The Cape Leopard Trust launched a new survey in the Cedarberg, to further track the movements of leopards in the region and captured some unique sightings.
Cederberg, South Africa (15 September 2023) – The Cape Leopard Trust has been running a new survey in the Cederberg, following on the success of the one being done in the Klein Karoo. Already their cameras are capturing unique wildlife, including leopards!
The current survey consists of 67 paired camera stations distributed across ± 2000 km2 of the Cederberg landscape, and is being conducted in collaboration with CapeNature – with 26 stations falling within the Algeria, Matjiesrivier and Kliphuis Nature Reserves. The remaining 41 stations are on private properties involving 15 different landowners.
“As always, the CLT is extremely grateful for the willing participation of landowners in granting us access to do our research, and in some cases even assisting us with fieldwork by servicing the cameras on their property, like Bushmans Kloof. Many establishments are also supporting the research team with sponsored and discounted accommodation, for which we are very thankful!” – Cape Leopard Trust
The team have faced a few challenges so far. Including the June flooding which was caught on a few of the cameras. Eight cameras were damaged, one of which was washed away entirely. Surprisingly, some of the memory cards within the damaged cameras were still readable and data was successfully recovered.
The Cape Leopard Trust was left in awe witnessing how the Cederberg community rallied together to regain what was lost. The entire community was left with damage from the flooding. Roads, fences and homes destroyed. However, the community has proven united and resilient.
In the aftermath of the disaster, the Cape Leopard Trust was able to collect 37235 images. These are some of the results:
These sightings along with other data collected by the cameras will aid in figuring out what the Cape Leopard population is.
Take a look at some of the images captured below. You can see a few more via the Cape Leopard Trust website here.
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A bonus, the mountains have seen a great deal of snow over this last cold front, so take a look at some of the stunning images captured by the team that were busy checking the cameras.
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