And suddenly it is March and time for our first GCF Update of the year! Is it only us or do you also feel that the pace of life is constantly accelerating? There is so much going on that we can hardly keep track of it, let alone write about it. Our team has been very busy travelling Africa and the world to undertake giraffe conservation efforts, to develop new partnerships and foster old ones – all in the name of giraffe conservation. You can read about it below, visit our website and hear more about it all in our next GCF Update, so stay tuned!

National Geographic Explorers Festival

GCF’s East African Coordinator Arthur Muneza was invited by the National Geographic Society to attend the first-ever National Geographic Explorers Festival in London. The Festival brought together recipients of National Geographic grants from across the world to participate in an experiential training on how to communicate conservation research through public presentations and visual storytelling, along with enhancing their leadership skills. Arthur, along with the other Explorers, gave presentations on their important research saving Earth’s natural resources with Arthur’s research focusing on giraffe conservation in East Africa. Through such initiatives, we continue to grow our collaborative networks and training opportunities for young Africans.

Integrated Giraffe Conservation in Namibia

At our home base in Namibia, GCF runs a comprehensive programme across the country with a focus on giraffe conservation research and environmental education (read more about KEEP). Our long-term conservation research programme of the desert-dwelling giraffe in northwestern Namibia is one of the longest running giraffe research programmes in Africa. We continue to learn exciting new things about giraffe and these findings help us inform giraffe conservation throughout Africa. Read more …

Giraffe Conservation in Kenya

GCF has made several strides to ensure that giraffe populations in Kenya are better protected. In late last year we provided valuable financial support to Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and other conservation partners to conduct aerial surveys in northern Kenya. These surveys showed that reticulated giraffe numbers in northern Kenya communal land and private conservancies have increased by 30% in the last six years. In southern Kenya, we successfully held the first-ever Masai Giraffe Working Group Meeting bringing together conservation partners in collaboration with KWS to identify current threats to Masai giraffe and measures to conserve them. Furthermore, our year-long surveys in Mwea National Reserve and Ruma National Park revealed that there are double the numbers of Nubian giraffe in these areas than previously estimated, boosting the overall population of Nubian giraffe in Kenya.

GCF and partners’ conservation attention in Kenya has also sparked renewed efforts to update and complete the first-ever draft National Recovery and Action Plan for giraffe in Kenya. Our East Africa Coordinator recently facilitated a two-day stakeholder workshop to update this crucial framework document and plans are underway to commission and launch it later in the year. Read more about our Kenya programmes.

KEEP goes Kenya

GCF’s Environmental Education Work Book has been a very valuable resource for our KEEP programme in Namibia. Tailored for use in a specific Game Reserve in Namibia, some of its applicability is limited elsewhere. Due to popular demand we have now ‘Kenyanised’ our KEEP workbook and the result is just amazing. Check out our brand-new Nature Workbook for Kenya! It is designed for primary school students, who are sure to have a lot of fun with it. Get in touch to get your high res PDF for printing.

World Giraffe Day – 21 June

Don’t forget that 21 June 2018 is World Giraffe Day – the longest day or night (depending on what hemisphere you live!) for the longest-necked animal! This year we have set an ambitious fundraising goal of US$250,000 for Operation Twiga III and to raise enough money to continue all giraffe conservation programmes in Uganda for the next few years. Read more …