Current NEWS

January 2012

3 Feb. 2012. LCCSA - Cape Town. A talk on the Desert Lion Project was presented to members of the Land Cruiser Club of Southern Africa in Cape Town this evening. The presentation was well attended and further details will be presented tomorrow.

1 Feb 2012. Cape Leopard Trust. A valuable opportunity to meet Quinton Martins and the research team of the Cape Leopard Trust was orchestrated by Johan Buys (of the LCCSA) during a brief visit to Cape Town. Photo by Eben Human of Die Burger.

25 Jan 2012. Michelin. A presentation on the Desert LIon Project will be given today to Michelin, South Africa. The talk will focus on providing them with feedback on the BF Goodridge tires that they have sponsored to the Project. Adolf Huester is thanked for arranging the occasion. *Moment*.

23 Jan 2012. Calendar. A Desert Lion Calendar for 2012 was designed and a few copies were printed. The calendar pages will be presented on the NEWS pages for each month of 2012 (see above) and can also be viewed on the Calendar page.

22 Jan 2012. Maintenance & logistics. The important activities, mentioned on 12 Jan 2012, continues. New satellite and radio collars have been ordered from African Wildlife Tracking, essential additions and improvements to the Desert Lion website are in process, and several fundraising efforts are underway. A panoramic view, as seen from the Mowe Bay Cabin, is presented below.

12 Jan 2012. Maintenance & data analysis. As mentioned earlier in December 2011, fieldwork has been put on hold temporarily in order to attend to other important matters such as: family, data analysis, website management and fundraising. Several interesting images retrieved from four camera traps on the Hoanib Floodplain and at Mowe Bay are presented below.

2 Jan 2012. Mowe Bay. Several days were spent with family and friends at the Mowe Bay Cabin. During the time repairs and improvements were made to the Cabin. (Photos by P & A Sander).

Brown hyaena near the Cabin
Repairs to the Mowe Bay Cabin
A visit from Sgt. Mangundu of the Namibian Police

1 Jan 2012. New Year at Mowe Bay.

31 Dec 2011. Lions at Auses. Two Floodplain lionesses were located at Auses spring. It is suspected that the two lionesses gave birth and they are keeping their cubs amongst the thick vegetation at the bottom of Auses spring. Several indicators and the fact that both lionesses mated with Xpl-73 ("Rosh") during August/September 2011 (photo: far left) support this hypothesis. A camera-trap was mounted near Auses spring to monitor movements by lions.

27 Dec 2011. Hoanib River. The Hoaruseb River came down in flood yesterday and crossing at the mouth of the River was impossible due to the volume of water flowing into the ocean. One of the Hoanib Floodplain lionesses were observed briefly on the edge of the dunes in the Hoanib River. There has not yet been any signs of flooding along the lower section of the Hoanib River.

25 Dec 2011. Mowe Bay Cabin. The past few days were spent with my parents at Mowe Bay.

21 Dec 2011. Uniab Mouth. A camera-trap was mounted at the mouth of the Uniab River a few weeks ago to monitor the possible movements of the Obab Pride along the coast. The camera was retrieved earlier today and 98 images were downloaded. There were several interesting photographs of antelopes and black-backed jackals, but none of lions.

19 Dec 2011. Solar Power. A break-through was made today towards repairing the electrical/electronic problem experienced with the radio-telemetry and sound-playback systems. A defect was identified in the wiring of the solar power structure and it has subsequently been fixed. Several interesting images of brown hyaenas and a striped polecat were recorded by a camera-trap on the Hoanib Floodplain.

17 Dec 2011. Tracks. There is a unique rock formation several kilometres south of the Hoanib Floodplain that resembles an imaginary "space-ship". Photographs of this geological phenomenon have been presented on this website. Very few people have visited the rock formation (they did so by walking the distance) because the terrain is incredibly sensitive and vehicle tracks will leave a long-lasting scar on the landscape. A few weeks ago two vehicles entered the Skeleton Coast Park illegally and drove directly to the rock formation, and to make matters worse, they made a new set of tracks on their return journey (see photos: top - red lines, bottom left & right). These vehicle tracks have scarred the pristine landscape and will be visible for many decades.

14 Dec 2011. Break. Fieldwork has been stopped to give attention to important private matters, and to address the recent technical problems experienced with the radio-telemetry and sound-playback systems. A camera-trap on the Hoanib Floodplain recorded the following images of the three Floodplain lionesses on 11 Dec 2011.