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South Africa's most exclusive enclave of private nature reserves reveals their hidden security nerve centre - and shows what they've done to thwart horn poachers for nearly a record year.

As two collectors walk down the South Korean nursery's humid aisles, they spot a magnificent specimen. Having collected South African succulents for over two decades, their greenhouse showcases many plants growing in what looks like their natural Succulent Karoo habitat. But they have never seen this species before, and judging from its size, the plant looks decades old. The nursery owner tells them the succulent is a new mother plant used for cultivation and is not for sale. But if they wanted an equally large plant, he could connect them to his broker.

Snaring has surged 200% in the Kruger National Park, also causing lion extinctions elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa.

There are worrying signs that the illegal trade is becoming more organised, with professionals and government officials involved.

A void left by illegal horn income may now be driving neighbouring communities to snare and shoot species such as African buffalo in the park's southwest sector. Despite the lowveld’s searing heat, thorny canopy and tough terrain, Kruger's staff and honorary rangers say they are fighting back - on foot.

The Eastern Marine Command of Nigeria Customs Service in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, said it has made a significant breakthrough in combating wildlife trafficking by intercepting a substantial quantity of pangolin scales, elephant tusks and sacks of used second hand shoes worth N680,290,400 in its area of operation.

Authorities have apprehended an Indonesian in an ivory smuggling operation after uncovering 38.4kg ivory consignment valued at approximately Sh10 million. The suspect was arrested at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

Since 2020, snaring has tripled in the crown jewels of South Africa's Big Five reserves. This suggests economic hardship, although it is not the sole factor to blame. Responding to questions by the Democratic Alliance’s Hannah Winkler on the park’s snaring trends, Environment Minister Barbara Creecy reported the removal of thousands of snares: In 2020, 2,407 snares were removed; In 2021, 4,454 snares were removed; In 2022, 7,270 snares were removed.

Joining famed conservationists Jane Goodall and Carl Jones at the 12th Oppenheimer Research Conference, a former SANParks conservation boss warns that - thanks to a lack of funds and government interference - most provincial game reserves face collapse, but suggests solutions might be found among not-forprofits, the private sector and surrounding communities.

"On August 1, South Africa's Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment released an update that rhinoceros (rhino) poaching dropped 11% in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period of the previous year. Between 1 January and 30 June 2023, poaching trends also continued to show a move away from the Kruger National Park to provincial and private reserves," the report stated.

A new investigative report on SA's lion farming industry comes to a damning conclusion: 'This new intelligence gathered by brave sources confirms what was previously suspected - these well-established, legal operations are plugged secretly into unethical practices and an illicit international trade network.'

The head of the North West Parks and Tourism Board has told Parliament that the thieves who stole 51 rhino horns from its guarded facility in June must have had intimate knowledge of its security system.

Fifteen years after South Africa was hit by an unprecedented wave of rhino-horn poaching, the slaughter rate remains relentless - with one rhino shot almost every day in KwaZulu-Natal, the historic heartland of global rhino conservation. More than 60% of the rhinos killed in South Africa so far in 2023 drew their last breaths in KwaZulu-Natal as poachers continue to shift more of their deadly firepower and axes to the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, one of the world’s last strongholds of wild rhino conservation. Latest poaching …

South African National Parks has confirmed that lions have been targeted in a poisoning campaign in the northern Kruger Park by poachers seeking the animals’ body parts, presumably for the muti trade. The numbers are not huge, but in the wake of the rhino poaching onslaught, the targeting of another charismatic species in the iconic park will set off alarm bells among conservationists.

The Wildlife Justice Commission has published details of a rhino horn trafficking case that includes the use of frozen seafood and 'mishandled baggage', as well as the failure of authorities not to publicly report their seizure of the horn. 

Succulent poaching, fuelled by the illicit trade it sustains, is emerging as a pressing global concern, threatening the existence of these remarkable plants. The increasing demand fuels a lucrative illicit market, endangering their existence in the wild. The climate crisis and the destruction of natural habitats further exacerbate the challenges faced by these unique plants.

The Hawks have arrested a second suspect allegedly linked to the stockpile hit at the North West Parks Board headquarters in Mafikeng last week. According to a Daily Maverick source, the suspect was apprehended in a planned operation near Brits at about 9pm on Tuesday. On Wednesday morning the arrest was confirmed by a senior SAPS officer who did not want to be identified.

