I am delighted and encouraged by the incredible response to the ‘Spot the Cheetah’ campaign in Zimbabwe. You may remember that SACT produced a beautifully-designed poster to grab the attention of tourists as well as community members and school children living adjacent to protected areas in Zimbabwe. The goal was to encourage locals – or anyone who may have seen a cheetah whilst travelling in Zimbabwe – to report sightings to Cheetah Conservation Project Zimbabwe (CCPZ).
The posters have arrived in Hwange and Dr Lovemore Sibanda (CCPZ) is coordinating the distribution of these posters to all the national parks tourist areas/offices, public community meeting areas, and in rural schools /classrooms.
To encourage citizens to send information on cheetah sightings we set up a Facebook page (@Cheetah Zimbabwe ) and a WhatsApp platform. To date a total of 429 images have been received from 35 sightings!
The Hwange-Matetsi and Victoria Falls protected area/complex is the last population stronghold for cheetah strongholds in Zimbabwe, with an estimated 42 individual animals! The poster and locations will help CCPZ to build a population register of animal sightings.
Our next challenge is to develop a VUSA the Cheetah Guardian educational comic for rural primary school distribution. We will also supply Dr Sibanda with electronic equipment (portable generator/projector and laptop ) to enable him to conduct educational talks with children and community leaders in remote/rural areas.
We’ll definitely keep you updated on progress! If you would like to consider a donation towards the purchase of equipment or to fund the educational comics, please contact me on elephant@satib.co.za.
