Friends of African Wildlife once again paid homage to their positioning line “Be Part of It” when they recently brought two family groups from Switzerland to see what the College is about and why it is so special to foundation founders, Christoph and Bettina Weber. Friends of African Wildlife was founded following a visit that […]
A group of seven prominent Swiss media hosted by Bettina Weber of Friends of African Wildlife and Michèle Hungerbuehler from Hotelplan Suisse recently visited the College. Their itinerary included visits to the different projects and programmes sponsored by Friends of African Wildlife and supported by Hotelplan Suisse. This meant that they were able to spend […]
The SAWC CEO, Theresa Sowry recently joined well-known conservationist Ivan Carter on a two-week trip to the United States. The purpose was primarily to meet up with the counter poaching free tracking and apprehension dogs that have been bred in Texas and are being trained for the College, and to fly the College flag at […]
As you visit Southern African Wildlife College online, you’ll probably notice that things look a little different. We’ve been busy over the last few months reconceptualising our digital presence with exciting results. First of all, we have a new-look website, which we’re currently testing. Our official launch will be a celebration of a platform that’s […]
2018 will no doubt require much the same input as 2017, with the College’s area of aerial operation encompassing the entire Greater Kruger Environmental Foundation (GKEPF) area, which includes both state ownded and private reserves as well as the Central Kingfisherspruit region of the Kruger National Park. A breakdown of flying hours and statistics for […]
On 24 April the Southern African Wildlife College (SAWC) and the University of Mpumalanga (UMP) signed a memorandum of understanding to formalize their collaboration as leading institutions in conservation education, training and skills development in southern Africa. The MoU allows students from the UMP to be immersed in understanding and solving real conservation issues thanks […]
The SAWC has embarked on a new rhino tagging initiative in its study focus area using the newest technology, a VHF ear tag. Previously with its rhino capture operations, the emphasis was on rhino notching, which has worked well to date, but of late there have been some concerns raised about notching operations being duplicated […]
No new statistics or updates on rhino poaching have been released by the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) since the publication of the last newsletter, but based on 2017 data, losses are still unsustainable… South Africa is home to 80% of the world’s 29 000 rhinos. From 2007 to 2014 the country experienced an exponential rise […]
The Lowveld has been blessed with welcome rains in most of the central regions over the past two months. Although the rainfall coverage seemed to encompass most of our operational areas, the rains were sporadic and varied with some areas receiving substantially more than others. The picture of the landscape from above is very different […]
The Southern African Wildlife College’s Protected Area Integrity Unit, under the department’s African Field Ranger Training Services (AFRTS), had a successful start to 2018 with the kickoff of new and diverse training interventions, like the training for maritime rangers. “We have developed a brand-new course for maritime training and provided a successful training intervention in […]