Pictures from the Wild

From the cameras on the mountain there recently came exciting photos of our wilderness inhabitants.

The Landmark Foundation ⁽¹⁾, devoted to biodiversity conservation in the Western Cape have set up fourteen camera stations in the Pardeberg and Voor Paardeberg. From these cameras have come, amongst other animals, pictures of leopards, a serval and a caracals.

We think there are at least three adult leopards and two cubs on the Paardeberg. The Foundation fitted one female, found on the other side of our Dragonridge mountain, with a satellite collar to keep track of her. Leopards, once designated as vermin, are the last free-roaming top carnivore in South Africa. The Paardeberg and Voor Paardeberg is one of the last leopard habitats in the Western Cape, making the work of the Foundation and also the Leopard Trust, so important.

The serval, a spotted wild cat, was a surprise to everyone as they were thought to be extinct in the area and caracal numbers are also down because farmers shoot them as they take sheep and chickens from farms. These are not the only wild animals on the mountain. Previous camera photos show a cape fox, the shy aardvark, the beautiful cape genet, various buck and the wily Honey badger not to mention all the smaller animals like porcupines, mongooses and dassies. For all of us it is wonderful to know that we share our mountain with these wild animals even if they are shy and rarely seen.

1. Landmark Foundation is a conservation Non-Governmental Organisation based in South Africa that implements practical, economically sound, and ecological viable land use management approaches that ensure sustainable conservation goals at a large scale. Our implementation focus is on top-trophic species conservation efforts with a special interest in leopard conservation, landscape conservation and re-wilding, ecological restoration, ecological governance and human wildlife coexistence in production landscapes