| In Febuary 2007 Caspar Bijleveld, the director of Papiliorama and project coordinator of the ITCF, visited Shipstern together with Alex van Hoof, director of the Arnhem Zoo in the Netherlands. Alex’s father, Antoon van Hoof, who unfortunately died two years ago, was a founding member of the ITCF Holland. His important work is now being continued by his son. The visit was an great success and in four intense days, many important places in the reserve were visited, despite the extremely wet dry season (!). During the long excursions through the forest, many tracks of Jaguars, Ocelots and Tapirs were seen and numerous bird species were observed. In Xo-Pol they even discovered an almost three meter long Morelet crocodile!
The fauna and flora of Shipstern is doing very well at the moment. During their regular patrols through the reserve, the guards observe numerous animals as for example during the night of the 9th of April, when the team encountered a tapir. The protection of the two Woodstork colonies in the Shipstern lagoon has also proven to be successful. The birds who return to the safety of the lagoon every year during the breeding season where particularly numerous this year and 230 pairs were counted!
For the past few months the ITCF in Switzerland has been able to count on the support of the company KPMG in Fribourg. This internationally renowned company is specialised in audit and management consultancy and is now the auditor of the Papiliorama Foundation. We would like express our gratitude to KPMG for their support!
Thanks to further support, the funds necessary for the construction of the observation tower in Shipstern were brought together. The tower will allow visitors to look over the entire reserve, as well as enable the guards to oversee the lagoon from the main camp. The tower is to be built in the coming spring and we will keep you informed.
A new 4x4 vehicle will be arriving in Shipstern shortly. This vehicle is essential for the protection of the reserve and will also be used for transporting visitors. The urgent renovation of the guards house, which has been made possible by our donators in Switzerland and surrounding countries will also be started in the coming months.
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