Conservation Updates

A little insight on the habits of the 'assasin bug'

It seemed for a day or two as if we, well rhinos actually, could breathe easily again. At Kariega Thandi was on the mend after her horrific injuries, and there seemed to be a lull in poaching activity. Then at the end of September came the news that in game reserves in South Africa 19 rhinos had been slaughtered in a week, bringing the total for the year to 430. Today as I write – 18 October 2012 – that total has risen to over 463, another 33 rhinos in little more than a fortnight.

The Vervet monkey in SA, and thoughts on the ever-advancing issue of human-wildlife integration. 

Mention the word “snake” at any social gathering in South Africa and you will have a topic of conversation to which all the men and a goodly proportion of the women will be able to make a contribution. It would seem from what one hears that South...

Two items on the same page in a recent newspaper caught my eye. The first dealt with rhino poaching. In this a conservationist bemoaned the fact that a great deal of the money given by well-meaning members of the public to combat the poaching of...

My mother-in-law used to tell the story of how, in July 1933, while motoring in what was then Rhodesia, a lion was attracted to the car, a two-seater Chevrolet with a dickie-seat.* Tied to the luggage rack at the back – one doesn’t see either...

I’ve just googled “rubbing-stones” and come up with some surprising results, not at all what I had in mind. Advertised were stones to smooth bricks and tiles, stones for use by sculptors, materials for making stone-rubbings, and ‘lucky’ stones...

For a month or more the plight of the Kariega Park rhinos has been much on my mind. They even cropped up in my thoughts during an early morning walk amongst the rock-pools at the beach.

Some years ago this coastline was plagued by as ruthless a...

Aged 15 I was riding my bicycle through a quiet, leafy Pretoria suburb when a traffic-cop pulled me over: “You didn’t stop at that stop-sign,” he said. I explained that I was travelling slowly and could see and hear without stopping that there was...

It’s that time of the year again when, walking through the coastal bush or forests, one’s nostrils are assailed by a sweetish, fetid waft that results in most visitors inspecting the soles of their shoes. Those of us that live here are of course...