Conservationists are raising serious questions about crime scene protocols - and the sense in stockpiling rhino horn - after a report claimed the police took eight hours to respond to a burglary at the North West Parks Board on Monday. In what is being described as a well-planned heist executed with military precision, thieves broke into the Heritage House headquarters of the North West Parks Board in the early hours of Monday and stole 51 rhino horns worth millions of rands on the Asian black market.

The recent sentencing of six Zimbabweans - members of the so-called Chitiyo Rhino Poaching Gang - to prison terms ranging from 16 to 20 years suggests that authorities are slowly but steadily making inroads in tackling the poaching scourge.

Dr Chana added that in Ruaha - Rungwa ecological system buffalo population has increased by 80 per cent, zebra 36 per cent and antelope 65 per cent compared to the census conducted in 2018. "The black rhino which are among the endangered species have increased by 27.5 per cent compared to their population in 2018," Dr Chana said. "The increase in wildlife population is an indication of strengthened security and management of conserved ar- eas," she added. The minister said that the achievements have been also contributed by the government efforts to conduct patrols…

Maputo - The authorities have detained for the second time a notorious Mozambican poacher, Simon Ernesto Valoi, known in the world of crime as "Boss Navarra". Valoi has been held in a Mozambican prison since July 2022. According to a report in the Maputo daily "Noticias', Valoi refused to name his accomplices, who remain at large. Investigators set a trap for Valoi. Pretending to be corrupt, they provided him with a mobile phone through which he could contact his relatives and other members of the poaching ring.

Vietnamese authorities on Monday seized seven tonnes of ivory smuggled from Angola, the largest seizure of wildlife products in years, the government said.

For decades the area surrounding the serene and picturesque Jozini Dam and Pongola Nature Reserve has been a tourist mecca, drawing well-heeled local and international visitors keen on seeing nature at its best, including cruises to watch elephants grazing and to spot rare species. Luxury lodges and hundreds of workers depend on the viability of the local tourist attractions and a constant stream of high-spending visitors.

Maputo, 16 Feb (AIM) - Mozambique's Central Office for the Fight against Organised and Transnational Crime (GCCCOT) has filed charges against two poachers, currently being held in preventive detention. According to a GCCCOT press release, the two men (who were not named) were caught on 27 July last year in possession of four rhinoceros horns with an estimated value on the black market of 243,600 US dollars.

The Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife conservation agency has, up till now, opted to not dehorn its rhinos to protect them from poachers. But that could change soon, following another year of relentless killings in which the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park emerged as the current rhino poaching hotspot, globally. The latest poaching figures released by national Environment Minister Barbara Creecy show that 244 rhinos were killed by horn poachers in KwaZulu-Natal in 2022 - the vast majority of them in the HIP.

An appeal court has increased the prison sentence of a rhino poacher from 11 to 15 years.

Meru - A police officer who was arrested over the weekend with elephant tusks worth Sh2.1 million is due to be charged in court. The officer had been arrested in Meru Township while carrying the tusks that he intended to sell to a potential buyer. Police together with Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) officials were tipped off before they moved in and found him carrying the same. The officer later led the team to another accomplice in the area in the Saturday morning operation. The men are expected in court Monday to face charges of possession and trafficking of the tusks.

Private and communal lands now conserve at least 50% of Africa's rhinos, according to a newly published paper in journal 'Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment', highlighting the need for 'adaptive policies' to build on this success. These trends have policy implications as debates rage about rhino-horn trade and trophy hunting.

Senior Resident Magistrate Wanangwa Nyirenda on Thursday, December 1st 2022, sentenced Zambian national Kelby Roy Malambo to 15 years imprisonment with hard labour for the three charges he faced in the MK53m wildlife crime case involving elephant ivory.

Kruger National Park, the world's greatest refuge for rhinos, is losing them to poaching faster than they're being born. The park's last rhino may already be alive. It's time to declare an emergency.

Rhino poachers entering Kruger National Park are increasingly being run down by packs of unleashed hunting hounds in full cry, followed by a chopper tracking their hi-tech GPS collars. As the baying pack approaches, the poacher has no idea the dogs are trained to not attack. They won't bite him (there are legal implications), but if he tries to harm the dogs, rangers will fire from the chopper. The poachers know this and no dog has yet
been lost to a poacher’s bullet.

