On Safari With Karen From 27 June 2014

27 June 2014

Before we reached the Kruger Park today we had already spotted some wildlife, as some brave baboons crossed the road in between all the holiday traffic. We then entered the park through Phabeni Gate, almost straight away spotting a herd of buffalo. They were lounging in the riverbed, on both sides of the bridge.

While continuing on Doispane we saw impalas, malachite kingfisher, kudus and wildebeest. We made a stop at Nyamundwa Dam where a big bull elephant was just having a drink. He splashed around with the water, so we started hoping he would go swimming, but no such luck. At the opposite side of the elephant there was a group of hippos standing outside the water. We also saw a fish eagle and white breasted comorants as well as an African darter.

We followed Doispane again where we encountered zebras, more wildebeest, lilac breasted rollers, dark chanting goshawk, and two beautiful kudu bulls.

We turned down onto Watergat where we stopped for two elephant bulls walking on our right. While positioning the car nicely we also got to see a giraffe on our left. We stood here for a while seeing 7 giraffes in total on the left, another one on the right passing the two bull elephants, which, by the way, didn't even greet, and also a nice large herd of impalas. Later on we saw more kudus, yellow billed hornbills, a tree squirrel, cape glossy starlings, a water monitor and a sounder of warthogs that was so startled by our appearance they took a run for it.

We were lucky of seeing the orphaned hyena cub outside one of his dens. For being an orphan he looks rather well. Then it became rather quiet. Not even the impalas were showing. We did however get a glimpse of the back of a rhino and a twitch of an ear, but he didn't comply in showing his full greatness.

We made a quick turn into Shabeni to see a lovely red-purple-blue sunset. But when the sun had set it had taken all the warmth with, so we retreated to Pretoriuskop, our camp for tonight.

28 June 2014

After yesterday's windy day we woke up to an overcast morning. We had a quick breakfast before we set off as soon as the gates opened. It was still dark, so that brought a lot of suspense. The first thing we saw was a scrub hare caught in the headlights. He got scared by us and zigzagged over the road, so we gave him some space and turned off our lights.

When he was gone, we drove on, taking a loop around Shabeni Koppies. It was still quiet in the morning. We studied some elephant and buffalo tracks as well as hyena tracks, rhino middens, buffalo and elephant dung, but we didn't see animals.

By now it had gotten light and we turned across the road towards Fayi Loop. There, hidden in the long grass, we saw a herd of buffalos still sleeping in the early morning. In the dark, we had driven straight past them, but they were only about two meters away from the road. One by one they slowly got up and stretched their legs.

Continuing our drive we spotted an elephant, with zebras on the opposite side of the road. While watching those we heard the funny whistling call of a reedbuck, but did not see him. We also came across multiple waterbuck sightings and a common grey duiker.
 
Continuing on we spotted 4 white rhinos in the high grass. They were grazing noisily as we heard all the plucking and chomping. They were slowly walking towards a fire break so we waited on the road to see if they would show in the open area. And this time we were lucky. Not only did all four of them show their full greatness, two of them kept grazing and came closer and closer to the vehicle. One was so close we could almost touch him!

Then we had to leave them as we had to make our way to Nelspruit to make a transfer to Jo'burg.

We spotted two more rhinos hidden in the high grass, but time had run out. It was a short safari, but I hope Christina, Laura and Christina nonetheless had a great time!!

Poaching Update

Invite to participate in the process of Panel of Expert investigating the feasibility of legalising rhino horn trade

Panel of Experts invites stakeholder participation as it explores rhino horn trade feasbility as part of South Africa's co...mprehensive integrated approach to reduce rhino poaching.

The Minister of Environmental Affairs, Mrs Edna Molewa, invites stakeholders to register to participate in the process of the Panel of Experts investigating the feasibility of legalising rhino horn trade.

The Department of Environmental Affairs was authorised by Cabinet in July 2013 to explore the feasibility of South Africa tabling a proposal for the legalization of commercial international trade in rhino horn at the 17th Conference of Parties (CoP17) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 2016.

