Suspected rhino poaching syndicate remanded in custody

Ten members of a suspected rhino-killing syndicate were remanded in police custody for seven days for their formal bail application hearing on 29 September 2014. 

The suspects, Hugo Ras, his wife, Trudie Ras, and his brothers, Anton Ras and Arno Smith, Bonnie Steyn, a pilot from Ficksburg, Willie Oosthuizen, a warrant officer of the Hawks in Pretoria, Joseph Wilkinson, an attorney from Pretoria, Christoffel Scheepers, Mandla Magagula and Willem van Jaarsveld briefly appeared in the Hatfield Magistrate's Court on several rhino-poaching charges. The suspects were between 30 and 50 years old.

The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, the Hawks, arrested them last week Friday, 19 September 2014.

On Saturday, 20 September 2014, Wilkinson approached the Pretoria High Court for an urgent bail application, but he did not succeed.

The intelligence-led arrest comes after a year-long investigation by key stakeholders in government and the private sector, namely the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, the Department of Home Affairs, the detectives of the SAPS, Crime Intelligence, the Forensic Science Laboratory, the National Prosecuting Authority, the Veterinary Council of South Africa and Protea Coin Security.

The Hawks’ investigating team arrested Hugo Ras, who is believed to have managed the syndicate’s activities for nearly five years, before his other court appearance in the Pretoria North Magistrate's Court. The team arrested the other members of this criminal group simultaneously in Polokwane in Limpopo, Ficksburg in the Free State, Potchefstroom in the North West, and in Montana, Mamelodi and Kameeldrift in Gauteng.

The syndicate mainly operated in Limpopo, Mpumalanga, the North West, Gauteng, and KwaZulu-Natal.

The group has been alleged to have contributed to the brutal slaughter and mutilation of 24 rhinos in state-owned and privately owned game reserves. Only two of the 24 rhinos that were attacked, survived, but they were dehorned after they were darted. The 34 horns were either stolen or obtained through other devious means.

The ruthless killings took place between 2008 and 2012.

In total, the syndicate illegally obtained 84 rhino horns and killed 22 rhinos valued at nearly R22 million.

"The team will continue to work together in an endeavour to address these types of syndicates. They have no sympathy towards our already endangered species - rhinos. It is clear that they have no regard for the rule of law," said Lieutenant General Anwa Dramat, the National Head of the Hawks.

Issued by:
South African Police Service

Media Release: Deputy Minister urges community participation to fight rhino poaching.

As communities and individuals around the world gathered to mark World Rhino Day, the Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs, Ms Barbara Thomson, has urged all people to take a firm stand against rhino poaching.

Ms Thomson led a World Rhino Day event, hosted by the Department of Environmental Affairs and SANParks in cooperation with the Bushbuckridge Municipality at the Thulamahashe Stadium in Mpumalanga today.

Hundreds of community members joined government officials in a fun run for Rhino through the streets of Bushbuckridge before participating in a march under the slogan Not on our Watch to the Thulamahashe police station.

The participants in the fun run and March were conscious of the need to raise awareness and seek economic alternative to poaching as the number of rhino poached for their horns since the start of the year climbed to 787. A total of 323 alleged poachers have been arrested since January 2014.

The Kruger National Park, situated a short distance from Bushbuckridge, continued to bear the brunt of rhino poaching in South Africa having lost 503 animals so far this year. A total of 103 rhino have been poached in Limpopo, 67 in KwaZulu-Natal, 47 in North West and 45 in Mpumalanga.

The marchers, comprising officials from the Department of Environmental Affairs, SANParks, the Bushbuckridge municipality and the local community, showed their concern about the high levels of rhino poaching in South Africa, calling for more action from the police to address the scourge.

The marchers also commended the security and justice system for the work being done collectively and individually to combat rhino poaching.

The Memorandum stated: “As representatives of the citizens of South Africa we would like to pledge our support to you in this battle against rhino poaching and wildlife crime in general. We pledge to become the eye and ears of the SAPS to ensure that all those responsible for wildlife crimes, particularly rhino poaching, are arrested.”

