himself. He spent the next couple of weeks mostly on the fence line, and we had to support half his diet. He was making some kills, but very irregularly, and it seemed that he was not adapting on his own.

In February 2011, after a few months of the cats struggling in the high grass, due to a good rainy season, we decided to remove all 3 of them out of the Reserve and place them back in a spacious enclosure – together as one group again, to see if they might bond and reform their coalition and once released, help Mulder hone in those inherent hunting skills. That is exactly what happened and once that relationship was back on track we released them back into the wild in early May this year.

After their re-release back into the 16 000ha Okonjima Reserve (soon to be 20 000ha) they made a kill on the first day, which was a kudu with a broken leg. They stayed with their kill for 4 days before moving on. They made two more kills during the following week. All seemed 'purrfect'... they kept on moving, combing the Reserve, until they reached the boundary fence. After that all started going downhill...

They stopped moving around and, confusingly for all who monitored them, stayed against the fence line, following it all the way to the entrance gate of the Reserve. There was no apparent reason why they stopped hunting. After seven days of no luck, we gave them a small piece of meat each to sustain them to carry on trying. Hunger is the only tool forcing them to hunt. After that first meal they stopped hunting completely and stayed in the same area. During this time most of the game species had moved off – Abbey, Tintin, and Mulder did not follow!

Even after numerous attempts to move them away from the area they kept on returning to the same spot. This forced us to feed them more and more as they were starting to lose condition. It was apparent that we were going to have to make a decision about their future.

Four dedicated Paws returnee volunteers spent the next few days monitoring them from sunrise to sunset, six days running, hoping to report that they are back on track. The monitors carefully kept their distance, but also kept an eye on every move they made trying to see what they reacted to and what prey in the reserve grabbed their interest.

Toby, a single male cheetah who has been closely monitored since April this year when he developed an eye injury (see facebook regular updates re Toby's eye) had also stopped hunting since his re-release once his eye injury had healed. Team PAWS also monitored him for a while hoping to witness Toby making any attempts to hunt. Again, no luck.

Abbey, Tintin and Mulder - a formidable coalition.

Mulder recovered well from his mishap with an Eland.

PAWS volunteers tracked and monitored the group.

Tintin and Abbey take in the fading light of the day.

A well-deserved rest after hunting in the hot sun.

With the observations that they made over this period we were able to come up with the following potential conclusions:

1. In the group that included Abbey, Tintin, and Mulder, Mulder seemed to be the one showing the least interest in game around them;
2. Tintin looked like the only one who wanted to hunt, but was held back by Mulder;
3. Abbey stayed behind one day after the other two got up and walked off, and has since been on her own with no influence by the other two, yet she has made no attempt to hunt on her own;
4. Even though we had to subsidise their diet every 4 to 5 days and every time led them far away from the fence line they always returned to the same spot after eating;
5. They have definitely made a connection between qaudbikes and food. As soon as they hear a bike they react and listen to where it is heading;
6. If they are on the move, Tintin always walks within a few meters of the road, in the bush, and Mulder walks in the road. Tintin might be looking for steenbok to flush out;
7. They are now at a stage where they come up to vehicles looking for food.

It has become apparent that Tintin is the only one that might try hunting again. When Tintin and Abbey were on their own and hunting successfully, Nov 2010 – Feb 2011, we were unfortunately never lucky enough to witness a kill so we are not sure 'who' was doing the hunting and whether both were helping or whether it was only a more dominant cat. The mistake we made might have been to remove them from the reserve to re-connect with Mulder? Seeing as he was taken out and put back 3 times, it might have affected his willingness to hunt and as strange as it might seem to us, some captive-raised cats find comfort in the familiar world of being fed regularly by man - its much easier.

The three familiar items that Abbey, Tintin, and Mulder seem to react to the most are what you find around a welfare situation (sadly, none of the items below are anything which tastes good and can be eaten):

1. Fence lines;
2. Quadbikes bringing food;
3. People talking and moving around.

They appear to have realised that all three of the above equate to an easy meal.

We have three options to consider:

• Remove Mulder out of the group, and see if that makes a difference;
• Separate Tintin to be on his own, and see if he still has what it takes to hunt;
• Remove all three cats from the wild and give the next group a chance.

It seems unfair to keep cheetahs who are not hunting in the reserve and who need to be fed every 4 to 5 days, as there are 21 other cats ready to become part of AfriCat's rehabilitation programme, and who might be very successful.

