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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 - 24 of 24
Monday, 22 July 2024
Ombati C 2024. Two arrested with Sh1.9 million elephant tusks in Tigania.

Two suspected poachers were at the weekend arrested while in possession of six pieces of elephant tusks in Tigania East, Meru county. They had wrapped the tusks weighing 18.5 kilos in four sacks when police and Kenya Wildlife Service officials intercepted them. Police said the two were nabbed at Muriamburi Junction Mulika area on July 18, as they transported the same to a potential buyer aboard a motorcycle. The suspects will be charged with being in possession of wildlife trophies of endangered species, contrary to Section 92(4) of the Wildlife Conservation Management Act 2013…

Tuesday, 16 January 2024
Ombati C 2024. Policeman among two arrested with elephant tusks in Nairobi.

The police constable and a civilian had been arrested in Nairobi West and Eastleigh with the cargo on Sunday. They had tried to sell the trophies to Kenya Wildlife Service ocials who had posed as potential buyers.

Wednesday, 15 November 2023
Ombati C 2023. Kenya: Two arrested with 77kgs of elephant tusks worth Sh12m in Samburu.

Two men were on Tuesday arrested while trafficking 36 pieces of elephant tusks weighing 77 kilogrammes valued at Sh12 million in Maralal, Samburu county.

Saturday, 29 April 2023
Ngounou B 2023. Chad: A sudden resumption of elephant poaching worries civil society.

At least five elephants were shot and stripped of their tusks in early April 2023 in southern Chad. Shocked by this wildlife crime, the organisation SOS Elephants of Chad is calling on the government to act firmly against the resurgence of poaching of Chad’s endangered elephants.

Thursday, 13 April 2023
Ngounou B 2023. Gabon: Four suspected ivory traffickers arrested in Makokou.

Four individuals involved in the illegal trafficking of four ivory tips were arrested on April 5 and 6, 2023 in Makokou, a town in northeastern Gabon. The elephant population in Gabon remains threatened despite regular ivory seizures by Water and Forestry agents. This observation has led civil society to explore actions upstream of the ivory trade process. In Gabon, efforts to fight crime related to protected wildlife species have just resulted in new arrests.

Tuesday, 27 September 2022
Ngounou B 2022. South Africa: Rhinos have lost 75% of their population in less than ten years.

The future of the rhino is becoming increasingly bleak, despite efforts to combat poaching. According to the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Save the Rhino International, South Africa, which is home to around 80% of the world's rhinos, has lost almost 75% of its rhino population in less than ten years. These figures were revealed on 22 September 2022, World Rhino Day.

Saturday, 20 August 2022
Ngounou B 2022. Gabon: Alleged ivory trafficker arrested in Fougamou.

The Gabonese authorities have just arrested an alleged wildlife trafficker. The latter was caught in the act of holding and selling about twenty kilograms of ivory. In Gabon, elephants are protected by the wildlife law in force.

Monday, 2 August 2021
Ombati C 2021. Kenya: Police arrest four suspects with Sh10 million elephant tusks.

Police said the four were found in possession of 19 pieces of the jumbo tusks. The tusks have a street value of Sh10 million.

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, 22 January 2021
Mukpo A 2021. Nigeria and Congo becoming major hubs for ivory and pangolin smuggling.

Increased political buy-in for law enforcement and interdiction efforts at ports in East Africa have pushed wildlife smuggling westward to Nigeria. Between 1998 and 2014, the top two countries associated with ivory seizures were Tanzania and Kenya. Since 2014, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo have overtaken them. Corruption at the ports, the involvement of influential politicians, and rural poverty make Nigeria an aractive waypoint for smugglers.

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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