Poachers who are seen in the West as a threat to wildlife regarded as Robin Hoods in their own communities.
The rhinoceros is one of the main attractions at South Africa's national parks. Photo / Jim Eagles
The well-heeled tourists filing through the modest airport at
Hoedspruit - Afrikaans for Hat Creek - look carefree and expectant.
Guides are standing by to transport them to luxurious bush lodges
offering spa treatments, campfire dinners, and dawn and dusk game drives
offering a potential glimpse of Africa's "big five".
But
something is different from the safaris enjoyed by the privileged
generations of the past. At the 14,570ha Moditlo private game reserve
near Kruger National Park, for example, the rhinos do not have horns -
they have been removed for their own safety. And during night safaris on
dirt tracks under the majesty of a star-studded sky, visitors are
warned not to use torches, lest they be confused with poachers. When
guests - usually affluent, usually white - gaze from air-conditioned
bedrooms into the perfect darkness of the bush, few are likely to
consider the murderous chase taking place there between poacher, ranger
and rhino. For the poachers - usually poor, usually black - the risks
are immense, but so are the rewards.
"When you look at the impoverished communities around us and
the unemployment rate in South Africa, you'd have to be naive to think
it's not going to explode," said Tim Parker, a warden managing Moditlo
and Thornybush Nature Reserve, where anti-poaching costs have gone up
500 per cent in the past three years. "Soon there are going to be gun
battles. I can see it coming."
South Africa has more than
four-fifths of the world's rhino population. Poaching is at an
unprecedented level, driven by demand in countries such as Vietnam,
where horns, used in traditional medicine or as a middle-class delicacy,
fetch up to US$65,000 ($95,420) a kilo, more expensive than diamonds or
gold. A record 1215 rhinos were killed last year, almost treble the 448
lost in 2011. As of late August this year, 749 rhinos were known to
have been poached - 544 of them in Kruger park, where officials estimate
6000 well-armed poachers are at large.
But there is another,
less reported death toll. Nearly 500 poachers from neighbouring
Mozambique alone have been shot dead by rangers in Kruger park over the
past five years, it was claimed recently. Joaquim Chissano, Mozambique's
former President, said 82 alleged poachers from the country were killed
in the first half of this year, describing them as "destitute, poor
people recruited by crime networks".
In Massingir, Mozambique,
the illegal rhino horn trade has been as alluring and disorienting as a
gold rush. Earlier this year Bartholomaus Grill, a German journalist at
Der Spiegel, reported that about 20 leaders of poaching gangs are
thought to live in Massingir "and their houses are unmistakable:
ostentatious villas rising up out of the bush between shacks and adobe
houses with tiled exterior walls and tinted windows covered with metal
bars".
Poverty is suffocating in Massingir and opportunities are
scarce. To young men, killing a rhino and delivering its horn can seem a
quick way out, earning them as much as 100,000 rand (11,220) a kilo. To
some communities rhino poachers are role models, according to the US
State Department, based on interviews with nine focus groups in
Massingir and other local communities. "They do good things for their
communities - send children to school, build nice houses, drive
expensive cars and wear expensive clothes," one interviewee said. "In
one discussion, participants stated they see the parks as being 'for
white people, with jobs going to Boers and Zimbabweans'. Some say their
children 'don't know the rhino' and have 'to pay to see a rhino in our
own land'."
But the poachers are, in the words of one expert,
"cannon fodder" and "nothing more than disposable commodities". A
political activist in Massingir, who did not wish to be named because he
feared assassination, said: "If a gangster comes and says, 'Young man, I
can give you 100,000 rand if you go to the bush and bring me a horn',
he will go because of poverty."
Back in Hoedspruit, the
travellers driven straight from airport to lodge never see poor
communities such as Welverdiend, said to be another, increasing source
of poachers. The toll of rhinos slaughtered in the Hoedspruit area has
soared from just five between 1990 and 2010 to 16 in 2011 and 30 in
2014.
Vincent Barkas, managing director of anti-poaching security
company Protrack, said: "If you look at the average black South African
who grows up here, everybody assumes they want to work on a game
reserve. The rhino horn for them has become a way out of poverty and for
them to achieve their dreams."