Deputy Minister Thomson said the hosting of World Rhino Day 2014 in Bushbuckridge is testimony to the municipality’s commitment to play its part in conserving one of the country’s most threatened natural resources, the rhino.

World Rhino Day was launched by the World Wildlife Fund-South Africa in 2010 to celebrate the 5 different species of Rhino. The Day has since grown to become a global event to draw attention to the impact of poaching on the continued survival of the Rhino species.

The Deputy Minister highlighted that it was communities such as that of Bushbuckridge that were often exploited by the crime syndicates in their quest to secure rhino horn.

Amid some of South Africa’s most pressing social and economic needs, it is important to save the rhino from extinction for numerous reasons, she said.

“Without the rhino there will be no Big Five – the reason millions of people from all over the world travel to South Africa and many of our neighbouring countries every year. In other words: If there is no Big Five, there is no tourism.

“Without tourism, there will be no direct jobs in the tourism industry for communities living adjacent to conservation areas, or indirect jobs in industries and sectors that support the tourism business.

“Without jobs, there will be increased poverty, increased crime, and less upliftment of our communities. The government’s aim is to create a better life for all. Without the rhino, that will not be possible. In all, the South African economy will suffer,” said Ms Thomson.

As the country prepared to mark Heritage Day on 24 September, it is important for South Africans to take a firm stand against the threat of poaching to the nation’s heritage.

“We have fought a long and bitter struggle for freedom. This struggle was not only for political freedom, but also freedom to enjoy our natural beauty and environment, which is now bring threatened by shortsighted and ecologically destructive forces such as poachers.”

She appealed to young people who believe they have no future other than crime, or the poaching of wildlife, to make use of opportunities to improve their skills and their lives so that they can contribute to the upliftment of their communities.

The Department of Environmental Affairs also welcomes the actions of communities around the world to focus the world’s attention on rhino poaching during World Rhino Day events.

Ms Thomson also launched the Department of Environmental Affairs’ new slogan against rhino poaching - Not on my watch – at the World Rhino Day event.

“Not on our Watch should spur all of us on to report rhino crimes,” she said. “By blowing the whistle on rhino poaching and wildlife crime you are not only contributing towards saving a species for future generations – our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren – to enjoy and benefit from, you are also contributing to a safer society.”

She added: “I appeal to all you present here today, to become the eyes and ears of the police – to report rhino and wildlife crime, and to state clearly: Not on our Watch!”

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

For media queries, contact:
Albi Modise on 083 490 2871

Issued by:
The Department of Environmental Affairs

On Safari With Karen from 16 September 2014

16 September 2014

This morning we left a bit later than the previous days as the breakfast at Nkambeni Safari Camp was quite busy and we like the quiet. So we hang around till the other guests were all gone on game drives, had a quiet cup of coffee and left ourselves. On camp road we saw some horns sticking out of the grass, which counted for our daily buffalo sighting. Against the glare of the sun we could make out the shape of some heads, but as they were still asleep and not about to get up anytime soon, we continued on our way. A duiker, already being bright eyed and bushy tailed, noticed us before we saw him and ran away. So we actually only saw it's back end disappear.

A drive around Fayi loop turned out to be a trip down memory lane. Not that we have been here before on this tour, but the animal sightings: elephants ("remember our first elephant sighting?"), kudus (yeah we haven't seen those the last couple of days but lots in the beginning"), 4 reedbuck ("we did see one before, but not this obvious and not four!"), a little bee eater ("it's the little bird we saw when we were watching the mega herd of buffalo"), a juvenile bateleur ("we know now how pretty he'll be when he's older") and zebras ("they are quite hidden here, we have seen them much better"). So yeah, we were actually getting quite spoiled on this safari when it comes to sightings!

