Where has the time gone? The last time we sent out a newsletter we were asking you to vote for us win an EOCA grant and it is with much delight that we can report that we won the grant and have started implementing the work.

We also realised how hard it is to maintain sustainability for a conservation non-profit when relying entirely on grants, and so we have been working quietly in the background to launch a US 501 (c)(3) fundraising arm for our project called the African Hornbill Conservation Alliance. Designed to help us support any US-based sponsors with tax deductions and to grow a supportive community across the western hemisphere, including the Atlantic. If you know anyone in the States who loves ground-hornbills and would love to support our work please put them in touch with us.

We have such an amazing support base in the US with many zoos there supporting our work, and we are proud to say we are the founding field partner for the newly launched AZA SAFE Programme for African Hornbills. This will enable these organisations to streamline their funding to key field operations needed on the ground, enable them to have a greater conservation impact, and grow the network of people who know ground-hornbills are in trouble.

Our website has also been beautifully rebuilt by Hammer Designs - check it out and if there is anything else you think might be useful on that please do drop us a line.

The 2025 Red Data Book of Birds of South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini has been released. Sadly, we now have a total of 33 bird species listed as Endangered in South Africa, including our ground-hornbills. This is the huge number of groups we have found through all of our wonderful citizen scientists... but we are close! To see the full listing click here.

The key outcomes after our analysis is:

African hornbill trade has increased significantly over time, while trade in Asian hornbills has held steady under CITES management.

Current American trade in the larger African genera Ceratogymna and Bycanistes exceeds global trade in all Asian hornbills before their CITES protection.

Trade in Ceratogymna elata and Bycanistes cylindricus already meets the criteria for listing under CITES Appendix I.

Every African hornbill genus and species is traded internationally.

We now have an entire team dedicated to the reintroduction programme. Nthabiseng has a decade of ground-hornbill reintroduction experience her and her team of monitors work hard to keep the newly reintroduced birds safe.

The video above shows the first group happily spending time at their artificial nests. We all hope for a breeding attempt this coming breeding season.

The season started last year, when three birds were relocated to Dabchick Wildlife Reserve to acclimate to their new environment from the safety of a soft-release aviary. The birds were released on April 20th of this year after spending six months in the aviary.  The group consist of a pair and a juvenile male from the 2023 harvested chicks. These are the first ground-hornbills to be released in the Alma Valley.

The same month that the Dabchick birds were released, a pair were brought to the west side of Qwabi Private Game Reserve. This pair was first released at Thabazimbi, but due to a lead poisoning incident, they were recalled for treatment and subsequently sent back to our Baobab facility for rehabilitation. After a month, they were set free and they began to explore their new area right away. It is with much sadness though that we report that the female has been predated on by a caracal. It is a loss, but thankfully not human-related and so although it pains the team, we must carry on.

We have just moved two more birds into a soft-release aviary to join the lone adult male at Qwabi East. The male was released with two other birds in 2023, but one died from lead toxicity, and his female fell in love with the Dabchick alpha male, so she jumped territories. Drama...

 This has been an important move to help us reach our target of a minimum of 10-15 breeding groups in the greater Waterberg biosphere, the numbers needed for long-term sustainability.   

We are grateful for the support, including the love, that the birds have received in all these areas. Our birds cannot be fence-bound, and this has necessitated collaboration with all the landowners, managers, general staff and everyone within a single territory - a community with one goal of seeing the ground-hornbills thriving in this area.

We would like to thank the following individuals for their continued support and for granting us access to their properties and helping keep the birds safe, in addition to the whole community in the Rooiberg Bewaria, assisting us in the hornbill monitoring program.

Philip Maarten - Zandrivierspoort

Peter and Pamela Oberem, Mpilo Life Mhlanga, Erika Bezuidenhout, Klaas Kathlego Maluleke, Tyler Michael, AMES – Dabchick Wildlife Reserve

Jacques de Klerk & Samual Banda Mataboge – Mooikloof

 Piet Niemand - Meletse Game Breeders

Nelisiwe Mahlangu – Phala Phala Game Farm

Kyle Brand (Tshwane University of Technology - Industrial Design Department and tree-climber extraordinaire) was able to help us with the second batch of scans of the natural nests in Kruger National Park. He refined the device that he built for us, and so we are able to get 2000 geo-points scanned within a nest in just 7 minutes.

We could then follow that up with a 360^O image of the inside of the nest. The video below is Kyle working his way into a tricky fig tree and conducting the scan and images at high speed. Us mere mortals on the ground were acutely aware of the pride of lions further along the riverbank just a few 100 meters away.

If you would like to support our work please consider making a donation or reach out to find other ways of supporting us.

With lots of love,

The Mabula Ground Hornbill Project Team

Want to get in touch? Contact us, or visit our website to learn more about what we do.

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