By Megan Whittington | Director of Marketing, Media, and Impact
Strengthening Teams and Field Capacity
This quarter brought the growing Wildlife ACT team together in Zululand for our annual year-end workshop. For staff who spend most of the year operating in remote protected areas, the opportunity to reconnect face-to-face remains essential. The workshop focused on recognising the dedication of our field teams, sharing project updates, and consolidating the conservation advancements achieved over the year. Teams also completed refresher training in collaring operations, telemetry, and emergency response protocols, ensuring that our on-the-ground conservation efforts remain sharp, safe, and effective.
Camera Trap Insights and Ecological Discoveries
Our camera traps continue to reveal both ecological surprises and critical conservation information. A decade after our original Genet Jackson footage captured imaginations worldwide, the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park cameras delivered a new moment of wonder, recording another genet confidently riding on the back of a buffalo. These glimpses underline the scientific and storytelling value of non-intrusive monitoring.
Beyond the surprises, our camera trap datasets continue to enhance population assessments, improve species identification kits, and support decision-making for protected area management. Recent months also saw continued progress at Babanango Game Reserve, where our Leopard-focused camera trap survey covers 25 sites. These images provide important population insights and document a remarkable diversity of other species moving through the landscape, highlighting the ecological richness of this protected area.
Endangered Species Monitoring and Field Operations
Significant conservation milestones were achieved in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park this quarter. With support from Forever Wild Foundation, two Cheetahs were recently collared to strengthen monitoring of one of KwaZulu-Natal’s most important Cheetah populations. These collars, manufactured by Wildlife ACT Innovations, allow our teams and partners to track movements, improve management decisions, and support broader metapopulation planning.
African Wild Dogs also featured prominently in recent fieldwork. The Munywaneni Pack in the Hluhluwe Section welcomed a new litter of pups, choosing a sheltered rocky valley as their den site. Ethically placed black-flash camera traps captured intimate, natural behaviour from the pups and adults alike, providing valuable information without disturbance. The Mfukuzweni Pack similarly moved to a new den with five young puppies, a rare and significant observation that reinforces the importance of long-term monitoring. These updates contribute directly to the management of the KwaZulu-Natal Wild Dog metapopulation, one of the most threatened carnivore populations in Africa.
Vulture Conservation Updates
Vulture conservation also advanced with the successful tagging of eight new Vultures in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, including one Cape Vulture, alongside the recapture and re-tagging of an African White-backed Vulture first marked in 2024. The team’s work was strengthened by formal ringing training under experienced Vulture specialists, marking an important step toward expanding internal capacity. A major highlight came during the 2025 Zululand Vulture Project Aerial Survey, which confirmed the province’s first active Hooded Vulture nest. This discovery extends the known southern breeding range for the Critically Endangered species and provides essential new data for conservation planning.
Community Outreach and Conservation Awareness
Our team recently reached more than 2,800 learners across the Upper Highway area of Durban as part of the first annual Rhino Roadshow. Through interactive presentations, discussions, and personal conservation pledges, learners explored the importance of protecting South Africa’s endangered species. Schools across the region embraced the message with enthusiasm, linking Rhino conservation to themes of heritage, environmental responsibility, and future career opportunities. This work, supported by CHEP, continues to build youth understanding and support for conservation.
Partner Engagement, Training, and Knowledge Sharing
Wildlife ACT team members also took part in the EarthRanger Regional Workshop in Hoedspruit, joining conservation practitioners from across the region to strengthen skills in technology-driven monitoring. The workshop provided valuable insights into case studies, platform innovations, and emerging conservation applications, all of which directly support and improve the effectiveness of our field operations.
Knowledge advancement remained a key theme this period. We are proud to celebrate the publication of Senior Field Technician and WARU Coordinator Lucy Chimes’ first PhD paper in Biological Conservation. Her work reviews the global understanding of Rhino dehorning and identifies critical gaps in future research. Lucy will now expand this work using data from more than 90 sites across southern Africa, reinforcing Wildlife ACT’s contribution to evidence-based conservation.
Field Challenges and Conservation Leadership
This period also highlighted the dedication of our field staff through the Tusk Wildlife Ranger Challenge, where our team completed the final 21 km stage across the rugged iMfolozi landscape. Their participation aligned Wildlife ACT with more than 100 ranger teams across Africa and helped raise awareness for the essential work wildlife rangers perform every day. Staff representation continued in the Rhino Peak Challenge, where Malibongwe Sibiya and Wesley Price completed the demanding ascent to raise funds and awareness for endangered species conservation. Their reflections captured both the physical demands and the deeper significance of climbing in support of Rhinos and Vultures.
Looking Ahead
The past months have shown the strength of Wildlife ACT’s team, the power of collaboration with partners, and the resilience of the species we work to protect. From collaring operations and Vulture tagging to community education and scientific research, each achievement contributes to healthier ecosystems and more secure futures for endangered species across Zululand.
We remain deeply grateful for the support of our donors and partners, whose commitment enables us to continue delivering field-based, science-driven conservation where it is needed most.
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