In the meantime Robbie had driven down Napi and told us about some nice sightings he had, so we decided to see if we could get lucky to. First of all we did find the nice herd of sable he told us about. Unfortunately the sables were more silhouetted against the horizon and through the bush, but nonetheless, we saw a herd of sable! We had seen sable before, but not as many as these, or little ones. Robbie had also told us about lions and when we arrived at the seen these were easy to spot on one of the flat rocks. We noticed 4 lions at first, one of them getting up and moving to a different spot, when suddenly two others set up and looked in the same direction. We were wondering what they saw and suddenly a fifth lion turned up on the rock. This one was a young male. And a minute or so later a sixth one walked to the other five, but without a greeting to us or any of the other lions went off on the other side of the rock again. When two of the other lionesses followed her, and predicting the others would too, and having very full bladders we turned around to make our way to Pretoriuskop.

However, before we actually got to Pretoriuskop we still saw a nice white rhino walking away into the bush and had an amazing sighting of an elephant herd. They were first in the bush about 50m away, standing in the shade with flapping ears. But as it was recently burned, we had a very good view. Then slowly they started moving towards us. As there was plenty of room, and there were no other cars around, we waited for the elephants to come close and pass us. However, when they did want to start to cross, cars showed up from both sides, putting us in the middle of a herd with babies, that then got a little bit stressed. We waited with baited breath, as some young mothers showed us their predicament with the situation, but the matriarch had been in this situation before and let the herd safely across the road in between us and 4 other cars. Nonetheless a great sighting! But now it was really time for a toilet break, otherwise we would have wet car seats!

After a piece of chocolate cake and some nice iced coffee at Pretoriuskop, we set of back to Nkambeni Safari Camp as the day was already hot again. Down Numbi tar we saw another reedbuck family, two adults and a little one, before on camp road we noticed the buffalos had finally gotten up to start their day.

A small drive in the afternoon took us up Albassini and had a stop at Mestel dam. An elephant had just come down the hill and we were hoping it would go swimming. We even told it that it was bloody hot and a little swim would cool it down nicely. But no such luck. He had a drink and then walked off again. We did also see a darter drying himself in the sun, a grey heron and a pied kingfisher fishing. Then on the overflow crossing, my guests suddenly said "stop". Something had run away from the little leftover pool of water on the bottom that looked like an otter. Assuming we don't have otters, she thought it was something else, but her description was exactly as if they had just seen a cape clawless otter run away. So we stopped and stared in the reeds and sat in silence for 10 minutes to see if it would come out... but no such thing. I was very disappointed as so far I have never seen a cape clawless otter. And now I STILL haven't seen one :(.

We then bumbled down Shabeni link, seeing zebras and kudus, to Shabeni loop. Here we had two different sightings of klipspringers, before returning to the lodge. It had been another great day! Tomorrow is the last day of our holiday, but somehow we just want to extend it!

17 September 2014

This morning was the last game drive of our 9-day safari tour and we were sad it already was day 9. Once again on camp road, the first animals we saw were buffalos and so we already had our daily buffalo fix before 6:10am. On our last drive down Numbi tar we found zebras as well as a nice kudu bull hanging out with some impalas. We then drove down Napi where just before Shitlhave Dam a nice herd of buffalo was crossing the road. We caught the tail end of the herd crossing in front of us, which probably was a good thing, as the rest of the herd on the opposite side of the drainage line looked massive, so we would have been there a while if they had just started crossing. An elephant bull was hanging out with the herd and so we also had seen elephant every day on this safaris as well.

We also saw some waterbucks, two male giraffes showing why they have no more hair on their oscicles, a small group of wildebeests and two white rhinos grazing.

We turned into Watergat where we found a lot of leopard tracks around the first drainage line, but the people on the way had said it disappeared into the bush. Nonetheless we scouted around with binoculars in nice shady spots, but no spots of a leopard were found. Then at the waterhole we found a nice elephant herd drinking and playing with water. Two very young elephants kept us entertained by running back and forth from one group of elephants to the other, with their trunks dangling in front and their ears flapping wildly. Here there was another leopard, we heard from some other guides, but as he got scared he had hid away in a drainage pipe under the road. Westopped on top of the pipe and waited. No movement heard or seen while waiting there, but nobody wanting to get out and stick their head in the pipe to check if he was really there... Yeah I know, strange!!