As ever in South Africa, race and
inequality cannot be ignored. Barkas said: "Wildlife is seen as a rich
white man's thing. A poacher is viewed as a Robin Hood in his community,
stealing from the rich. Every time a poacher is killed, you turn more
people in that community against conservation."
WildAid South
Africa campaign director Adam Welz - who points out white people are
also known to be implicated, some of them as poachers who can use
resources such as helicopters, others as syndicate bosses who profit
from supplying the Far East - warns against oversimplifying the racial
dynamic. "In some areas, people are alienated from national parks, but
to say black South Africans are not interested in conservation is a
gross generalisation."
The solutions also are complex, and many
believe waging war on poaching is as futile as prohibition of alcohol or
the war on drugs. Welz said: "Every poacher who gets shot is a husband,
uncle, provider, and we can't forget that. But at the same time we
can't roll out the red carpet and say, come in. We have to de-escalate
the violence.
"Killing poachers is not going to solve the
problem, because the poverty is high and the incentives are high. If you
kill 10,000 poachers, there will be another 10,000 waiting to take
their place, unless we solve the problem of poverty in those communities
and the source of demand. People are paying ridiculous amounts of money
for horn in other countries." Rhino poaching in South Africa US$65,000 Amount a kg of horns can fetch 1215 rhinos were killed last year 749 known to have poached this year 6000 poachers believed at large in Kruger national park
Thank you for reaching out to us. We are happy to receive your opinion and request. If you need advert or sponsored post, We’re excited you’re considering advertising or sponsoring a post on our blog. Your support is what keeps us going. With the current trend, it’s very obvious content marketing is the way to go. Banner advertising and trying to get customers through Google Adwords may get you customers but it has been proven beyond doubt that Content Marketing has more lasting benefits. We offer majorly two types of advertising: 1. Sponsored Posts: If you are really interested in publishing a sponsored post or a press release, video content, advertorial or any other kind of sponsored post, then you are at the right place. WHAT KIND OF SPONSORED POSTS DO WE ACCEPT? Generally, a sponsored post can be any of the following: Press release Advertorial Video content Article Interview This kind of post is usually written to promote you or your business. However, we do prefer posts that naturally flow with the site’s general content. This means we can also promote artists, songs, cosmetic products and things that you love of all products or services. DURATION & BONUSES Every sponsored article will remain live on the site as long as this website exists. The duration is indefinite! Again, we will share your post on our social media channels and our email subscribers too will get to read your article. You’re exposing your article to our: Twitter followers, Facebook fans and other social networks.
We will also try as much as possible to optimize your post for search engines as well.
Submission of Materials : Sponsored post should be well written in English language and all materials must be delivered via electronic medium. All sponsored posts must be delivered via electronic version, either on disk or e-mail on Microsoft Word unless otherwise noted. PRICING The price largely depends on if you’re writing the content or we’re to do that. But if your are writing the content, it is $100 per article.
2. Banner Advertising: We also offer banner advertising in various sizes and of course, our prices are flexible. you may choose to for the weekly rate or simply buy your desired number of impressions.
Technical Details And Pricing Banner Size 300 X 250 pixels : Appears on the home page and below all pages on the site. Banner Size 728 X 90 pixels: Appears on the top right Corner of the homepage and all pages on the site. Large rectangle Banner Size (336x280) : Appears on the home page and below all pages on the site. Small square (200x200) : Appears on the right side of the home page and all pages on the site. Half page (300x600) : Appears on the right side of the home page and all pages on the site. Portrait (300x1050) : Appears on the right side of the home page and all pages on the site. Billboard (970x250) : Appears on the home page.
Submission of Materials : Banner ads can be in jpeg, jpg and gif format. All materials must be deliverd via electronic medium. All ads must be delivered via electronic version, either on disk or e-mail in the ordered pixel dimensions unless otherwise noted. For advertising offers, send an email with your name,company, website, country and advert or sponsored post you want to appear on our website to advert @ alexa. ng