​To celebrate the holiday season, CCB offices will close on the 21st December 2018 and reopen on the 7th January 2019. From all of us at CCB, we'd like to wish you a joyful holiday season and all the best for 2019. It has been an eventful year at CCB and thanks to all of your support we have made some great progress in the fight to protect Botswana’s wildlife, people and beautiful environment. We have completed some ground breaking research work like the piloting of the skaapwagter carnivore deterrent device and spearheading the Botswana Carnivore Forum — a group of like-minded conservationists working towards safeguarding all of Botswana’s carnivore species. We have advanced our Communities for Conservation project with exciting activities and consultations in Bere and Kacgae and delivered some awesome education activities to the students in these areas, like our new mobile bush camps. All of this has been made possible by our wonderful network of supporters from around the world that believe there is a future for the rich biodiversity of Botswana's wildlife and that coexistence with rural communities is an achievable dream. With the cheetah as our flagship species, we look forward to 2019 and further developing our programs to ensure that this dream becomes a reality. Thank you for all your support and we look forward to working with you in 2019 and beyond.
 
We wish you all a blessed Holiday Season! 

​The newly established “Champions for Cheetahs” mentorship programme aims to groom primary and secondary students to be future conservationists. Students showing a particular passion for conservation during our bush camps are selected for this programme and will enjoy additional activities and resources that will help develop their passion for conservation. CCB as conducted a needs assessment with the selected students and their families so that CCB can assist in meeting those needs through the programme in the coming years. This is a long-term project, which will help support the selected students until they reach tertiary schooling level. Bagorogile Langwane (in blue t-shirt) from the village of Kacgae in the Ghanzi region, is one of the four students earmarked to participate and benefit from the programme.

​The CCB team gathered together for our annual planning meeting in Maun on the 5th – 7th December 2018. The three-day meeting commenced with presentations on achievements and challenges in 2018, as well as some capacity building sessions and brainstorming for activities for 2019. The team came up with brilliant ideas for the year ahead that align with CCB’s strategic plan and national and international environmental conservation strategies and the plan will now guide us in the implementation of our activities and events in 2019. In recognition of dedication, commitment and passion in the work place, some staff members walked away with prizes, with the hope that it will motivate them and others to work even harder to preserve the fragile Kalahari ecosystem.
 
In addition to the meeting, the staff were treated to a team-building exercise in Moremi Game Reserve where they spotted lions, a leopard, many hippos, elephants, crocodiles, giraffes, antelopes and birds. We give special thanks to Letaka Safaris for sponsoring the game drive to Moremi Game Reserve; with their wonderful guides Lucas and G. To wrap up the hectic days and unwind, the team was treated to our end of year staff party at Okavango River Lodge overlooking the beautiful Thamalakane River.  After a long and trying year working in tough conditions and dealing with myriad problems, it was a wonderful way for our team to bond and to look back on the successes we have had this year. We dined and listened as the great river spoke into the night – what a night it was and a perfect way to end a year for conservationists!

​International Cheetah Day (ICD) is celebrated annually on the 4th of December.  This day is commemorated globally and celebrates the wonder of these beautiful animals while increasing awareness of their race against extinction. This year we celebrated the day with Gaborone and Ghanzi youth by holding two separate competitions under the theme, “Coexisting with Botswana’s wildlife”. The two competitions ran in two different locations; an art (sticker design) competition with Thornhill Primary School in Gaborone and a writing competition with all the primary schools in the Ghanzi district. Thornhill Primary School was nominated as the beneficiary of the art competition because of their continued support and commitment for 10 years to our cause. The art competition opened up for the standard 6 and 7 students, who compiled creative designs for stickers. There were 121 entries received, and the prize giving ceremony was held in the school on the 30th November 2018.
 
In the Ghanzi district, the writing competition consisted of two options — participating students could write a short story or address a letter to the President regarding wildlife conservation. This competition targeted pupils from standard 5, 6 and 7 and we received 144 entries from 14 different schools. The winners from each grade received a Kindle Prize Pack (which consisted of a Kindle e-reader, charger, case, solar charging power bank, USB stick and e-book library) whilst the runners–up from each grade received CCB branded items (a drawstring bag, cap and stationery set). All winners were awarded their prizes in their schools from the 26th November- 30th November 2018. We are very thankful to our friends at the Ghanzi Highway Puma Filling Station, Letaka Safaris and Earth Ark Safaris for their support in making these competitions a reality through their kind donations. The students, teachers and parents of those who participated were very thankful for the competition and encouraged us to hold it again in the upcoming years. We hope the competition got the students thinking about wildlife conservation in the lead up to International Cheetah Day.