Last month, Australia became the world’s first country to ban the import or export of lion trophies, often taken from so-called canned hunting where lions are raised solely to be shot by foreign hunters. “These new rules mean that if you go overseas and engage in the appalling act of canned hunting, you can forget […]
Tag: Kruger National Park
World’s first all-female patrol protecting South Africa’s rhinos
The battle against the poaching that kills a rhino every seven hours in South Africa has acquired a new weapon: women. The Black Mambas are all young women from local communities, and they patrol inside the Greater Kruger national park unarmed. Billed as the first all-female unit of its kind in the world, they are […]
New blood record: 1,020 rhinos killed in South Africa
South Africa has surpassed last year’s grisly record for slaughtered rhinos – 1,004 – more than a month before the year ends. In an announcement on November 20th, the South African Department of Environmental Affairs said that 1,020 rhinos had been killed to date. Rhinos are butchered for their horns, which are consumed as curatives […]
Madikwe: May 2010 (Part 2)
If you missed out on the previous episode of this trip report, click HERE.Day 2We headed straight for the sighting of African Wild Dogs that was called in on the radio. When we found them they had moved from the side of the road and were staring intent…
Sleepy Eyes
I just love discovering a gem in my archives. Unlike what many people may think, I am not on safari for the better part of the year. I actually have 3-5 opportunities to go to the bush for periods of between 3 and 8 days every year, depending on leave roster at work, my Wild […]
The inconvenient solution to the rhino poaching crisis
Daily, we read or hear of more rhino being poached to satisfy the seemingly insatiable demand from Asia for rhino horn. With countless articles and papers having been published on the subject – and the Internet abuzz with forums, including heated debates concerning possible solutions – current approaches seem to be failing. Evidence is in […]
Waterbuck Wink
I was trawling through my archives tonight, making space for new files by deleting files that are now 2+ years old that I haven’t touched yet, when I came across this photo. The species depicted is a Common Waterbuck, found throughout much of Southern Africa. The photo was taken in the Kruger National Park late […]
South Africa’s Kruger National Park invites bids for 500 white rhinos
South Africa’s Kruger National Park is inviting bids for rhinos under a plan to move 500 of the animals to safety to counter a wave of poaching for their horns, highly prized in some Asian countries as a sign of wealth. In newspaper adverts on Sunday, South African National Parks invited potential buyers to “make […]