South Africa News

White rhino in South Africa. Photo by Rhett Butler South African conservationist Ian Player has died at the age of 87. Player, the brother of professional Gary Player, had an…

WARNING: graphic image below. White rhino in South Africa. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. South Africa has surpassed last year's grisly record for slaughtered rhinos—1,004—more than a month before the…

100 million trees are cut down every year to make dissolving pulp for clothing, toothpaste, food Dissolving pulp is not just a threat to the forests of Indonesia. It is…

Lorinda in Sabi Sands. Daily, we read or hear of more rhino being poached to satisfy the seemingly insatiable demand from Asia for rhino horn. With countless articles and papers…

A new poll finds that consumer demand for rhino horn in Vietnam has dropped precipitously following several advertising campaigns. According to the poll by the Humane Society International (HIS) and…

Cat-like genet spends many evenings riding buffalo, rhinos Cowbirds ride cattle to pick off their parasites; egrets pal around with wildebeest and eat the small creatures disturbed by their grazing.…

Conservation organizations, government reintroducing wildlife from other countries The story of Kissama National Park is one of perseverance, vision and disaster in waiting. The only functional national park in Angola,…

New research shows that some monkeys use humans as shields against becoming a tasty meal for a leopard in South Africa. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. If you're monkey—say a…

WARNING: graphic image below. Poachers have butchered 558 rhinos in South Africa so far this year, approximately a hundred more animals than lost during the same time in 2013. Last…

Dogs protect livestock from predators, predators from humans The last couple centuries have seen the decline of many large predator species. While there has been a surge of recovery and…

Two prominent NGOs—the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and the International Rhino Foundation (IRF)—are petitioning the U.S government to slap Mozambique with trade sanctions due to the country's role in regional…

Scientists are finding that past African elephant culling operations, despite having ended decades ago, have greatly impacted surviving elephant populations and dramatically disrupted their social behavior. Researchers from the University…

Rhino near Kruger National Park. Photo by Rhett A. Butler Howard G. Buffett, the son of Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett, has pledged $23.7 million to South African National Parks…

WARNING: graphic image below. Last week, visitors in Kruger National Park came on a horrifying sight of the poaching trade: a rhino, still alive, with its horn and part of…

Since the first of the year, South Africa has lost 146 rhinos to poachers or approximately 2.5 rhinos every day. This is a slight dip from last year's poaching rate,…

In another sign that Africa's poaching crisis has gotten completely out of control, South Africa lost 1,004 rhinos to poachers last year. According to the numbers released today by the…

The Congo River traverses the continent of Africa, ending its journey in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where it spills 1.5 million cubic feet per second into the Atlantic…

790 rhinos have been poached in South Africa through October 25th this year, nearly a fifth higher than last year's record toll, reports the Department of Environmental Affairs. 60 percent…

Last month I had the great fortune of going on safari for a couple of days in South Africa. But I also had the misfortunate of witnessing the horror of…

Raoul du Toit will be speaking at the Wildlife Conservation Network Expo in San Francisco on October 12th, 2013. With its collapsed economy, entrenched poverty, and political tremors, one would…

At least 688 rhinos have been poached in South Africa this year, surpassing last year's record of 668 with more than three months remaining in 2013, reports the country's top…

South Africa has experienced an uptick in rhino poaching since Environmental Minister Edna Molewa called for legalizing the rhino trade, reveals analysis by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). The advocacy…

In 2010 the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) pledged to set aside 17 percent of the world's land as protected areas in addition to protecting 60 percent of the world's…

Barack Obama launched a new initiative against wildlife trafficking on Monday, using his executive authority to take action against an illegal trade that is fueling rebel wars and now threatens…

A private safari company has moved six white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum) from their home in South Africa to Botswana in a bid to save them from an out-of-control poaching crisis…

The IUCN has unveiled the first iteration of its new Red List of Ecosystems, a ranking of habitats worldwide. The Red List of Ecosystems is modeled after the IUCN's Red…

Rhino poachers have killed 232 rhinos during 2013 so far in South Africa, reports Annamiticus, which averages out to 2.1 a day. The country has become a flashpoint for rhino…

Koos Hermanus would rather not give names to the lions he breeds. So here, behind a 2.4-meter high electric fence, is 1R, a three-and-a-half-year-old male, who consumes 5kg of meat…

A game reserve in South Africa has taken the radical step of poisoning rhino horns so that people risk becoming "seriously ill" if they consume them. Sabi Sand said it…

Female lion with wildebeest kill in Tanzania. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. For a long time male lions were derided as the lazy ones in the pride, depending on females…