:: THE BATELEURS

The Bateleurs is a non-profit, non governmental organisation (NGO) of volunteer pilots who fly for conservation and the environment. These pilots give their time and aircraft to conduct aerial surveys of sensitive or endangered areas of environmental significance. These missions provide valuable information for policy makers, scientists, community leaders and environmentalists. Our work in the air helps protect life on Earth.

Missions during 2004 included:
Giant Sable Count – Angola
The Bateleurs accepted a mission request in which we were asked to send two microlights to join an expedition to Angola to verify the existence of the Giant Sable. Two Bateleur microlight pilots volunteered and found themselves faced with months of planning to overcome the almost insurmountable logistical problems. However, in September they assembled with the rest of the expedition crew at the Johannesburg International Airport. With their Microlights disassembled to fit into the Illyushin IL76 Giant Sable Team cargo jet, they and the rest of the expedition team were loaded atop the 52 tons of cargo going to Luanda.

With full support and enormous help from the Angolan Air Force and the Governor of the Province, the expedition reached their base camp from which their search for the Giant Sable was carried out. Unfortunately on the second day one of our microlight pilots had to execute a forced landing in a field. As the field was too short for take off, the rest of the search was done on foot with only one microlight participating in the air.

Infra red trip-camera photographs of the Giant Sable have been recovered by the Angolan scientist who led the expedition.

Kalahari Lion Gene-Pool Swap
SANParks and Tswalu Kalahari Reserve appealed to The Bateleurs to help move Kalahari lions, which are extremely isolated in their distribution in South Africa, between populations to ensure that these isolated populations are maintained in a genetically diverse state. SANParks had agreed to make two Kalahari males available for reintroduction to Tswalu, who in turn agreed to make three Kalahari lions available for reintroduction to Marekele National Park. This was SANParks’ method of ensuring that genetic material Kalahari Lions on their way to Marakele was being shared with well-protected private reserves National Park in the Kalahari.

It poured with rain at Twee Rivieren as park officials helped load the two huge male Kalahari Lions into the waiting Bateleur plane. Everyone (humans and lions) got drenched, but it actually made the mission easier to accomplish, as the lions were not heat stressed.

The mission was carried out very successfully and all the lions involved in this translocation have adapted well to their new surroundings. The lions introduced to Marakele National Park were the first lions seen in the area for at least fifty years.

Bateleur Outreach Programme
This flight took four children and their school principal on an educational flight - the first in what we hope to be a new project for The Bateleurs.

Our passengers were briefed by the pilot who told them who we are and what we do and as none of them had ever flown before they were told what they might be able to see from the air that they would not see from the ground.

Our pilot wrote:
“We flew around the Brits and Hartebeestpoort area and looked at soil erosion, mines, quarries and, of course, plenty of the granite mining. Afterwards we flew over Garankuwa so they all saw their school from the air too which I think was a real treat for them. They all seemed to have enjoyed it and had wide eyes after the flight.” The pictures will confirm this.

The Bateleurs hope to work with the Department of Education and the Department of Environment to set up a nation-wide programme in order to select students for flights over the areas they live and study in. We need to educate our youth and we have flown the first Bateleur flight to do so.

For more information: www.bateleurs.org

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