Category Archives: Conservation

Video Interview with Monkeyland and Birds of Eden at Indaba 2012

Monkeyland and Birds of Eden South Africa The very passionate and endearing Lara Mostert chats to us about Monkeyland – the worlds first free roaming multi-specie primate sanctuary. Lara also invites her neighbour Henko Kleingeld from the Elephant Sanctuary to join her and they perform a fantastic rendition of a monkey mating call – not to be missed! Everyone in the vicinity, including restaurant staff, stopped to see what was happening!

Lara also let’s us on a little secret … that King Julian, the Ringtail lemur in the movie Madagascar, cannot be king because in Madagascar all female Lemurs are boss!

View the video below:

Monkeyland is based near Plettenberg Bay along the Garden Route, South Africa. It is hugely popular, receiving up to 1000 visitors a day at Monkeyland and Birds of Eden in the peak season.

Lara’s knowledge and passion are infectious – there is no stopping her once you get her talking about monkeys! CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO and take a look here for further information about Monkeyland, Birds of Eden and Elephant Sanctuary

… and please share the amazing work they are doing!

Big Cat Conservation

It used to be that humans were grouped together into islands that existed in a sea of wilderness. We were surrounded by wilderness and had to carve out our existence from it. Our civilization was contained and restricted by the forests and wide savannahs, hemmed in by raging rivers and guarded by mountain ranges. Industrious and intelligent as we are, we overcame these obstacles and found that we could expand our borders and grow our islands. We travelled further and explored more, using the land and its resources to grow. This human growth has been phenomenal and to fuel it we have had to sacrifice some things. One of these is our wilderness. We are no longer the islands, instead the animals live as islands in a sea of humanity that seems, for the most part, bent on destroying what is left of our wilderness.

So who cares about the environment and our wilderness? There are all sorts of bodies and organizations, trusts, charities and government departments that deal with all aspects of this but there are also environmental warriors that have dedicated their lives to learning, recording and teaching. Two of these warriors are Beverly and Dereck Joubert. They have seen the writing on the wall and are on a mission to make sure that they deliver the message and, more importantly, to make sure that we, the humans, understand it. If we do not act, then our islands of wilderness with their animals will sink. The end!

I attended the discussion and photo exhibition in National Geographic’s store in London on Tues and got to see Beverly’s wonderful collection of black and whites and listen to them speak passionately about the plight of the big cats in Southern Africa. The video footage that was playing in the background was exceptional and graphic. I also got to hang out with a couple of industry mates and have a couple of glasses of wine. It was a great evening but I did come away wanting to know more so off I went to the internet. A good starting point is the National Geographic site, http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/big-cats/ , and Derek and Beverly’s website http://www.wildlifeconservationfilms.com/ . Drop by http://www.greatplainsconservation.com/ as it is all tied in.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/could-big-cats-be-facing-extinction-2308722.html

The Last Lions – Official Trailer

About the Author: Robin Cormack is the Co-founder and Director of Mamba Media – a Creative Agency that specialises in Websites, Design and Digital Marketing for the Travel and Tourism Industry.

Rights for Rhino – Musina to Cape Town

l-r, Chewy, Dr. Ian Player and Spoon

Paul (known as Chewy) and Sboniso (known as Spoon) will hit the road tomorrow in Musina and start the long three month walk south, all the way to Cape Town. Thats 2000kms! Before you ask, no, they are not loony, but they are passionate about conservation and have decided that this is their way of highlighting the plight of Rhino in Africa.

Now a walk is just a walk, but these guys plan to stop, meet, talk to and educate people along the way. They are hoping to spread their message through all the communities that they come into contact with, from school kids to old folks, who may remember when the Rhino was under less threat. If you are along the route that Chewy and Spoon are walking, take some time out of your day to stop and have a chat with them.

The pre-eminent conservationist, Dr Ian Player met with Chewy and Spoon to lend his support to this venture and to offer some of his own wisdom, ‘We all share this earth and evolved together. We all have an equal right to a place under the sun and all wild creatures are man’s brothers and sisters’. The message is that we all have to get involved in the preservation of our earth and its beings. If we don’t care then it will be lost.

Both Chewy and Spoon have their roots in KwaZulu-Natal. Chewy grew up in Pietermaritzburg, attended Maritzburg College and was a game ranger for Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife from 1999 to 2007. He still lives in Umfolozi and is still passionate about conservation in the area and its people. Chewy is so rooted in this community that he even sounds like a Zulu when he speaks Zulu. Spoon also grew up in Pietermaritzburg and works for Protrack anti-poaching. He is a regular contributer of articles on anti-poaching and conservation in KwaZulu-Natal.

These two conservationists were meant to meet and they were meant to raise awareness for Rhino. We are not sure if they were meant to walk from Musina to Cape Town (2000kms) but they choose to. We all make choices, some difficult and some easy. The easy choice for us is to support this cause and to continue to support conservation in and around our communities.

There is loads more info on their website – www.rightsforrhinos.co.za

Make a donation: http://rightsforrhinos.co.za/donations/

Spread the word!