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Namibian Wildlife Crimes article archive

This archive of published media articles about wildlife crime in Namibia aims to:

  • provide easy public access to published information and statistics
  • enable easy stakeholder access to articles
  • provide a comprehensive archive of wildlife crime reporting in Namibia

Public access to information is a vital component of ensuring community engagement in prevalent issues. Wildlife crime is one of the pressing environmental issues of our time.

Wildlife crime investigations are generally covert operations requiring utmost confidentiality to succeed. Investigations and prosecutions in complex cases may take months or even years to complete. For this reason, the information that can be released to the public without compromising cases is often limited. Nonetheless, the Namibian government strives to share as much information as possible with the public.

The Namibian media has welcomed this approach and regularly publishes statistics and feature articles on wildlife crime. These are entered into the database at regular intervals, creating a comprehensive archive of wildlife crime reporting in Namibia.

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Displaying results 1 - 20 of 20
Monday, 22 July 2024
Singh K 2024. King Misuzulu issues warning to communities against damaging Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife game reserves' fencing.

King Misuzulu kaZwelithini issued a warning to criminals within communities to stop damaging Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife game reserves’ fencing including cutting fences and stealing poles. The King was speaking during a meeting with an Ezemvelo delegation at his palace in Pongola on Thursday. During his presentation to the King, Ezemvelo chief executive officer Sihle Mkhize, informed the King that Ezemvelo faces challenges beyond rhino poaching, including criminals within neighbouring communities stealing fence materials and poles.

Friday, 23 June 2023
Matlala AJ 2023. More rhinos poached in Limpopo.

In Limpopo, which shed over 90 000 jobs between January and March, the impact of rhino poaching was hugely felt by its nearly 6.8 million population. More than 80 rhinos were killed through poaching in Limpopo parks and game reserves between 2020 and 2022  - which is of major concern for the Limpopo economics development, environment and tourism department.

Tuesday, 31 May 2022
Singh K 2022. KZN man gets 28-year prison sentence for poaching rhino in the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve.

Durban - A 45-year-old man convicted of rhino poaching was sentenced to 28 years in prison by the Empangeni Regional Court.

Monday, 16 May 2022
O'Regan V 2022. New weapon in fight against wildlife crime launched in Western Cape.

While forensic science has proven highly successful in helping catch perpetrators of human crimes - with a single cell now being enough for forensic sleuths to form a DNA profile - its potential in animal-related crimes remains largely untapped. The Wildlife Forensic Academy (WFA) is a first-of-its-kind forensic training facility. It was launched on 13 May at Buffelsfontein Nature Reserve on the West Coast and will be another weapon in the fight against wildlife crime.

Wednesday, 24 February 2021
Grobler J 2021. Calls for a special wildlife crime court in Namibia.

Namibia's over-burdened criminal justice system is struggling to keep up with rhino-poaching court cases, some of them delayed by up to six years. Is a special wildlife crime court the answer? 

Friday, 4 December 2020
Singh K 2020. KZN wildlife under siege from illegal hunters.

KwaZulu-Natal wildlife is "under attack" by illegal hunters across the province says Blessed Gwala, the IFP spokesperson for community safety and liaison. Last week the carcasses of four dehorned rhinos were found in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park.

Wednesday, 24 April 2019
Grobler J 2019. Troubled times for Namibian wildlife.

There are worrying signs that Namibia's legendary wild game numbers may be plummeting.

Monday, 25 March 2019
Grobler J 2019. Troubled times for Namibian wildlife - conservancy stock dwindling.

There are worrying signs that Namibia’s legendary wild game numbers may be plummeting. Four years ago the Namibian Professional Hunters Association raised an alarm about the lack of huntable elephant bulls in the Caprivi region, where the number of communal conservancies had grown from one in 1997 to 15 today.

Wednesday, 21 February 2018
Grobler J, Sharife K 2018. Christo Wiese’s Namibian rhino deal under scrutiny.

How did 13 rhino bulls from the Kruger National Park end up on a hunting farm owned by a reclusive Russian billionaire in Namibia? John Grobler and Khadija Sharife follow the trail

Tuesday, 7 February 2017
Grobler J 2017. Chinese 'mafia boss' turns to timber in Namibia.

Xuecheng Hou, a wealthy Chinese businessman linked to wildlife contraband trafficking, has emerged as a major player in the illegal trade in rare African timber in sub-Saharan Africa. John Grobler investigates.

Friday, 2 December 2016
Grobler J 2016. The horn scam at Windhoek's airport.

The Namibian authorities don’t seem to be in any hurry to shut down a rhino horn smuggling syndicate that has infiltrated security at Windhoek’s airport, writes John Grobler.

Tuesday, 4 October 2016
Grobler J 2016. Namibia diaries: the good, the bad, the ugly.

Depending on your views about legal trade in wildlife products, the past week was either a good week or a very good week for Namibian conservation, writes John Grobler.

Thursday, 15 September 2016
Grobler J 2016. A mysterious dead hand driving Namibia’s poaching.

After a two-year investigation, John Grobler exposes the totem-based networks facilitating transnational rhino horn smuggling and defeating the criminal justice system’s pursuit of suspects.

Monday, 11 July 2016
Grobler J 2016. The epicentre of Namibia's rhino poaching.

John Grobler visits Okahao, a sleepy settlement near Etosha National Park at the centre of the poaching plague threatening the world’s last viable population of critically endangered black rhinos.

Wednesday, 1 June 2016
Grobler J 2016. Bling king accused in Namibian rhino poaching.

The second recent court development followed the sensational arrest of a young, up-and-coming Windhoek businessman named “Mox” Namwandi. Who is he? John Grobler tracks his connections.

Friday, 23 October 2015
Grobler J 2015. Inner workings of a Chinese poaching syndicate.

Court evidence reveals the typical methdology deployed by one of five organised crime syndicates believed to be active in Namibian wildlife trafficking, reports John Grobler.

Friday, 17 July 2015
Grobler J 2015. Caught in the crossfire: how cattle and Chinese mining interests are killing off Namibia’s black rhinos.

A 10-month-long investigation by John Grobler uncovers the political and commercial agendas driving the world’s largest black rhino population towards extinction.

Friday, 6 March 2015
Grobler J 2015. Namibia's national soccer medic linked to rhino poaching and murder.
Monday, 19 January 2015
Grobler J 2015. Wildlife staff probed in Kunene rhino poaching.

The Save the Rhino Trust (SRT) has launched an internal investigation after it was presented with a letter in mid-December outlining possible collusion between some staff members and poachers who have killed at least 18 critically endangered Kunene black rhinos since late 2012. The crisis at the SRT is however just part of a larger one in anti-poaching law enforcement and natural resource management in the so-called “Big Three” communal conservancies - Palmwag, Abenab and Sesfontein - in southern Kunene.

Thursday, 20 November 2014
Grobler J 2014. Strange death of a rhino protector.

How did ‘Boxer’ die? Why are dead rhinos being found in the area his team patrolled? John Grobler digs up strange secrets surrounding the deaths of black rhinos in the Kunene region of Namibia.

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