It has been a week since entries for the competition to name Makatsa and Mahlori’s chick closed. The names were sent to Black Eagle Project Roodekrans (BEPR) Chairman, Gerald Draper and his committee to vote for their favourite name.

Each entrant could only submit three names – preferably an African name, which has some meaning or link to the Gardens – by no later than 4 September.

This year, BEPR joined forces with their conservation partners and Northsider, Clearwater Mall, Burger Bistro Little Falls, Nadine van Zyl Photography and Synergetix to host the competition.

According to BEPR, it was a close race between four names, and they had to vote three times in the final to get the clear winner.

As a result of a technical glitch on the website where the names were to be submitted, members of the community were advised to send their details and name submissions in via email.

This year saw a total of 70 entries, and after a week of intense voting and deliberation the winner was decided.

The Black Eagle juvenile’s new name is Motsumi, which means ‘The Hunter’ in Sesotho, and the name was submitted by Lee Semoko.

Lee walks away with a R500 Clearwater Mall voucher, Burger Bistro Little Falls dinner voucher for two, a Nadine van Zyl Photography photo shoot voucher, and a free, one-year domain and website hosting from Synergetix.

It been two years since the community had the opportunity to name a juvenile Black Eagle at WSNBG while BEPR monitors remain hopeful that Motsumi will live on to continue the life cycle of the Verreaux’s eagle species.