Conservation Trip with Empowers Africa, Wildlands & WildlifeACT

This film showcases the exceptional work of Wildlands, Wildlife ACT and Dr. Mike Toft of Kifaru Wildlife Veterinary Services while they fight to save Africa's endangered and threatened species. At the Somkhanda Game Reserve in South Africa, an Empowers Africa team participated in conservation activities including elephant and lion collaring as well as rhino de-horning. Filmmakers and Black Bean Productions' founders James Suter and Oli Caldow joined the trip to document every experience. As part of the conservation trip, the team spent time at Somkhanda Game Reserve, a Big Five community game reserve where they helped fund and participate in an elephant collaring exercise. Collaring allows the conservation teams on the ground to monitor the elephant population as well as understand the social integration patterns and behavior of the herds and how they interact. During this specific outing, two elephant bulls were collared for conservation purposes. Collaring an animal that large can be extraordinarily tricky, but the experienced team made up of Wildlands/WildTrust, Wildlife ACT and Dr. Mike Toft of Kirafru Wildlife Veterinary Services ensured a successful collaring as well as the safety of the elephants and participants. While in the Somkhanda Game Reserve, the Empowers Africa team members also participated in the collaring of two lionesses and one male lion. Collaring lions is an essential way of determining patterns of movement, lion social structures and their interaction with humans, making it easier to mitigate any potential human-wildlife conflict. The temporary de-horning (it grows back just like your fingernails) is one of the most effective methods used to keep rhinos safe from poachers. The Empowers Africa team helped in de-horning one individual and collaring a total of four rhinos (two black and three white).