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. But now the survival of this ecotourism industry is in jeopardy because of growing armed banditry by poachers who kill elephants for their tusks and catch endangered tiger fish with gillnets. To add to the problems, local residents have vowed to kill the elephants, which they accuse of killing and threatening their livestock. Environmental Affairs Minister Barbara Creecy said authorities believed that the area and other game reserves in northern KwaZulu-Natal had become softer targets for poaching syndicates because of anti-poaching efforts in the Kruger National Park and other poaching hot spots. The latest attack, widely reported locally and internationally, occurred in January when armed bandits attacked a tourist boat. The tourists - five Germans, two Americans, one Australian and four South Africans - were on a cruise on the Jozini Dam.