Over a period of 32 years, we have provided an important safe extended sand forest habitat for leopards and other rare species. We continue restoring, expanding and protecting the biodiversity in the Buffer Zone of False Bay Park.
Nightcam photo
The problem leopards face in our area is serious. Adjacent to our Nature Reserve, False Bay Park, provides only a narrow area of protection – a strip of 500 – 1.5 km wide on the western shores of the lake edge. Outside the UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site, that we border, many properties are farmland or rural habitation. This provides little safety for leopard and other species that need a larger range that they have in False Bay Park.
They often move out of the Park to seek food, and new mates, to keep cubs away from other males, and for the mother to move cubs away from her once they mature. So where do they go? They move into extended ranges out of the Park and then they get poached, hunted, baited and tracked down at times, even with dogs. For this reason, leopards in particular are hugely impacted and are recorded in the Red Data assessment as being vulnerable, which means without protection they could become extinct.
Community involvement is also important and we reach out through our Young Environmental Ambassador Zulu Dancers to encourage leopard protection in the rural area.
