FACILITATING WILDLIFE RESEARCH IN AFRICA'S WILD PLACES since 2003
    Dr Kirsten Wimberger started her formal education in her home town, at the University of Cape Town, with a BSc in
    Zoology and Archaeology. Wanting to work on large mammals, her BSc Honours was done at the Mammal Research
    Institute of the University of Pretoria, with a project determining the age of free-ranging African elephants (Loxodonta
    africana) using their faecal bolus diameter. Continuing her passion for large mammals, she joined the Brain Function
    Research Unit of the University of Witwatersrand, where she determined the thermal stress during the transport of
    mammals for her MSc. She then moved to the University of KwaZulu-Natal where she worked as a research assistant in
    the School of Biological and Conservation Sciences, where she was responsible for the care and maintenance of Rock
    Hyrax (Procavia capensis) and Malachite Sunbirds (Nectarinia famosa), among other things. Her passion now extended
    beyond just wanting to work in the bush and with large mammals, to being involved in animal welfare matters. Her Phd
    topic thus molded into her perfect project, namely documenting wildlife rehabilitation in South Africa. It was an
    emotionally difficult project to do, especially when monitoring the post-release survival of rehabilitated animals, as
    survival was poor. Post-PhD, she wanted to be involved in a project that could help prevent animals from entering
    rehabilitation centres in th first place. After moving to the quiet forest  town of Hogsback to work on the Cape Parrot
    Project with Dr Steve Boyes, and she was given this opportunity by working on the endangered samango monkey, with
    Prof Judith Masters and Fabien Génin, at the University of Fort Hare.
    Dr Steve Boyes obtained a Masters degree in Environmental Development (Protected Areas Management)
    at the University of Natal, South Africa, in 2002. His passion has always been wilderness. As a result, the call
    of the bush was too strong and, after a few years working as a biodiversity consultant, he couldn’t resist the
    opportunity to move to the Okavango Delta, Botswana, to work as a safari guide and camp manager. Shortly
    after arriving in Botswana, he set up the Meyer’s Parrot Project and began data collection for his PhD
    Zoology, which he recently completed with no corrections. Steve’s passion for African parrot conservation is
    contagious and he has conducted seminars and talks at the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, California
    (Berkeley) and Colorado (Boulder), as well as the Bronx Zoo and several local and international conferences.
    He spent the whole of 2006 in Prof Steve Beissinger’s lab at the University of California, Berkeley, where he
    established a strong working relationship with the US parrot conservation community. Steve is currently taking
    up a DST/NRF Centre of Excellence Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African
    Ornithology. His postdoctoral research will be on the conservation biology of the Critically Endangered Cape
    Parrot in the Amathole and Transkei regions of the Eastern Cape, South Africa.

    Hugh Topiaman obtained his education in the school of out PLANET earth. He is a photographer, writer,
    environmentalist, conservationist, wildlife researcher, ornithologist, ambassador, and member of Earth's
    community. Hugh has one guiding light - his dream to see all people live there lives in tune with their local
    environment, making decisions based on the following basic mantra:"What is good for the PLANET is good
    for me". To achieve his goal of helping all people reach this goal, he works for PLANET digimag. PLANET
    digimag is the world's first online and downloadable digital magazine that focuses on environmental issues,
    biodiversity, people and landscapes. Hugh looks forward to sharing his journey with you.    

    Statement: "It is now painfully clear that we need to acknowledge our complicity in the degradation of our last-
    remaining wilderness areas, most of which will be gone within the next 50 years, lost to us forever.  From that
    point forward we will be in control of, and thus responsible for, all aspects of our biosphere.  Alone and in
    control of our own destiny.  The loss of that which is "wild" would be the greatest loss of the 21st century.  We
    need to invest more of our time, money and intellectual ability into conserving these last-remaining a new
    world.a new world".
"Keep close to Nature's heart...and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean."
John Muir

Sir Winston Churchill said:"The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays is coming to its close. In its place we
are entering a period of consequences."

Nelson Mandela mused: "I dream of the realization of the unity of Africa, whereby its leaders combine in their efforts to solve the problems of this continent. I
dream of our vast deserts, of our forests, of all our great wildernesses."

President-elect Barack Obama proclaimed: "People of Berlin - people of the world - this is our moment. This is our time."

Mahatma Gandhi wrote: “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”

Antoine de Saint-Exupery said: "You are responsible, forever, for what you have tamed."
AfricaSkyBlue quotes:
Updated:  3/04/2010
Administrator:  Dr. Steve Boyes  BScFor (NatCon) MEnvDev(PAM) PhD Zoology
DST/NRF Centre of Excellence Postdoctoral Fellow: Percy FitzPatrick Institute
University of Cape Town, South Africa
E-mail:  boyes@africaskyblue.org
         steve.boyes@bigfig.com
          rs.boyes@uct.ac.za