Abbey, Tintin, Mulder, and Scully spent the first 7 years of their lives in captivity, which might have been too long, and we might have to consider the possibility of picking much younger cats in future for the programme.

The Dogs are Alright
By AJ Rousseau

In May 2005 AfriCat took custodianship of 7 wild dog puppies which were rescued from the northeast of Namibia. Their parents had moved into communal farmland where they were killing domestic livestock. As in many instances, the farmers retaliated by poisoning many of the adults and then chasing the remainder of the adults from their land. Initially the puppies, being only 3 weeks old, were dug up and distributed between different farmers. Luckily an officer from the Ministry of Environment & Tourism heard about the incident and went to investigate.

Mr. Gerson Kaapehi managed to rescue 7 puppies even digging up 4 from an abandoned aardvark hole. There were 3 males and 4 females.

On arrival at the Foundation, 3 puppies were in good nick, but 4 were not doing so well. They were taken to the Otjiwarongo vet clinic where Dr. Axel Hartmann examined all 7 pups. They were all treated for dehydration and internal parasites and also given a long-acting antibiotic. After that, they were fed a glucose solution, by syringe, every 15 minutes for the first couple of hours.

Feeding was difficult in the beginning and after trying different milk formulas the only thing that worked was mixing the milk formula with minced chicken. They were originally spoon fed and later went on to eating from a bowl. Originally, they were fed every 2 hours and then, later, every 4 hours and so on. What was noticed was that after a large meal the puppies started to show signs of being lethargic and being unsteady on their legs. After asking around, we found out that with a large meal a lot of their blood supply is diverted to the stomach to aid digestion, and so reduces the amount of blood to other organs. It was all quite normal.

At the age of 4 months they were move to a 1 hectare outside enclosure. To minimise their exposure to other animals, the area was double-fenced. Seeing as they were not vaccinated against canine distemper, and with the large amount of jackals around, it seemed like the best option.

At the age of 22 months the first female went on heat. The males were vasectomised, so there was no risk of inbreeding, but the way the three females turned on each other with vicious attacks was difficult to bear - where one came on heat, she was attacked by the other two. However, after the cycle, all went back to normal. The males kept on supporting whichever female was on heat, but did not involve themselves with the attacks.

Of the 7 original dogs, only 4 survived to date. In the time before their release we lost 3 dogs. One had to be euthanised when it was still young, sadly after losing condition rapidly and suffering two broken legs while still deteriorating further.

Another female suddenly died after she abruptly stopped eating, and underwent very rapid condition deterioration. It was not possible to determine why she died so precipitously. A further male dog died in September 2009 after developing hemorrhagic gastritis and congenital kidney failure.

In 2009, the remaining 4 dogs were moved to a 5 hectare enclosure bordering the Okonjima Reserve, 7kms away from AfriCat's Carnivore Care Centre, and so away from tourists and human action. They were kept there until their release in September 2010 at the age of 5 years.

Just before their release they were vaccinated, for the first time, against rabies and canine distemper. To effect the vaccinations and attach radio collars, the dogs had to be darted, all at the same time. All went well, but after they woke up the main, and very apparent, difference was a change in the dogs' social hierarchy. The previous alpha female was suddenly replaced by the weakest and smallest female. Instinctively, the only surviving male changed his support as well and joined the new alpha female's side. Apparently, this is common after darting a pack of wild dogs. However, the second time they were darted, in May this year during our annual health check, the hierarchy did not change.

Since their release into the Reserve it has been a rollercoaster ride! Even though they were showing initial signs of hunting, they were not making kills as regularly as hoped. In the first week we followed them every day and witnessed them chasing anything that moved. Cheetahs tend to do the same, just showing their lack of experience.

Unfortunately none of us have been able to witness them making a successful kill, although they are often spotted with full stomachs. We have seen them chase prey, but with no success. During the early days of their rehabilitation we did manage to see them catch a kudu female, but in the end the dogs were not able to kill her

Since then we had to regularly supplement their diet, due to the fact that they use an enormous amount of energy when roaming the Reserve. I have to admit that the last couple of months have been better, and we have had to feed them less and less – and they are in terrific condition.

We have also noticed that they are perfecting the habit of stealing kills from other predators. On some of the kills we find them on, they only stay for a few hours and with others they stay close to the kill for days. My theory is that it depends on whether they made the kill themselves or whether they were eating someone else's kill. I have seen them sniff out a leopard kill and chase the leopard away. This is done with tails raised, with a gang-like attitude, and they use their pack instincts to perfection by making the familiar wild dog yelping sound as they surround their enemy. Once they have their fill of the stolen meal they swiftly move on.

