Search results

Tourism operators, however, warn of damage to rhino habitats. Ultimate Safaris secured High Court interdicts in October and December 2024 to halt mining, arguing it would threaten endangered black rhinos and harm the tourism industry. Four black rhinos were translocated to the Sorris Sorris conservancy under the Black Rhino Custodianship Scheme between 2005 and 2010, while another operator held a mining licence in the same area until 2019 without facing court action.

Conservation is under serious threat from mining activities in protected areas countrywide, putting wild animals at risk of extinction, a Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) official has said. Giving oral evidence to the Tourism and Hospitality Industry Parliamentary Portfolio Committee this Monday, ZimParks Corporate Secretary Nyasha Mutyambizi said the Mines ministry continued to accept applications for mining purposes in the restricted areas meant for conservation and tourism.

Demand for South Africa's abalone is so high it underpins an international smuggling trade estimated to be worth nearly £100m each year. The poachers who gather on the windswept beaches of South Africa's rocky Cape coast are immediately recognisable by the tools of their trade. Pick-up trucks drop them off clad in wetsuits and carrying diving cylinders, then they head out into the waves on fast rubber boats. Their work is not for the faint-hearted. The waters can be treacherous and divers must also avoid becoming prey for the area's plentiful great white sharks.