Times have changed and not for the better...

Many of you will know that my parents live in South Africa and that we are very lucky in that we have spent many happy times visiting Grandma and Grandad Africa, since the boys were born.

On our visit there this summer one thing had become abundantly clear. Times are changing... For wildlife especially.

Our arrival on African soil coincided with the slaying of Cecil the Lion in neighbouring Zimbabwe. The TV stations and local papers were all covering the story and discussing the plight of Africa's animals in response to this. Unfortunately poaching is so endemic to Africa in general that the loss of Cecil garnered more of a reaction from the international community than it did from Africa itself.

One of the big differences now though in the fight for wildlife survival  in recent times is social media. Did you know it can in fact aid the poachers?

I will be honest, I hadn't actually given it much thought. I am in no way a fan of trophy hunting. I think that the slaying of endangered animals for sport is just plain wrong. As is the needless killing of an animal for its horns, tusks or hide. Now if you're an indigenous tribe that had hunted elephant or rhino or lion for 100's of years and that that animal will feed your village for a month then I can understand sustainable hunting for survival. But chopping off heads or horns and leaving a carcass behind for the scavengers... No!

So what's my point? Well this is. These 2 White Rhinos pictured below are 2 of 3, that lived for several years at Tala game reserve just outside Durban.

2 of the 3 Rhinos at Tala in 2012

Tala is small, tiny in fact in comparison to others in South Africa which can be the size of UK counties or even countries. Its probably the size of a small town. Well my family and I have seen these same 3 rhino on our visits to Tala since Jake was 1 year old.

 So imagine my shock when I visited this year to take the picture below. Can you see what is wrong with it?

Talas 2 current Rhinos.

Did you spot the problem? Well the rhino on the left of the picture is missing something rather obvious, her horn. Now what if I tell you that of the rhinos in the first picture at least one of, possibly both, are now dead. You see last year poachers went into Tala and darted all 3 rhinos, removing the horns from all 3 while they were still alive. 2 of them sadly didn't make it and the third lived to tell the tale albeit without her most recognisable feature.

What you can't see just out of shot in the second picture is the pick up truck with  armed security guards, whose sole purpose it is to follow these 2 rhinos around, wherever they wander in the park and ensure their safety.

So what about the bigger game reserves? We saw changes there too. Every visit we have made to South Africa wouldn't be complete without a visit to Hluhluwe/Imfolozi -the oldest proclaimed nature reserve in Africa - and 3 hours North of Durban. Hluhluwe/Imfolozi is the birthplace of rhino conservation and the home of Operation Rhino the project that started rhino conservation in the 1950's and 1960's.

The 2 camps have sighting boards with animal numbers and you can update it daily with what you have spotted and where you saw it.

This is the board from one of our first visits several years ago.

Approximate number of animals in the park.

I've actually decided to blank out the numbers of Rhinos in the park anyway just in case anyone can use the data nefariously, despite it being several years out of date.

And here are the tokens to tag your sightings and the board to show where in the park you spotted the animal.

Tags

Sightings board

The boys have enjoyed on previous visits spotting the animals on the board, seeing where others have seen them and adding our own sightings to the board.

2015 had some glaring omissions. Gone are the numbers for rhino in the park as are all the markers for both black and white rhinos. This is to ensure their safety so that poachers cannot easily locate them. I can completely see why the park has done this. Why leave what almost amounts to a neon sign flashing over an animals head saying "Here I am?" But at the same time it makes me sad and angry that they have had to do this in the first place.

This also ties in to my earlier comment regarding social media and how it can affect the rhino population. There are signs up in various locations around the park and at all entrances not to post pictures of rhino on the many social networks available as most phones enable GPS co-ordinates to become embedded in the picture data. That cute rhino mother and baby you've just uploaded to instagram or twitter has now perhaps given poachers the means to track her at her last known position so her horn can be stolen. It certainly made me think and my social media postings of photos were limited to my friends list on facebook. I feel they are a trust worthy bunch and I don't have any poachers or trophy hunters hiding among them as far as I am aware.

So far this year in Kwa Zulu Natal where Hluhluwe/Imfolozi is located, 75 rhino have been poached for their horns with very, very few of them surviving the ordeal wither from the overdose of drugs used to dart them to bring them down quickly or the trauma of having their horn sawed off while still alive. This figure doesn't take into account the rest of the provinces or indeed the rest of Africa but statistics do say the problem is getting worse not better.

This picture is the statue at the Rhino Centenary Centre. I really do worry that the legacy for my children's children, will be visiting here and it will be the only rhino left to spot in the park.

I really hope that after the whole "Cecil" furore that African nations can get their act together and stop the both the trade of illegal ivory and horns and that sport hunting in the main can be eradicated.
I have to be honest and say I struggle to get upset when I read news stories of poachers that get their just desserts.

Sorry for the rant readers but I really feel strongly about this and needed to vent. If anyone wants to add anything please comment.

On a happier note we did see several rhino on our visit but I won't be telling you where. But here is a happy picture of a sighting we made over the summer :)

Till next time x