Ricki resting.

Wild dogs are pack animals and will always hunt and move together.

The dogs guard their zebra kill from other scavengers.

A lucky sighting for guests on the main Okonjima road through the reserve.

Also known as the 'Painted Dog', this carnivore has unusual markings.

The dogs are always alert.

Interestingly - most of their kills are grown oryx or ferall donkeys and, once, even a mountain zebra. They are definitely more aggressive around their own kills – and do not let anyone close.

Another interesting characteristic we have picked up on is the fact that some of the kills we find are in very thick vegetation, which is more suited to leopards.

Monitoring our small pack of rehabilitated wild dogs continues. Unfortunately, there are a few important factors which create challenges for their continued well-being:

• The size of the pack is very small. This limits the size of prey which they are able to take on. Even though we do have a lot of oryx and kudu around, they are formidable prey to bring down;
• There is insufficient medium-sized prey, such as impala or springbok available to hunt. So, their choices are limited. In the near future, more funding permitting, Okonjima and AfriCat plan to stock the Reserve with more preferred prey base species;
• The thick bush which covers the majority of the Reserve can make it difficult for a predator which relies on eyesight to hunt successfully. Therefore the de-bushing projects currently in progress will need to continue in all earnest.

One thing is for certain thought - the dogs are highly adaptable and the more we push them, the better they do. These are the first hand-raised carnivores AfriCat has rehabilitated into the wild – and we are happy to report that this pack has not shown any signs of aggression towards man, yet is clearly comfortable in its natural surroundings.

With the enlarging of the Reserve later this year the challenges will multiply with an influx of different species of game, but also adding the 3 spotted hyaenas, as well as more leopards. The next couple of months will be a decisive time for the future of the dogs.

WILD DOG CONSERVATION IN NAMIBIA – A TOUGH TASK AHEAD

Conservation of African wild dogs in Namibia (ref. www.nnf.org.na/NNF_pages/wilddogproject.htm)

Background
The African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) is both Africa's and Namibia's most endangered large mammal and one of the world's most endangered carnivores. Wild dogs represent a challenge for modern conservation because viable populations require vast areas to persist - yet Africa's rising human population offers, in most regions, smaller and smaller areas for wildlife conservation (ref. NNF website).

Namibia's wild dog population is estimated at a mere 300 – 600 dogs (ref. NNF website), with free-ranging packs found only in the eastern and north-eastern parts of the country. Livestock farmers share their range, which leads to the inevitable farmer-predator conflict.

In most cases, when packs of wild dogs are found on farmland, these animals are tracked and killed, often trapping the female at the den site, where the pups are then buried by the irate farmers.

The Large Carnivore Management Association of Namibia (LCMAN) is a gathering of carnivore specialists, intent on encouraging increased networking between the various organisations as well as coordinating the various projects within Namibia.

Out of this group of concerned conservationists, an even smaller group has committed to establishing a solid management plan for the captive wild dogs, as a first step towards managing the meta-population. As the free-ranging wild dog population within Namibia is in critical danger of dropping below a sustainable level, it is essential that a programme is in place to protect and conserve this most valuable species.

A wild dog workshop is scheduled for 5-6 October 2011, where a number of specialists from throughout Southern Africa have been invited to assist us in this mammoth task.

PAWS: A volunteer is worth a million words

"An Acre Of Performance Is Worth A Whole World of Promise." Never a truer statement has been made that is so relevant to every volunteer who has passed through the grass doors at PAWS in the past 3 years! This has become our mantra, our belief and if ever we are feeling a little blue, we only need look at the wooden sign etched with these words in the centre of our lapa and remember why we are here!

PAWS turned 3 years old on 16th August 2011. From a tiny seed planted in our heads several years ago and in conjunction with Wayne Hanssen, the owner of Okonjima, Clive and I donned our working boots and gloves and built our very own 5 Star Camp!

So what exactly is PAWS and what are we doing on Okonjima's 55 000h reserve?

For many years Okonjima and AfriCat's vision was to restore the land back to its original state and once again witness the magnificent cheetah stalking and hunting its prey in its natural environment. Africa's fragile ecosystem and wildlife are inseparably linked, co-existing successfully since time began.

PAWS is an eco-tourism volunteer project that combines the management and implementation of fundamental conservation principals. Together with our dedicated volunteers, PAWS aims to restore this balance and in time recreate this sustainable eco-system. Through involvement & commitment we are also creating valuable employment and training opportunities for the local community to aid us with our vision.

