Spoor counts are the order of the day at the moment on the project. By driving along sandy roads and recording what footprints we see, we can get an estimation of the amount of activity of each species in the area. People have found in other areas that the level of this activity directly relates to the numbers of animals in the area, so we are giving it a try here.

 

We have to be out early for the spoor counts while the sun is still very low so that it casts a shadow on the prints and makes them easier to see. I sit on a specially made seat bolted onto the bull bar of the vehicle, while Azwafarwi drives. We have to drive slowly to make sure I can see as much as possible on the road. Interestingly, we have been seeing more activity from cheetahs recently, and Wendy was even lucky enough to see one earlier in the week. Unlike the open plains where much video footage for television documentaries is filmed, we are working in an area with dense vegetation in places, which makes the animals much harder to see, so we get very excited by some of our sightings! We know they are there, and we see signs of them, but often we miss the actual animal. The lions often sleep on the roads and they are much less wary of humans than the leopards and cheetahs, so we see them the most.

 

We will be catching cheetahs soon to fit GPS collars onto them so that we can track their moves, and hopefully follow them to find out what they are up to here, so hopefully they will become a little more accustomed to our presence. Watch this space to find out how we get on with our trapping efforts.

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