Kariega Game Reserve has issued the first photo – as well as a heartwarming video – of its miracle rhino Thandi, who courageously survived a brutal poaching in 2012, and her newborn calf that was born on Tuesday 24 January 2017 in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The mother and calf were first located using […]

In September 2016, CITES* met in Johannesburg for CoP17 – a meeting of member states to clarify and review trade in endangered species. One particular talking point was met with shock and condemnation from the conservation world – South Africa would be permitted to legally trade in captive bred lion bones – against the general […]

Brave rhino poaching survivor Thandi – who was left for dead almost five years ago after her horn was hacked off (in an attack which ultimately resulted in the death of two other rhino) – has given birth to a second calf at Kariega Game Reserve in South Africa. The surprising and wonderful news has brought […]

This little pink teddy apparently was lost, and the Dutch couple who found it during their holiday to South Africa would dearly love to return it to its owner, who they presume is a young girl. Hylke Walters and her partner rented a car from the Hertz branch at OR Tambo International Airport on 3 January 2017. […]

With a little too much bleak news floating around, zoos in the United States decided to have a Great National Cute Animal Tweet Off of 2017… but before you could say “hashtag what?” the whole world had joined in and it became an international #CuteAnimalTweetOff. South African television personality Bonné de Bod – from Stroop (The Documentary […]

One of the most prolific nature photographers of our time, Thomas Mangelsen – who is as much an artist as he is a conservationist – is collaborating with Saving the Wild‘s Jamie Joseph in a world exclusive to produce his first rhino portfolio. Tom’s numerous accolades (see bottom of page) include being chosen as one of Dr Jane […]

Rhino Conservation Botswana (RCB) announced this week that Prince Harry of Wales has become a Patron of RCB… to help raise awareness of the plight of Africa’s rhino, both black and white, which are being poached to death. The Prince, who has long held a close relationship with Botswana, and who has spent time in the field […]

South African Police Service’s special crime division, the Hawks, has announced it will seek advice from the National Prosecuting Authority (NPS) on whether to continue its inquiry into the alleged involvement of South Africa’s Minister of State Security, David Mahlobo, in rhino poaching. Mahlobo was implicated in an Al Jazeera documentary, The Poacher’s Pipeline, broadcast in November 2016, which […]

The South African Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) has confirmed that a zero quota for the hunting of leopard (Panthera pardus) has been extended to 2017. The department said the decision is based on the review of available scientific information on the status and recovery of leopard populations in South Africa. The Scientific Authority made the […]

The war on rhino poaching this year has got off to a good start with South African National Parks (SANParks) confirming the arrests today – 16 January 2017 – of 11 suspects in anti-poaching operations inside and outside the Kruger National Park (KNP) on Friday the 13 January 2017. The arrests were carried out by […]

This is soooo cute (because it ends happily!). The video was first uploaded months ago… but has recently become popular again on social media. Watch how the adult elephants in the Kruger National Park, South Africa, try to teach the little elephant calf how to get out of the waterhole that it is stuck in. […]

Most tourists don’t think to check behind the toilets before going to the loo on safari… but judging from this video, it’s worth it! A pride of lions were caught on camera blocking the entrance to a tourist’s toilet in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in the Kalahari desert, South Africa. Corlette Wessels (43), a business developer […]

Our recent report on global cheetah decline provides alarming reading. Using the best available information, we estimate that there are only about 7,100 wild cheetah left in the world… writes Sarah Durant, Senior Research Fellow, Zoological Society of London The species is now restricted to less than 10% of its historical distribution, and survives in just […]

OR Tambo International Airport has announced it will remove lion cub petting images from the walls of its international arrivals corridor. These posters, promoting the petting of lions in South Africa, have been up for more than a year and, according to a statement Thursday from OR Tambo, the images were supplied by South African […]

There can’t be many better ways to start the day than out kayaking off the shore of Mouille Point in Cape Town, South Africa… except to be out kayaking and enjoying the sight and sound of dolphins flipping all around you. Local resident Marcus J.B. Zandhuis was out yesterday morning in a group with Kaskazi […]

A bizarre story has recently come out of Zimbabwe. Grace Mugabe, the politically powerful wife of the ageing president Robert Mugabe, has come up with a plan to settle a debt to China with 35 young elephants, eight lions, 12 hyenas and a giraffe. The debt was incurred in 1998 when Zimbabwe sent troops and […]

A South African anti-poaching manager has posted a heartbreaking, but powerful, post Thursday morning revealing exactly what the brave people who fight in the war against poaching, are actually facing. Update 12 Feb ’17: For professional reasons, the manager has had to remove his post and requested we do the same. We apologise for the inconvenience.

This video is not for the faint-hearted. An impala in the Kruger National Park was in the process of delivering new life… when a lion spotted her… We may sometimes like to think of our lions as being cuddly creatures with names like Cecil. But in reality, they are of course predators who need to eat […]

BEIJING, CHINA –  WWF (World Wildlife Fund) and TRAFFIC welcomed today’s historic announcement that China will close down its domestic ivory trade by the end of 2017.   In a news release, WWF said this signals an end to the world’s primary legal ivory market and is a major boost to international efforts to tackle […]

While this Christmas photo of the baby rhinos is so cute, the very fact that we have these photo opportunities with animals that should be being reared in the wild, but who have been orphaned through human greed, is tragic… and no more so than this Christmas week which has seen a massive slaughter of South […]

A South African game ranger has caught a rare rhino mating scene on film… that came to an unexpected end! Showing size does count, a bull with a bigger horn uses more than just a pick-up line to win the female rhino from her current lover… Wildlife photographer and field guide Matt Yardley – who has seen a […]

Check out this elephant in South Africa’s Kruger National Park doing what appears to be a version of ‘elephant yoga’. It’s a little inspirational! Or perhaps it was an elephant dance – ballet or the famous hokey pokey (“you put your right foot in. You take your right foot out. You put your right foot in. And you […]

Private rangers in the Kruger National Park (KNP) have been criticised for allegedly provoking rhinos to charge tourists during a walking safari. YouTube channel ‘Kruger National Park’ – which posts all things related to KNP – have posted the following video, asking: “did the guides provoke this attack? Decide for yourself.” In their description on […]

A paddler in Plettenberg Bay, South Africa, was lucky to escape unharmed from a very close encounter with what is believed to have been a 4-metre Great White shark… that took a rather large bite out of his paddle-ski! Ben Swart (55), from Pretoria, was with two friends – Nick Bester and Ronald Pronk – when he […]

Little rhino orphans in South Africa have been snuggling up under the cuddly covers of blankets, knitted especially for them by kind donors. It’s a beautiful sweet sight in a tragic situation. There shouldn’t be rhino orphanages… but thanks to not such great humans poaching and killing adult rhinos for their horns, wonderful kind humans have had […]