Dancing Sky Rabbit: Conservation Initiative Takes a Hop, Skip and Jump

While working with a conservation team in South Africa’s Nama-Karoo, I stumbled on something magical: a riverine rabbit geoglyph replete with a time-lapse jumping rabbit!

An inspiring example of community engagement around conservation, the geoglyph is one of two permanent geoglyph installations in the Karoo that aim to help protect the “biomes of vast stretches of arid landscape in South Africa.” My host organization, the Endangered Wildlife Trust, has co-sponsored the project.

DCP team members and their furry friends walking the 1 km-long Riverine Rabbit thinking path

In Loxton, where I held a weeklong Open Standards training workshop with the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Drylands Conservation Programme (DCP), community members embrace the riverine rabbit as a local totem of sorts. It’s therefore not surprising that the rabbit became the subject of a 1km-long geoglyph project known as the Riverine Rabbit Thinking Path.

Check out this magical time-lapse video!

About the Riverine Rabbit

The riverine rabbit (Bunolagus monticularis) is among the world’s rarest species. Listed as critically endangered since 2003, it’s sad claim to fame is that it’s South Africa’s most endangered species.

Shortly after its discovery in 1902, B. monticularis became known as the “pondhaas” (pound rabbit), because Captain G.C. Shortridge, curator of King William’s Town’s Kaffrarian Museum (now the Amathole Museum) offered one pound (the currency at the time) for each rabbit delivered to him.

True to its name, this specialized Logomorph occurs in riparian areas of South Africa’s semi-arid Nama- and Succulent Karoo. As a key indicator species for ecosystem health, the Riverine Rabbit’s conservation status reflects the fact that an estimated two-thirds of its habitat, most of which occurs on private land, has been destroyed or significantly altered. Therefore, the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s (EWT) Drylands Conservation Programme (DCP) team, works with landowners and community members to conserve this rare species.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes snapshot of how local artists and community members developed the Riverine Thinking Path geoglyph.

Of Rabbits and Results Chains

Spotting the highly elusive riverine rabbit (Bunolagus monticularis) is no easy feat: with an estimated 400 individuals left in the wild, this highly endangered rabbit remains one of the most elusive mammals in Africa. I was therefore particularly delighted to be part of a small group of conservationists who, on one field trip, spotted no less than three!

We have a dog to thank for that: Jesse, the rabbit-sniffing working dog, has been honing her scent-tracking skills and on this particular trip, she proved that she was fully up to the task!

Jesse, the ultra-smart, Riverine Rabbit-sniffing dog, helped us spot three rabbits during our field visit

From Mountainous Underberg to the Desert Karoo: Preparing to Ask Some Tough Conservation Questions

Greetings from Underberg, a small enclave nestled against South Africa’s central mountain range, the Drakensberg. A place of breathtaking vistas, where the shadow outlines of a thousand hills ripple into the distance, Underberg’s name reveals its location, “under the mountain.”

The view from our “office;” the Drakensberg mountain range in the background.

After a week of preparations in this awe-inspiring place, I stand on the brink of facilitating an Open Standards workshop for a team of highly skilled conservation practitioners with the Endangered Wildlife Trust. To say the prospect is daunting, is putting it mildly. 

Of Painted Dogs, Mysterious Rabbits and a Short-Sighted Bird: Stoking Adaptive Management in Southern Africa

I arrived to a cloudy and rainy Cape Town two days ago. To most people, this would seem a “bummer” (to use local parlance). But, to locals – and to me – this was an excellent sign. As the first modern city on the brink of running out of water, Cape Town, needs every drop of rain it can get. In the 48 hours I’ve been here, there’s been much reason for celebration: stormy days, windy, wet nights. Like I said: Every. Drop. Counts!

I’m here, back in my home country after many years to work on three conservation projects with the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), which is in the process of reviewing and reconceiving their conservation programs using the Open Standards (OS) for the Practice of Conservation. As part of this process, I’ll be coaching three program teams through Steps 1 and 2 of the Open Standards. Each program is selecting one project to reimagine during a 2-week-long team training session, thereby learning an adaptive management methodology that is replicable in other projects and transferrable to other teams.