Following an intense three-week search through the mountains and valleys of the Great Karoo, the 3-year-old male lion that escaped from the Karoo National Park outside Beaufort West has been successfully recaptured. The young lion – nicknamed Sylvester by locals – is suspected to have made his original Great Escape, on Friday 5 June, through a gap in the fence […]

A rhino called ‘Hope’ is making headlines around the world since she survived a brutal poaching attack, and against all odds, continues to live. Wildlife television presenter Bonné de Bod, along with cinematographer Susan Scott, is currently making ‘STROOP’ – the Afrikaans documentary feature film (with English subtitles) on the rhino poaching crisis. The filmmakers were […]

The iconic, mysterious and magical African baobab, probably the most identifiable and prehistoric-looking tree on earth, suddenly seems to be coming into its own in the 21st Century. Several companies are getting the name of the tree out there – literally – selling products that take advantage of its health and medicinal properties. One company even promotes the […]

It doesn’t rain much around Beaufort West, but when it does it often comes in the form of fast-rushing water. And so the recent rains in the Karoo, it seems, made a hole in part of the fence that keeps all the critters in the Karoo National Park in. And that’s how a 3-year-old resident lion is said […]

Local Capetonian Robbie Ragless, who only recently started fishing, got a bigger ‘catch’ than he was hoping for when he went out on the boat last Friday. He captured the footage in the video above at around midday, near Robben Island, when a pod of hundreds – maybe even thousands – of dolphins suddenly appeared. Robbie […]

Over 500 starfish were saved yesterday, quite fittingly on World Oceans Day, thanks to the awesome community spirit in Fish Hoek, a community which rallied together in March to fight the Cape Fires. “It is NEVER dull and boring in the Deep South of Cape Town,” says photographer Robyn Gwilt who captured most of the […]

After a few years of `drought’ the sardines have returned to the South Coast in all their glory. The KwaZulu-Natal coastline in South Africa has always been home to one of the world’s greatest natural marine phenomena – the Sardine Run – which is also referred to as the Greatest Shoal on Earth. Every winter, between the […]

It’s a kind of crazy question…with a kind of brilliant answer. How to help solve a trio of problems – child road deaths, fatal fire accidents at home and pollution – in one simple step? The answer: a school bag made out of recycled plastic that has a solar light on it.  As Rethaka – the […]

There is hope for the rhino. South Africa’s youth are making their voices heard, and in the latest #RhinoShoutOutChallenge two fierce school rivals have come together to shout out in one voice: Save Our Rhino. Hopefully other schools will follow the example set by Kearsney College and Maritzburg College in KwaZulu-Natal. The boys came together […]

As the issue of canned hunting of lion becomes more and more publicised, let’s give a thought to one of the first, if not the first, private organisations to get involved to stop it – SanWild Wildlife Sanctuary. Canned hunting, for anyone who doesn’t know yet, is the managed hunting in confined spaces of lion […]

South African marine conservation photographer, Jean Tresfon, captured the following spectacular photos yesterday showing South Africa’s ocean bursting with  life…on what he calls “the last day of summer”. Jean, who specialises in aerial and underwater photography, says “yesterday dawned perfect and still – no wind, no clouds, flat calm seas and warm sunny conditions. Flying […]

Yet another poacher was arrested last night in South Africa’s Kruger National Park (KNP) during an operation that was described as sounding like a “war”. Conservation group Rhino Saving the Survivors reported this morning that there was a lot of activity on Tuesday night in the Kruger Crocodile Bridge Gate area with reports of gunshots heard by residents […]

A herd of 12 African elephant who were in urgent need of a new home in South Africa have been saved in the 11th hour. Louise Joubert, founder of SanWild wildlife and rhino sanctuary, had posted a plea on Facebook for help in sourcing a new home, ideally a private reserve, for the small herd who […]

Rhino Poaching arrests got a boost during April with the assistance of a couple of tourists in the Kruger National Park (KNP), helping to bring the total poaching suspects arrested in the Kruger in the month of April to 28. South African National Parks (SANParks) announced this week that they had arrested a further six suspected […]

South African Airways (SAA) has today issued a public statement regarding the embargo on the transportation of hunting trophies. The embargo is limited to rhino, elephant, lion and tiger. SAA confirmed that on 21 April 2015 SAA Cargo issued a Policy and Procedures Advisory to its internal stakeholders advising of the embargo, which came as a […]

South Africans woke up this morning to an announcement from Eskom, posted just after 5 am saying “Eskom regrets to announce that Stage 1 #load_shedding will resume from 06:00 to 22:00 today.” But an hour ago it just got worse. Eskom announced “#PowerAlert” revealing it will move “from stage 1 to stage 2 load shedding […]

The term ‘canned hunting’ probably leaves many people scratching their heads. But for the folks behind Campaign against Canned Hunting (CACH) – who are holding the Global March for Lions this Saturday in Johannesburg – it’s a deadly business. The theme behind this year’s march, which will take place outside the Lion Park in Lanseria, […]

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden has done it again. The diverse Cape floral kingdom has been awarded top position in the  2015 International Garden Tourism Awards. This comes just a couple of weeks after Kirstenbosch’s suspended walkway, the Boomslang, was declared Most Beautiful Object in South Africa at Design Indaba Expo 2015. These awards highlight the significant role that Kirstenbosch […]

In November 2014, a Karoo-based German hydrogeologist called Dr Stefan Cramer made a bold prediction that fracking would not happen in the Karoo. He gave several talks on his theory and wrote an article called Six Reasons Why Fracking Will Not Happen. By mid-March this year, Cramer suddenly appeared to have been prescient in his […]

The Baboon Technical Team (BTT) has issued a plea to residents in the Western Cape to please NOT feed the baboons. Some well-meaning residents have wanted to help the baboons after fires ravaged the mountains around Cape Town last week, burning many of the pine trees in the Tokai Forest where the baboons lived. However […]

Less than a week after fires ravaged mountain slopes in the Western Cape, new life is beginning in the midst of the devastation…as shown by these photos taken a couple of days ago by South African trail runner Ryan Sandes. Sandes took the photos during a “morning adventure” up Black Burn Ravine. He said that after […]

With their long trunks, elephants have a remarkable sense of smell. Now, a South African is training a group of the pachyderms to smell out explosives and narcotics. The US army hopes to understand the biology and turn it into science. You’ve heard of sniffer dogs and rats trained to detect landmines; now get ready […]

After yet another tragic and cruel poaching incident near to Graaff Reinet, Wilderness Foundation and private game reserve owners have clubbed together to offer a R150,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest that is associated with any rhino poaching incident on Mount Camdeboo. (Please be warned. The pictures below are graphic…but this is […]

As the ‘Lion Opens Car Door’ video spreads rapidly around the world – attracting a massive 1.4-million views in less than 48 hours – animal behaviourist Kevin Richardson has confirmed that he’s seen this type of incident happen himself. Richardson, aka South Africa’s legendary Lion Whisperer, says “Seen that happen at the park I used to work […]

As hoped by so many people who have been following the story of Thandi – the brave rhino who survived a cruel poaching incident exactly three years ago today – her little rhino calf, whom she miraculously gave birth to recently, has been named Thembi. The name is meaningful for two reasons. Firstly, Thembi means Hope in isiXhosa. And […]