DEON CILLIERS

Deon completed his National Diploma in Nature Conservation at the Pretoria Technicon (now TUT) and started his Conservation career as an Environmental Officer in the South African Airforce. He joined the Transvaal Nature Conservation Department based in Polokwane as Law Enforcement Officer after which he was promoted to assist the farming community with "problem animals", including leopards, cheetahs, wild dogs, caracal, jackals, monkeys and other wild animal species.

In 2000 Deon joined forces with the De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Trust to focus on the remaining population of free ranging cheetahs on farmlands in Limpopo, North West Province and Northern Cape. The project rapidly expanded into an integrated conservation project including conservation, education and research on cheetahs as well as other large predators in South Africa.

Deon is married and has a son.

KELLY MARNEWICK

Kelly Marnewick did a BSc in Zoology and Rand Afrikaans University (now University of Johannesburg) then carried on to complete an MSc (Wildlife Management) at the University of Pretoria. The title of her dissertation was 'The status and distribution of the cheetah in the Thabazimbi district of the Limpopo province'. During her student years she was actively involved in the NCCF-SA.

Her main focus now on the De Wildt Wild Cheetah Project is research on cheetahs that occur outside conservation areas. Kelly has represented South Africa several times in fencing and modern pentathlon and the highlight of her sporting career was competing in the Olympic Games in Athens.

She is married to Daniel who is also a conservationist and they enjoy mountain biking and training their Staffordshire Terriers in their spare time.