AWF Launches Digital Offering

AWF last week launched Africa Geographic Digital Magazine, a standalone application packed with live video footage, superb photography and high-quality, in-depth coverage of wildlife and conservation across Africa. In the premier issue, now available free to all AWF e-subscribers, users will learn about AWF’s Heartland projects, the social behavior and conservation status of Africa’s great cats, and much more. To access click here. Enter your username (your email) and the password AWF20230.

A First Collaring in the Kruger

“When I first saw the leopard trapped in the cage, I didn’t believe my eyes,” marvels AWF conservation scientist and dedicated blogger Nakedi Maputla. Read the funny and poignant thoughts that go through Nakedi’s mind as he organizes the team that will tranquilize, study and fit the captured leopard with a GIS collar. Nakedi is working in the Kruger ecosystem to design conservation strategies that protect Africa’s elusive and little understood leopards.

 Follow Nakedi’s collaring exercise at http://www.awf.org/leopardblog.

New AWF Blogger in DRC

Meet Valentin Omasombo W`Otoko, an AWF field manager protecting bonobos in one of the wildest places on earth: the remote Lomako-Yokokala Faunal Reserve in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Pivotal in establishing the reserve, Valentin now oversees bonobo research from AWF’s new conservation science camp there. Thanks to a satellite internet connection generously funded by the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, Valentin will now bring the fascinating world of bonobos to you.

 Visit Valentin’s blog at http://awf.org/bonoboblog.

Rangers Return to Work in Eastern DRC

Rebel fighters in the Democratic Republic of the Congo last week allowed rangers to return to Virunga National Park, home to about 200 of the world’s 720 mountain gorillas. The rangers had been forced to flee after long simmering tensions between rebel forces and government soldiers erupted anew. Observers are hopeful that this positive development could pave the way for an end to the standoff that has left hundreds of thousands of people displaced and DRC’s mountain gorillas unmonitored and unprotected.

 To read the full story, click here. 
 
 To support IGCP, click here.               

Tribute to Wildlife Goes Beyond Printed Page

AWF is pleased to announce the publication of Endangered Liaisons, a 320-page coffee-table book of African Wildlife photography and personal memoirs by longtime AWF supporter Don Shay. For every copy of Endangered Liaisons purchased by an AWF member, Shay will donate $25 to AWF. AWF supporters will also receive a free copy of the Endangered Liaisons 2009 Wall Calendar, a dramatic photo-journal of Shay’s encounters with many of Africa’s most magnificent wildlife.

 To purchase Endangered Liaisons as an AWF member, visit www.africagraphica.com/awf.

Let ‘em Eat Chocolate

Endangered Species Chocolate -- an Indianapolis-based company devoted to providing ethically traded and naturally grown products, just announced that it will partner with AWF in 2009, donating a percentage of its profits to AWF at year’s end. AWF was selected based on the strength of its mission and program portfolio to protect species, habitat and humanity. The grant will be used to advance the work of the AWF’s Species Science Team throughout the African Heartlands.



Maasai Women, U.S. Nonprofit Partner for Conservation

Earth’s Birthday Project, a U.S. nonprofit that educates children about the Earth and its resources, placed a windfall order with the Esilalei Women’s Cultural Boma, an AWF-supported enterprise located in Tanzania. Earth’s Birthday Project has commissioned 17,000 handmade "hope bracelets" for use in its educational programs and online store. AWF salutes both the women of Esilalei and Earth’s Birthday Project for partnering to advance the cause of conservation.

 For more information about the Esilalei Women’s Cultural Boma, click here.

 Visit Earth’s Birthday Project at http://www.earthsbirthday.org/.





Gambia: Chimpanzees Bring Solar Power to Schools  Read More

South Africa: Kruger Croc Deaths Investigationss   Read more

Namibia: Elephant Bull's Life Saved  Read More

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**Photo Credits: Nakedi Maputla, Craig R Sholley and Paul Thomson