As we didn't have all day today, unfortunately, we had to move off and wished the other cars waiting on the spot good luck. We found an elephant bull in must on the road and had to move forward according to his pace for a while. He didn't mind us being there, but to be truthful, we weren't that impressed with the smell of him and we were downwind! So when he moved off the road and we could pass, we were actually quite happy. The rest of our journey up Watergat road we encountered some more giraffes and many more impalas. At one sighting a male was chasing a female and when she ran back into the herd to try and hide another male took over the chase. Poor thing had to sprint around in this heat! After three laps though, this male gave up the chase and no one took over so they all settled in quietly again and resumed their grazing.

Our last hour we spend driving down Doispane towards Phabeni Gate. We got some more nice sightings of zebras and kudus before some of us spotted a leopard. While stopping she looked back over her shoulder and decided not to hang around and walked on. It is her right of course, to not to show herself nicely, however it would have been nice if the grass wasn't so long that she could disappear so quickly as not all of us saw her. Still, for most of us it was third time lucky, as we already missed two leopards, but got the third! Just before Phabeni Gate we could add a new animal to our immense sightings list, as a black-shouldered kite sat on a nearby tree. The last photos, one last box ticked and then it was really time to go!

I spend a great holiday with Irene, Corine, Renske and Gerrit and hope that they enjoyed it just as much as I did! Thanks you very much for joining us on this safari and I hope we will see you again in the future. I promise you, even though you have more than 3000 pictures of this tour, we can always do better and see some more animals :)! Thanks again!!

On safari With Curtis From 16 September 2014

16 September 2014

Today was a day of two halves. In the morning we set off around Shabeni where we spotted the resident klipspringers. Carrying on down the link we found plenty of giraffe and zebra as well as kudu and zebra munching on the fresh new grass. Along Albasini we found more giraffe, this one very interesting as it included the young female one who has got a broken jaw. This doesn't seem to hinder her as she was happily munching away. We found more general game before we got to Phabeni gate where it was time to say good bye to Nancy and Phyllis. Ladies it was a pleasure taking you on safari, I know you enjoyed your time here and really hope that one day we see you again on safari with Nhongo safaris.

Time to carry on with my two remaining guests. We heard about lions back on Napi and so we headed back that way. We drove past ellies, zebra, giraffe and impala before we got to Napi. As we approached I spotted the final lion get up and disappear over the rocks not to be seen again. The rest of the morning was a similar story, missed wild dog and missed leopard. It was also very quiet although we did see some nice rhino sightings from a far. We then decided to take an early lunch at Skukuza.

The afternoon was a different story as we set off around the river. first across low level bridge spotting hippos and then Sand river. Once across sand river the sightings started to mount. Baboons, vervets, Bushbuck, steenbok and then the first of dozens of elephant sightings. During the afternoon sighting after sighting of elephant families going down to the river to drink and cool down. We also got a lovely sight of two African fish eagles perched in the tree. However the best was too come as we found four female lions next to the road. As we watched they started to stalk a group of giraffes down in the river bed. The giraffes spotted them quickly though and the lionesses gave up. We watched for a while longer before they disappeared into the reeds. We carried on along the river spotting numerous species of general game and turned back onto Napi to return to camp. We then got to Delaporte and found a large male lion lying in the river bed. Apparently there was a second one hiding nearby but we couldn't find him. We carried on back to the lodge finding plenty of game, the odd elephant and rhino. We even had time to stop and provide a bit of help to a couple of damsels in distress who had a flat tire. Perhaps lucky we did as they had the flat tire in exactly the same spot where the lions were this morning.

17 September 2014

This morning was the last of the tour and it gave us an opportunity to get a few more great photos before we left the park. We spotted zebra, giraffe, kudu, klipspringers, warthog, Waterbuck, hippo, fish eagle, egyptian geese,  cormorants, baboons, dwarf mongoose and impala. On the final stretch we found more giraffe and then buffaloes. Before a final surprise in the shape of a herd of elephants. About 25 strong. Who all crossed the road in front of us. We then headed out of the park and down to Nelspruit for the transfers. Stella and Raymond, it has been lovely been on tour with you. Glad we got those lions for you Stella and wish you safe travels around South Africa. Also good luck with your bungi jump Stella ;-)