The tide may be turning as South Africa’s Police Service (SAPS) gets serious about rhino poaching – a 30-year-old man has been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for rhino poaching related crimes; and another man has been arrested at OR Tambo International Airport in possession of five rhino horns! SAPS announced in a media statement […]

A search for five lions on the loose is ongoing Sunday night in Fochville, west of Johannesburg, in South Africa. Until a couple of days ago, rescuers thought they were searching for one male lion… which had been spotted outside the gate of a Fochville resident on the West Rand a few weeks ago, but […]

We’ve all seen JAMIE TRAYNOR at some point on our timelines… in a cute rhino video, or a beautiful Dr Dolittle-type photo with little (and large) rhino clamouring to lay down in her lap and relax. The 23-year-old brightens our day – and those of the animal orphans in her care – with her wholehearted […]

If you’re far away, feast your eyes on these exquisite photos from the Kruger National Park, taken last week by TARA TURKINGTON during yet another fantastic family holiday. Tara says: “Home from a wonderful week in the Kruger Park. Even after approx. 40 years of visiting Kruger, I always leave wanting to come back…” The […]

Private rhino horn owner John Hume recently held South Africa’s first online rhino horn auction, a major event in the ongoing fight by private rhino owners to be able to sell legal horn stocks But in a statement released on Hume’s behalf it was admitted that there were very few bidders for the 264 horns. The […]

Pilanesberg National Park & Wildlife Trust has sadly revealed that it has lost another rhino cow to poachers. The female rhino was carrying a full-term baby. The devastated admin of the Park’s page said: “A terrible double tragedy simply to satisfy the disgusting greed of complete idiots! You are not fit to walk this planet […]

Rugby star Pat Lambie may play for the Sharks, but he’s passionate about saving South Africa’s rhino… and has recently teamed up with wildlife filmmaker Graham ‘Dingo’ Dinkelman, to create a promo video for a documentary to raise awareness and funds. The hard-hitting and heartfelt doc, which is currently showing on the Discovery Channel, has […]

If you need a feel-good – here’s the perfect video. Watch how this little elephant is having such fun chasing the birds… until he falls. Just like most concerned moms, his mother immediately starts walking towards him… and he in turn scurries over to her for comfort, like all little children. The video was filmed […]

Tributes have poured in from around the world for anti-poaching activist and “silent hero” Wayne Lotter, the 51-year-old South African who was fatally shot last week in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Wayne was travelling by taxi, late at night on 16 August, from the airport to his hotel on the African city’s Msasani Peninsula when […]

For years many international organizations have worked tirelessly in Vietnam and China to discourage the use of Rhino horn. They have invested time, energy and millions of dollars in their educational programs… writes MEGAN CARR. “In one foul greedy swoop rhino farmer John Hume and the PROA group with the assistance of the South African […]

The NSRI Simon’s Town sea rescue crew successfully disentangled a Southern Right whale that had become entangled in rope off-shore of Clovelly, between Kalk Bay and Fish Hoek, on Tuesday evening. Photographer ROB TARR was there to capture the action… “I scooted around there this evening and managed to find parking among the gazillion onlookers! […]

A reward of R5,000 is being offered for any information which might lead to the identification and arrest of a suspect who has been captured on a video – currently circulating on social media – which shows a man cruelly beating up a dog and throwing it mercilessly against a hard rock surface. Much of […]

South Africans can look forward to entering most national parks for free when SA National Parks (SANParks) launches its annual week on 17 September 2017. Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa will officially launch the week at the Golden Gate Highlands National Park (GGHNP) in the eastern Free State (see pic above). Since its inception in […]

The South African Government website has been taken offline by a hacker who seems to be based in Afghanistan… and whose mission is apparently world peace. The hacker – Paladin (@VirusSec) – gives the reasons for the attack as: “This is for allowing the sale of rhino horn and lion bones.” The tweet is accompanied […]

Gwala appeared at #Ngwelezane court this morning. I was unable to attend as I have been receiving threats from a senior government official – and I am no good to anyone if he can yield the power to have me locked in jail up on trumped up charges… writes JAMIES JOSEPH, founder of Saving The […]

Thousands of miles away from South Africa, is a graffiti artist on a mission to save Africa’s wildlife… even though he’s never set foot on the continent. PAVEL CISAROVSKY spends his days painstakingly creating artworks – or rather ‘heart-works’ – along the roads of Prague to raise awareness about the tragic massacre of Africa’s rhino […]

A pod of dolphins seemed to be deliberately hanging out with some surfers on KwaZulu-Natal’s South Coast on Friday… enjoying the South African surf together! Glenn Tungay‎, who filmed the gorgeous scene, told SAPeople: “I managed to catch on film this pod of dolphins surfing the waves off Amanzimtoti this morning… with some lucky surfers […]

Acting on intelligence, police have arrested a woman and seized a bag containing rhino horns at the O R Tambo International Airport on Wednesday. During a joint operation by various stakeholders, including South African Police Service (SAPS) and Customs and Excise officials, the teams identified and intercepted the specified suitcase at the luggage transfer area […]

While Environmental Affairs Minister, Edna Molewa, made hollow claims this morning of a “slight decrease” in the number of rhinos poached nationally between January and June this year, her efforts at humility in “not claiming victory” yet and offering “cautious optimism” were cold comfort for anyone who cares about a species that is facing extinction […]

Saving the Wild founder Jamie Joseph has sent an extremely brave message through social media to her rhino poaching enemies, revealing two names and threatening to expose more on her “blood rhino blacklist” if they pursue her. In an update on Facebook, with a link to an article in the Sunday Times today about alleged […]

This heartbreaking video is a tragic reminder to NEVER speed when you visit a game park in Africa. To never speed. Period. The footage was filmed by Heidi Haas (66) during a visit to Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. She told LatestSightings.com in a recent interview, although this was filmed in 2014, that she was in […]

A group of children from South Africa and the United Kingdom (UK) have written a letter to the Minister of Environment, Dr Edna Molewa, begging her to stop the trade in rhino horn. The children – from Kids Against Poaching (@TheCrashKids) – have sent the letter to the Department of Environmental Affairs AND tweeted a […]

It’s getting harder and harder to convince foreigners that wild animals don’t roam the streets of South Africa. After lions recently escaped (again) from the Kruger National Park (which ended tragically), a video has been uploaded to YouTube which shows a hippo casually wandering through a petrol station in St Lucia, KwaZulu-Natal. UPDATE Feb 2020: […]

Two years after a lion named ‘Cecil’ was killed by a trophy hunter in Zimbabwe, his son – called ‘Xanda’ by researchers – has met the same fate. Killed by a trophy hunter. Cecil’s death – by dentist Walter Palmer – caused outrage around the world. On Thursday evening a similar wave of shock has […]

South Africa’s Times Live has posted this incredible footage, filmed from a Hot Air Balloon, of an adult zebra escaping crocodiles in a river… only to be hunted by a pride of hungry lions. Watch zebra escapes crocodiles only to be hunted by lions