Dumisani Gwala is the rhino-poaching kingpin you’ve never heard of. Gwala is currently awaiting trial to take place at Mtubatuba courthouse and now YOU have the power to help put him in jail. Gwala is the leader of KwaZulu-Natal’s biggest rhino-poaching syndicate, and it is believe about 80 percent of the horns in the province go […]

A 37-year-old British pilot working for an anti-poaching unit in Tanzania has been fatally shot by poachers while flying over a poaching scene in his helicopter, according to news reports. The Friedkin Conservation Fund said Roger Gower, from Birmingham, was tracking poachers on Friday in the Maswa Game Reserve. He was apparently shot through the […]

An elephant that had already mock-charged a vehicle in Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe obviously couldn’t take the titters and laughing of the occupants who weren’t taking him seriously. So he came back a second time. The ranger, who seems to have been taking snaps with his cell phone, obviously didn’t expect what happened. Watch […]

It’s been one of the hottest South African summers…and as we all know, there’s no better way to cool down than with a swim in the pool. Barbara von Etzdorf caught these vervet monkeys taking a dip in her swimming pool on New Year’s Eve! Watch Video: Vervet monkeys swim in garden pool https://youtu.be/6jyWY6Who7M

JOHANNESBURG – A total of 230 frogs – 80 bull frogs and 150 rain frogs – destined for Taiwan and hidden in small plastic containers have been confiscated at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport and brought to the National Zoo in Pretoria, according to a statement released by the zoo on Thursday. The amphibians were sent […]

Cape Town-based journalist Sarah Khan recently embarked on a week-long road trip through Namibia with three other women, and wrote about the experience for The New York Times. Along the way she learnt 10 (and a half) lessons. Lesson 1. The Namibian sun is every bit as potent as you’ve heard. 2. As soon as […]

A KwaZulu-Natal SPCA says it has been overwhelmed with support to save a 36-year-old female orangutan that has been languishing away – a “caged tragedy” – in a zoo near Pietermaritzburg reportedly owned by circus owner Brian Boswell. “We thank you for your responses to our plea for her release,” the Kloof and Highway SPCA […]

A ban on the hunting of leopard in South Africa has been imposed by the Department of Environment Affairs for the rest of 2016, and it will then reassess the situation, according to news reports. The department said that conservation authorities in the various provinces were told that leopard hunts should not be authorised in 2016, and […]

For any expat living in the United Arab Emirates, it is one of the hardest things to watch – wild animals, often from Africa, not living in the wild and free but being kept in small private zoos and gardens and coddled like pets. Well, that might soon be a thing of the past. According to news reports […]

A total of 1,175 rhinos were poached in South Africa in 2015, down from 1,215 a year earlier – a drop of 40 in all – the Minister of Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa said on Thursday. This would be the first time that figures – though still staggeringly high – had fallen since 2007. Numbers escalated drastically especially since 2011, […]

Penguins seem to have collected more than their fair share of annual days – there’s today’s Penguin Awareness Day (20 January), World Penguin Day (25 April) and African Penguin Awareness Day (17 October). But there’s a reason for this – they need our awareness! So here are 10 points about penguins we all should know… 1. African […]

Baboons were visiting our home in Hermanus, in the Western Cape, South Africa, today. They were here all day. I suspect the fires in the surrounding areas is what drove them to search for food in town. It’s a humbling experience when you recognise the humanity in animals. Like us, they have family structures and […]

Sir Richard Branson and an all-star team of Chinese celebrities and global wildlife ambassadors are chewing on their fingernails…in a powerful new ad campaign speaking out against the purchase and use of rhino horn. The campaign – in Mandarin and English – was created by WildAid in partnership with African Wildlife Foundation to target consumers in […]

Even though the news from South Africa these past months has been alarming – the Rand having fallen to record lows, unemployment as high as ever, and the worst drought in years gripping the land – there is a silver lining: 2016 will possibly be the best year ever to travel to the country if […]

South African National Parks (SANParks) today announced the tragic passing away of a field ranger in the world famous Kruger National Park. Whilst on active anti-poaching patrol, the field ranger was accidentally shot by a colleague after they were charged by a lone buffalo bull at a very short distance in the Malelane section. In […]

Days before hosting the Golden Globe Awards in Los Angeles, Ricky Gervais teamed up with PDSA – the UK’s leading veterinary charity – to honour a special dog in South Africa with a PDSA Gold Medal, the highest honour a civilian animal can receive for bravery and devotion. (Update June 2020: The anti-poaching hero dog, […]

One of two new chimpanzees acquired by the Pretoria Zoo managed to escape on Saturday and was wandering around the streets of Pretoria before being caught and returned to his new home. The National Zoological Gardens of South Africa said in a statement that the chimp went on “a bit of a walkabout outside the […]

As Egyptian geese and other wild birds make their way into urban areas, numerous locals have kindly stepped in – and, in the case of one Johannesburg police offer, even stopped traffic – to help the families and young goslings to reach safety. In Johannesburg earlier this week, it was reported that the police aided an Egyptian goose crossing […]

Just before the last full moon of 2015, I was out in the early evening walking down a dry river bed in a densely populated rhino area with three field rangers and a dog. Armed to the teeth, the K-9 unit walked quietly either side of me. Sure I felt safe, but I was nervous. […]

Almost daily there is an amazing heartwarming story of someone going out of their way – from game rangers to ordinary civilians – to help trapped, injured or almost-dead wild animals. Here’s a tribute to four groups of South Africans over the past two weeks who have come to the rescue of an animal that […]

In video footage apparently taken in Sabi Sands near the Kruger National Park in December, a group out game spotting came on a leopard playing with a baby impala. And the impala played back. The impala ran around at first, then the leopard chased it, before the young antelope lay down in the grass near […]

While reports over the last few days claim rhino poaching in South Africa is marginally down for 2015, some conservationists warn it’s too early to tell and say the government might not be releasing figures regularly to create the impression that poaching is not a problem. “The Department of Environmental Affairs’ decision to not release stats regularly has had the […]

The US-based Elephant Action League (EAL) on Wednesday published a report on its undercover investigation in mainland China and Hong Kong in an effort to expose the areas – which include using a South African taxidermist – where illegal ivory opportunistically enters the legal ivory market, and where China’s legal trade system and legal businesses are exploited to launder illegal […]

A camera system has been designed to track wildlife and trap poachers in conservation areas and protect some of their most endangered species, according to the Zoological Society London (ZSL) and their co-developers. ZSL and its partners have created Instant Detect, which they say could be a critical tool in the fight against rhino-poaching. The camera […]

CAPE TOWN – Measures introduced earlier this year to protect the endangered penguins in Simonstown after a spate of killings have been effective so far, according to the city of Cape Town. The city said in a statement on Tuesday that at least 40 penguins were killed in 2015 before it introduced measures to protect them, and […]