Volunteers come to PAWS armed with enthusiasm, commitment, a sense of humour and above all a sense of wanting to give something back to our beautiful but very fragile planet. Mornings are spent pulling down old cattle-line fences across a mountain range, chopping away alien bush on the reserve or collecting old bones and poo within the AfriCat Cheetah enclosures. Every job has a purpose and a goal.

As a reward for their hard work, volunteers are taken on an exciting game drive each afternoon - from leopard tracking to cheetah tracking on foot or visiting the AfriCat Foundation where they learn more about the importance of carnivore conservation in Namibia.

Roma Muccio, PAWS administrator says: "In volunteer project terms we could be classed as being in our early teenage years! To date Clive and I have hosted just short of 400 volunteers with more still to come until we close for the year in December. The satisfaction rate and feedback from volunteers has been tremendous and the amount of amazing comments we've received has been quite overwhelming at times.

The achievements and success stories have been many and varied. It has not always been an easy ride, there have been plenty of up and downs and challenging moments for all of us including our volunteers, but at the end of the day NONE of this would have been possible without those dedicated volunteers who have already been and for those who are still to come. A heartfelt thank you!"

PAWS volunteers stop work to pose for a picture.

Construction of a hide.

Everyone pitched in to help out at the school.

One of the highlights is camping in a riverbed.

Busy Busy Bees!

Besides taking homeless dogs for walks and clearing the Namib desert of refuse during their off-time, the members of the AfriCat Club travelled 600 km to the AfriCat North headquarters to erect a 2 500l water tank, lay 350m of water pipe and decorate the humble pre-school run by Adolfine!

Adolfine's little school in the Khoa di //Hoas Conservancy of north-western Namibia, has flourished thanks to the support of tourists and neighbouring farmers. The Bender & Schaefer couples through their tour guide, Lily Taylor, donated pillows, beds & blankets to the children. The new ablution block and water tank were also sponsored by this group. The AfriCat Club members arrived to put the finishing touches to the school.

Smiles, laughter and song sent us back home to camp, comforted by the fact that the blisters and sun-burn were for a good cause. AfriCat North is committed to carnivore conservation, community support and environmental education. Involving the youth in such projects, encourages attitude change and greater tolerance of Namibia's wildlife.

Okonjima and the AfriCat Foundation have also hosted quite a number of local learners this year as well as school groups from as far afield as the UK. We hosted three groups of children from the Mondesa Youth Organisation (MYO) in Swakopmund and one group from a local orphanage. Sue Wagner (MYO) in her report to the school board writes: "I am now even more firmly of the opinion that these field trips provide incredible educational opportunities. In some cases, a life-changing experience. Some discovered how to listen, others are talking about possible future careers in conservation. They not only had fun – they saw "real" wildlife for the first time and learnt about problems facing rare and endangered species."

Here are extracts of letters from the learners:

"I also told my mother about everything I learnt and she said I had listened very carefully and that made her proud. You taught me much more than I thought. I want to learn more so that I can tell everyone in our community and country." Veronica

"One day when I'm done with university, I want to become a vet and help endangered animals." Wendy

"The campsite was just the one I needed. It is beautiful and safe. The toilets were so beautiful and the showers and the hot water." Ivondia

"It was a fantasy seeing Wahoo – he is so beautiful and has a nice tail." Josephine

"Right now my words are gone. I'm speechless because what you did was enormous. I really enjoyed seeing all those different animals I have never seen before. When I saw the cheetah I cried because I was so amazed to see how beautiful a cheetah is." Ester

AfriCat Club members get to work on the pipeline.

Adolfine's pre-schoolers were very happy at the transformation of their school.

Tristan Boehme from Team Africat shows learners an informative display of skulls and skins.

A highlight for the learners is the afternoon game drive. For some, it was their first time to see a 'real' wild animals.

Fundraising Update

Danny Groves has entered the 340km 'Desert Dash' mountain bike event in Namibia to raise funds for the AfriCat Foundation. Visit his page at Just Giving and help him reach his target.

If you would like to do the same, we would love to benefit from any challenges you may be thinking of taking on. Let us know what your Just Giving page is and we will let supporters know in our forthcoming newsletters.

All funds raised are directed through the TUSK Trust and forwarded to us. We would like to remind our UK sponsors that donations made through the TUSK Trust are eligible for Gift Aid tax benefits. Click here to take advantage of this opportunity now.