Discover our ongoing projects and our direct conservation actions in the reserves
Monitoring, evaluation and reporting is a fundamental aspect of adaptive management, enabling the assessment of management actions, and, if necessary, their modification, in an effort to achieve the vision and objectives of a nature reserve.
Click on the pictures or icons below to read more about the different monitoring projects undertaken by TA.
Ongoing - direct sightings and camera traps; scat analysis in July-August
Camera trap pictures of the month:
When you monitor target species with camera traps, you inevitably capture a range of other species, often referred to as incidental data.
Below is a selection of these photos taken in the past few months, which are often adorable or hilarious!
Annual Game Counts (Aircraft & development of drone counts)
Annually in September in OWNR & BOCCA
Night Counts (in BOCCA)
Bi-monthly vehicle-based night counts in BOCCA only
Injured Animals Rescue/Monitoring
Ongoing - direct sightings and camera traps
BREEP Project - Rhino Monitoring
Black (Diceros bicornis) and white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) populations are both threatened by habitat loss and poaching (illegal trade of rhino horn), and are classified as Critically Endangered and Near Threatened, respectively, on the IUCN Red List. In this global context, local monitoring of their population and global collaboration are essential. The Black Rhino Range Expansion Project (BRREP), which was founded in 2003 by World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, Eastern Cape Parks, and Tourism Board, is one of these attempts to join local and global forces to counter the drastic decline in rhino populations. Its aim was to increase black rhino populations by reintroducing them in suitable protected areas to create new breeding populations. As Olifants West Nature Reserve offers suitable protected black rhino habitat, it was included in the project in 2011, when 19 black rhinos were introduced from Great Fish River Nature Reserve. To monitor the success of this project, Transfrontier Africa has committed to gather all the sightings of both species in OWNR, and to share this data on a monthly basis with the project's stakeholders. To this end, landowners, lodges, and TA staff members relay any sightings they have, and camera traps are placed at key locations in the landscape. Additionally, various research projects based on the data collected have been conducted over the years to improve our capacity to host and monitor rhinos to the best.
Finally, Anti-Poaching Units roam the landscape day and night to ensure the protection of our individuals against poachers.
If you are interested in our projects and would like to get exposure and contribute to them, you can join us as a volunteer and assist our interns, researchers and field technicians in the field. No prior knowledge is required and you will learn and contribute a lot! If you are interested in going deeper in the scientific aspects of things, join one of our internships focusing on one of these projects.
