The global black market for rhino horn is worth billions, built on poverty at the bottom, greed at the top and violence in between. It is one of the world’s most entrenched illegal trades. Derek Lewitton, owner of Black Rock Rhino Reserve in Limpopo, was caught in the middle. On 22 December 2023, he tells us, police raided his farm, accusing him of holding illegal horn, rhino carcasses, and unlicensed firearms. These were the same officers he alleges he once asked to help him fight poaching cartels. His wife endured a 19-hour armed standoff in their home, their children watched in terror, and Lewitton was held in custody for three weeks. While he sat in prison - with up to 19 inmates in a 5×6m room - and later fought to clear his name, he claims 39 rhinos were poached from his reserve and another 60 vanished. He further alleges that aerial survey results confirm this. His Gauteng home was ransacked three times and he says his family received threats of rape and murder. Lewitton maintains that the massive costs of caring for and protecting rhinos, coupled with being unable to sell horn, have decimated his wealth.