The Panel of Experts was established to assist the Inter-Ministerial Committee appointed by Cabinet to deliberate on the matters relating to a possible trade in rhino horn and commenced its work in April 2014. The 10 member Panel is chaired by Mr Fundisile Mketeni, the Deputy Director-General: Biodiversity and Conservation and will report to the Inter-Ministerial Committee before the end of the year.

The Cabinet-approved Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) comprises the Ministers of Environmental Affairs, International Relations and Cooperation, Trade and Industry, Finance, Science and Technology, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Rural Development and Land Reform, Economic Development and Tourism, Safety and Security and Justice and Correctional Services. The Committee will provide guidance relating to preparations in respect of a trade proposal to be considered at CITES COP17. The IMC will meet as soon as the Panel of Experts (PoE) has finalised a report for its consideration.

The PoE has met twice since its appointment to initiate its work and discuss the scope of work to be done.

Key areas of work to be undertaken by the Panel include:

- Analysis of the current rhino situation and interventions to address illegal killing of rhino and illegal trade in rhino horn, with a focus on government initiatives;

- Identification of new or additional interventions required to create an enabling environment for the sustainable utilization of natural resources and to strengthen the integrated approach of the government in addressing illegal killing and illegal trade;

- The socio-economic impact of wildlife trafficking (illegal killing and illegal trade) for communities, game farms and private game reserves, conservation authorities and species conservation, and options relating to the establishment of alternative economies;

- Special focus on community involvement and participation, especially the communities neighbouring protected areas with rhinos

- The potential impact of various interventions and management scenarios on the conservation of the species, including range expansion;

- Improve understanding of demand and supply; the anticipated changes if trade is introduced; and the mechanisms to respond to that change;

- Potential models/mechanisms for trade (strictly controlled trade, i.e. once-off sale of stockpiles; government to government trade or more open regulated trade; sources of specimens and specimens to be traded; the benefits and risks associated with the different options; regulatory and control mechanisms; traceability; enforcement measures and financial mechanisms to be considered);

- The implications and risks for enforcement and security matters and mechanisms to mitigate (dynamics of wildlife crime and the key issues to be considered in terms of addressing current enforcement challenges and anticipated enforcement challenges);

- Implications of the decisions relating to trade for other rhino range States as well as implications for consumer States; and

The work of the Panel has intensified as the number of rhino poached in South Africa since the start of 2014, now stands at 496. The number of alleged poachers arrested since January 2014 is 141.

The Kruger National Park continues to bear the brunt of rhino poaching in South Africa. Since January 2014, 321 rhino have been poached in the Park.

The number of rhino poached in Limpopo this year has risen to 51, while 47 rhino have been poached in KwaZulu-Natal, 35 in North West and 24 in Mpumalanga.

The Panel will co-opt experts as the need arises and will engage with various stakeholders during the process. Stakeholders are invited to indicate whether they would like to make representations to the panel, and on what subject matter. The inputs will be considered by the Panel in formulating recommendations to the South African government on an appropriate position on the legalisation of rhino horn trade.

The Panel will consider the requests received and invite organisations or individuals to present information to it for consideration. The schedule of engagements/workshops will be made available in due course.


Interested stakeholders and organisations can register their interest to participate with Mr Mpho Tjiane of the Department of Environmental Affairs through e-mail: mtjiane@environment.gov.za


Stakeholders requiring information about the work of the Panel may contact Mr Tjiane at mtjiane@environment.gov.za


All media requests must be directed in writing to either Albi Modise at amodise@environment.gov.za or Eleanor Momberg at emomberg@environment.gov.za

To access the template to be completed by organisations / individuals that would like to register, click on: http://bit.ly/1k5vvQB

South Africans and members of the international community are encouraged to report incidents of poaching and tip-offs to the anonymous tip-off lines 0800 205 005, 08600 10111 or Crime-Line on 32211.

Issued by:
The Department of Environmental Affairs

New Update On Wyntir The Rhino

Little Wyntir's new "hat". She is loving her new enclosure and nightpen and is sleeping very soundly at night only waking up for her 1am feed. We are also very happy with the progress of her wounds.
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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO CONTRIBUTED

Wyntir sends her love!