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In the forests of Cameroon, a single conservation program has seized 1,392 kg of bushmeat, arrested 25 poachers, and destroyed 260 hunting camps, yet hunting pressure resumes whenever enforcement resources are withdrawn. This pattern, repeated across Africa, reveals the fundamental challenge facing wildlife conservation: economic incentives consistently outweigh protection measures when conservation efforts fail to address the underlying livelihood dependencies that drive wildlife exploitation.

Illegal activities that pose significant challenges in most of Africa include habitat loss through charcoal production, illicit harvesting of timber, poaching of wildlife, and overfishing of water resources. In the Lugenda Wildlife Reserve (LUWIRE) within the Niassa Special Reserve of northern Mozambique, these issues are being addressed head-on.

To make chuparosa love charms, the birds are first illegally killed. The methods are not fully known, but available information suggests that slingshots were traditionally used. Currently, they are also dispatched with nets and shotguns, loaded with shells containing tiny pellets. Their bodies are desiccated, usually in eviscerated form. They are then sealed in a paper tube, wrapped in thread, and placed in a bag with a prayer card called an oracione. Contemporary chuparosa charms often also have a Hecho En Mexico (Made in Mexico) sticker attached.

By the 1950s, Nile crocodiles in Zimbabwe were nearly extinct. Commercial hunters had killed most of them for their valuable skins. The crocodiles were easy targets because they lived in predictable locations, hunters could spot them easily at night with spotlights, and each kill was worth a lot of money. Instead of banning all crocodile hunting, wildlife authorities did something unexpected: they allowed people to start commercial crocodile farms. Why did this work? Three reasons: Undercut the black market: Legal farms could supply skins, reducing demand for poached ones.

With the endless challenges facing African governments, such as poverty, inadequate infrastructure, unemployment, and institutional fragility, wildlife conservation is invariably at the bottom of the "to-do list". One of Africa's central paradoxes is that the continent has unparalleled natural wealth, from iconic megafauna to diverse ecosystems, but most nations can't afford to care for it. The brutal math of governance forces difficult choices. Build schools or protect elephants?

Over the past twenty years, the organizations operating in the eastern concession blocks of Niassa Special Reserve, straddling Niassa and Cabo Delgado Provinces, Kambako, Luwire, Chuilexi Conservancy, and Mariri/Niassa Carnivore Project, have made one of the largest and longest-standing investments in conservation and rural development in Mozambique. Together, these organizations protect over 17,842 km² of wilderness in Niassa across eight concessions, supporting wildlife and people across 28 villages with 14,649 residents.

Between 2011 and 2012, caravans of Sudanese poachers decimated Northern Cameroon's elephant population with shocking speed. Where elephants were once a daily sight, all signs of them disappeared entirely. The poachers operated in heavily armed groups of 25 to 30 men, traveling on camels and horses. Whenever Professional Hunter Guav Johnson or his teams discovered their fresh tracks, they had to withdraw from the area to avoid dangerous confrontations. The Sudanese poachers' route was methodical.

The deserts and semi-arid regions of South Africa are home to some of the world's most unique and diverse succulent plant species. But these botanical treasures are vanishing at an alarming rate through poaching. The silent theft of these ancient, slow-growing plants is pushing entire species to the brink of extinction, transforming ecological systems that have evolved over millions of years. SA Hunters and Game Conservation Association (SA Hunters) is traditionally known for its focus on sustainable hunting and wildlife conservation.

One of the key takeaways from the Snare Mitigation Symposium held in Pretoria in September 2024 was the issue of the prosecution and sentencing of snare poachers in South Africa. High-profile cases of rhino horn and elephant ivory trafficking are headline-grabbing, but meat poaching using snares and dogs is probably a more serious issue. The effects of snare poaching are staggering, and while anti-poaching operations are vital, the current laws and enforcement need to be examined.

Northern Cameroon is characterized by flat to gently undulating countryside, with vast plains and occasional rocky outcrops that stretch over a mix of dry and wet savannah landscapes. Large ephemeral rivers create seasonal wetlands and floodplains important for agriculture and wildlife. The northernmost parts of this region are a part of the Sahel, which marks a transition between the desert and the more fertile savannah to the south. The region falls within the Sudano-Sahelian climatic zone, which experiences distinct wet and dry seasons.

The game ranching industry in South Africa in the 1960s was based primarily on venison production and a small amount of photographic tourism. There was very little demand for white rhinos because they were specially protected animals; they couldn’t be safari hunted. Private landowners didn’t want rhinos because they required much capital investment in fencing and security. They were also in competition for food with other wildlife species that could generate income. The rhino was valueless.

Environmentalists in Namibia have accused local wildlife officials of hiding the real extent of rhino poaching in the Etosha National Park, which holds the highest concentration of black rhinos in the world. The Ministry of Environment recently acknowledged that rhino killings at the park quadrupled during the first quarter of 2024. Namibian police apprehended two suspects Sunday for the killing of an adult female black rhino and a medium-sized male calf black rhino at the park's waterhole earlier that day.

The 2022 poaching statistics show a loss of 210 rhino on state properties and 49 in privately owned parks. As indicated, hardest hit during this period is KwaZulu-Natal which recorded a loss of 133 rhino. This is more than triple the 33 rhino killed in the first six months of 2021.

A well-known rhino pair were poached at the Bothongo Rhino and Lion Nature reserve early Wednesday morning. A rhino cow and her calf needlessly lost their lives when they were poached in the Bothongo Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve in the Cradle of Humankind in the early hours of Wednesday, September 15.

Cameroonian police say they have for the first time during the pandemic seized parts of an estimated 2,000 pangolins poached in Cameroon and neighboring Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. Police say travel restrictions had slowed trafficking of the endangered anteater to Asia, where its meat is considered a delicacy and the scales are used in traditional medicine. At least 12 bags of Pangolin scales and leopard skin are in a police warehouse at Nlonkak, a neighborhood in Cameroon's capital, Yaounde.

Kenya's Wildlife Service says that for the first time in 21 years, not a single rhinoceros was poached in the country's national parks in 2020. To maintain the progress, it is conducting the first ever wildlife census and placing mobile container housing in parks for rangers.

Two men recently received a seven-year prison sentence each after they were found guilty on charges of trying to sell an injured pangolin.

Botswana, confronting an unprecedented rise in poaching, has refuted reports by former President Ian Khama that at least 120 rhinoceroses have been killed in the last 18 months. Instead, the government says, wildlife crimes have dropped by 70 percent since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Botswana's National Assembly has rejected a call to rearm its game rangers that was driven by a surge in rhinoceros poaching in recent years. Guns were taken away from the rangers in 201, but an opposition party lawmaker had moved a motion to rearm the wildlife officers.

Botswana has decided to re-arm its wildlife rangers as the southern African country battles increased cases of poaching. In the last six months, at least 17 poachers have been killed in gunfire exchanges with the army. The government had disarmed wildlife rangers in 2018, saying that under the law, only the military was allowed the use of firearms during anti-poaching patrols. With the country losing 56 rhinoceros to poachers in the last two years, the government is reconsidering that approach. Wildlife and Tourism …

Kruger National Park, South Africa - Officials at South African National Parks say cooperation with neighboring Mozambique has been a key factor in reducing rhinoceros poaching in the famous Kruger National Park. Kruger is home to the world's largest wild rhino population, and has proven a tempting target for poachers who for years jumped the park’s borders.