By Leah Brown, South African Conservation Researcher based in Limpopo
Introduction
It has been some time since GVI Trust has purchased equipment to assist Karongwe’s anti-poaching team. We have been busy in discussions with the reserve warden to ensure that we make the best use of the funds that you have generously donated.
We have some big plans in the wings, so our next move involves making the decision – where do we start?!
Our Update From GVI Trust Karongwe….
Three public roads border Karongwe Private Game Reserve. Fortunately two of these roads are gravel and controlled by secure boom gates. These gates are manned by a local security company and funded by Karongwe and other surrounding reserves. The ability to control public access to majority of the perimeter of our reserve is an important advantage for anti-poaching efforts. This importance becomes evident when historically, break-in’s occur on the public tar road that cannot be manned.
Eventually we hope to make major upgrades to these boom gates including improved resting facilities, 24/7 security cameras and fingerprint control hardware. Due to the large costs involved with these enhancements we will be co-ordinating a fundraiser towards the end of this year, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t take action now! In the mean time, together with the reserve warden, we have decided to concentrate our efforts on the road that is largely unprotected.
Summary
In May last year we reported on the intrusion to the reserve, which was captured on one of GVI’s Trusts camera traps. Unfortunately because we are located in quite a remote location our ability to set up wireless camera traps, which send real-time image, is unfeasible. Instead we will be purchasing black flash traps, which will be completely undetectable in the dark. These traps will be placed in areas of the reserve that are considered entry/exit hot spots in hopes that we catch images of perpetrators scouting these areas, before they manage to do any serious damage.
Thank you, as always, for your support.
Love,
The Karongwe team
