It was with a heavy heart and regret that I had to say goodbye to Craig Fox, my “co-conspirator” and friend in all conservation matters since the inception of this project. Craig Number 2, as he was affectionately called on the radio waves of Balule, has left to further his studies and pursue his conservation career in East Africa. #2 has developed an exquisite passion and understanding of African Elephants and continues to be a big part of this project as he writes for any magazine or publication that will publish his works. Craig #2’s impeccable manners and general knowledge will be missed by us in camp as well as the lodge staff! 

The Reserve Management and Transfrontier Africa are concerned about the increasing levels of rhino poaching in the Greater Kruger National Park. We are lucky to have a “secret weapon” against poaching in our neck of the woods, in the form of the commercial lodges. They traverse almost 85% of our area for approximately eight hours every day. They all employ professional trackers and rangers who provide us with eyes and ears at all times. The value of these lodges is felt on a daily basis as they regularly report snares and suspicious tracks. In my new capacity as Warden of the Olifants West Region of the Balule Reserve, and given our Memorandum of Understanding to provide ecological management to this area, we have, in conjunction with Reserve Management, employed an expert tracker to provide us with professional anti-poaching support. Derrick has been tracking as a professional in the area for more than a decade and comes with the highest accolades from Sabi Sands and other high-profile regions. Derrick is our “secret agent man” responsible for covering the entire reserve on a bicycle and on foot! We are trying to raise funds to purchase him a bike with gears and decent uniform, GPS, binoculars and a radio.

John, our illustrious Research Assistant and well liked member of the team has completed his degree at last! I was impressed that the thesis that he submitted and the works that he produced from our project secured him distinctions and overall “B” symbol! Humble as he is, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate him in the most public manner that I know how! Well done John! It was a tough year for us all at camp, but you pulled it off, and did very well to boot!!! John was also instrumental in the compiling of our recent publications regarding the impacts that human pressures are having on the African Elephants in Sub-Sahara Africa, as well as the tedious fine-scale quantification of the impact that they are having on the woody vegetation in our region. These papers have been submitted to various role-players including CITIEs and the Save the Elephants Foundation. The documents have been well received and I would really like to thank the volunteers that have been through our camp in the past two years as they have all worked hard in gathering the information for this research! 

We are proud to announce that Vivian Burns, who started as a volunteers on our project and returned several times to assist us in the past 18 months, has partnered with us to form the long-awaited “Pennies for Ellies” organization. Viv has worked like a Trojan to set up the web-site and logistics behind this project which is aimed at elephant conservation in Africa and the raising of funds to support legitimate elephant conservation initiatives. GO VIV!! I am so proud to be involved with this as it is a unique project and screams success!! Check it out on www.penniesforellies.com. Although still in its infancy, the project is well on its way.

We have also been proud to host yet another Animal Handler from the Aalborg Zoo in Denmark. Nynne stayed with us for three weeks and assisted us with our elephant data-capture and research. During this time, Nynne was exposed to several aspects of protected area and general wildlife management and was lucky enough to witness the birth of a baby elephant in the Satara River! This was one of the most touching moments of my life and I was proud to see how Nynne was moved by this experience! Our wildlife have been sent to many corners of the Earth to act as ambassadors for conservation and our country. Our objectives of adding value to their jobs and helping animal handlers from around the world to gain a three-dimensional experience with our African wildlife which will put them in a superior position to empathise and manage their captive animals is bearing fruit. We have prepared ourselves to host a group form the Aalborg Zoo again early next year. 

Our Rains have come and shocked the socks off the advocates of al nino as we already sit at over 200mm for the season! Dams are full again and the grass biomass is looking very good. Volunteers coming through our system in the next few months will be assisting us in quantifying the primary production and ecological carrying capacity for our neck of the woods. As a result of the good early rains, we have seen several species drop their babies already. Wildebeest, impala and zebra babies are in abundance and we are having a tough time capturing all the data for our GIS model. 

We have just endured a fantastic two weeks with a group of Australians who were thrown into the deep-end to help us establish our new game-count routes and visibility index as the vegetation responds to the rains. This was tough work and methodologies take us into the bush for over 8 hours every day. It was a very productive few weeks and it is comforting that they were rewarded with an abundance of wildlife sightings, including lion kills, elephant herds and rhino sightings. We have begun to compile a photographic data-base of our rhino’s on the reserve and placing the sightings on our GIS model. This is an important asset management tool and will also help us to keep tabs on our high-value species. Some black rhino that moved into the area earlier this year make an appearance every now and again. We have a radio-telemetry device that we employ to monitor the movements of the black-rhino and this is one of our favorite pass-times! 

We have employed a new student, Sean Hill, from the Tswane University (formally Pretoria) and he will be tasked with assisting us in our vegetation and wildlife monitoring activities. Whilst I am compiling this, he is out with Derrick combing a section in the west of the reserve. Soon he will embark on the arduous task of grass species compositions and such. Good luck Sean! 

All of our projects and efforts on this small patch of Africa are conducted as a service free of charge. We continue to graciously decline any offers of funding form the Reserve Management and our sole source of income remains form the volunteers. This is an important part of our integrity and we wish it to remain so.