A Ugandan court has handed a life sentence to a man caught with nearly 10 kg of elephant ivory, the country's highest punishment ever for wildlife violations, authorities said on Friday.

A successful multidisciplinary, intelligence driven operation led to the arrest of two suspects and the confiscation of abalone to the value of R 190 000-00. It is alleged that on 15 October 2022 at about 23:00, information was received from the colleagues of Queenstown K9 and CI with regard to armed, suspects traveling with an Isuzu bakkie fully loaded with abalones from the direction of Queenstown to Maletswai. Members from James Calata SAPS, Maletswai, Aliwal North, Aliwal North K9, DOCC, TRT and Aliwal North stock unit were activated as a team and intervened.

Malambo, who started defending himself on 8 March this year, was found with 22 pieces of raw ivory, weighing 64.905 kilograms and valued at about MK53 million. He was arrested at Mwami Border Total Filling Station in Mchinji in February, 2021.

The President of the Mozambican Supreme Court (TS), Adelino Muchanga, has expressed his concern about the persistence of poaching in the country. According to Muchanga, speaking on 18 August in Maputo at the launch of the Manual for Training and Supporting Magistrates in Matters of Combating Wildlife Crime, the numbers are worrying because the poachers have been changing their areas of operation, target species, and modus operandi. According to Muchanga, hunting today is no longer for survival, but for profit, a fact that puts strong pressure on nature.

Liberian Moazu Kromah - known as "Kampala Man" - led one of the most active wildlife-trafficking syndicates on the African continent before his arrest in the Ugandan capital in February 2017. Just more than five years later, in March 2022, more than 11,000km away from the city in which he based his operation and from which his alias derives, Kromah quietly entered into a plea bargain with the Southern District of New York (SDNY), which is known for tackling high-profile organised crime and corruption cases.

As several stories have revealed across different platforms of late, most pertinently in the long delayed release of the Rhino Report in Daily Maverick of 31 May, poaching in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park has boomed. There is little argument among conservation bodies about the numbers - some 95 rhinos have been poached in the park so far this year. It drew to mind an interview I recorded with former Environmental Affairs Minister, Edna Molewa, in about 2013 for a multimedia eBook I was producing called, iRhino.

A Kenyan has pleaded guilty to conspiring to traffic in rhino horns and elephant ivory in a in Manhattan Federal Court. According to Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, Mansur Mohamed Surur was involved in the illegal poaching of more than approximately 35 rhinoceros and more than 100 elephants.

Malambo was found with 22 pieces of raw ivory, weighing 64.905 kilograms valued at about MK53 million at Mwami Border Total Filling Station in Mchinji in February 2021, which led to his arrest.

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.

Two of South Africa's most notorious rhino poachers, the Van Deventer brothers, have been convicted and sentenced in a Limpopo court after pleading guilty to a long list of charges that link them to a trail of poached rhino carcasses discovered over the 2016/17 New Year weekend.

Four traffickers have been arrested for trafficking in ivory tusk, pangolin, and chimpanzee.

Poverty around protected parks is not the main reason rhino poaching thrives, argues researcher Ian Glenn. 

Just as the barbarity of war in Ukraine or the global climate crisis gradually lose their shock value, the unrelenting massacre of South Africa’s rhino has all but drifted from public view. Behind the scenes, however, at least 75 rhinos have been butchered for their horns in KwaZulu-Natal in the opening months of 2022.

It has taken suspected succulent smugglers just a few years to yank out of the ground more than 1.5 million rare plants with a cumulative age of more than 44,000 years. And illegal trade in wild flora and fauna continues to rocket, authorities say.

State prosecutors from 11 East African countries have vowed to tighten their cross border cooperation and tackle money launder crimes and other emerging transnational crimes.

A wildlifetrafficker has been sentenced to more than a year in prison by the BertouaCourt of First Instance for trafficking in pangolin scales.

Zimparks rangers stumbled upon a decomposing elephant carcass suspected to have fallen victim to cyanide poisoning in Lupane.

Amidst the growing devastating impact of climate change on the Nigerian environment, conservation efforts are being threatened by trafficking of wildlife.

On this material day, Mangochi Police detectives were tipped by members of the community that the said suspects were possessing the listed species (Pangolin) at the said house looking for buyers.