The Southern African Wildlife College’s Protected Area Integrity Unit, under the department’s African Field Ranger Training Services (AFRTS), had a successful start to 2018 with the kickoff of new and diverse training interventions, like the training for maritime rangers. “We have developed a brand-new course for maritime training and provided a successful training intervention in...Read More
The Southern African Wildlife College’s Protected Area Integrity Unit and African Field Ranger Training Services (AFRTS) recently presented a Trainer/Instructor course in Assam, India, with the support of United for Wildlife and WWF-India. After a selection phase and five weeks of training, Assam now has 11 instructors equipped to introduce their forest staff to a...Read More
Sadly, Kruger elephant poaching is becoming a grim reality, not only within Kruger but all over South Africa. A total of 67 elephants were killed for their ivory in the Kruger Park in 2017, while one was lost to poachers in KwaZulu Natal (KZN). If one looks at the trend, Kruger losses are significantly worse:...Read More
Current climate predictions issued by the South African Weather Service for the period February to June 2018 indicate that the El Niño system is expected to remain in a weak La Niña phase through to early Autumn. This suggests above-normal rainfall is to be expected later in the summer rainfall season, which can extend towards...Read More
We only realise how quickly time flies when we are given the opportunity to see the rate at which something grows and develops. In our case, it has been seeing the four youngest members of the K9 unit become the clumsy ‘pre-teenagers’ they are now. At five months old, these little fur balls are already...Read More
From the Editor “As we welcome our learners and trainers for 2018, we’re mindful of the critical shift in the approach to conservation to mitigate loss of habitat, over population, over consumption, and the burgeoning wildlife trade. We have been hard at work to align our courses and programmes to these needs. I particularly encourage you...Read More
By supporting a student at the Southern African Wildlife College (SAWC) you will be helping to conserve Africa’s wildlife in perpetuity. The SAWC’s Adopt-A-Student Learner Legacy Campaign has been created in recognition of the fact that conservation education and training is not well funded in southern Africa. Despite the importance of providing training in skills...Read More
During 2017, a total of 502 alleged rhino poachers and 16 alleged traffickers were arrested nationally bringing the total figure to 518. This represents a decrease from 2016 when a total of 680 poachers and traffickers were arrested. Arrests within the Greater Kruger National Park itself did however increase in 2017. The number of arrests...Read More
On 31 December 2017, the ban on legal ivory trade in China, which represents the world’s largest market for ivory, finally came into effect! This is the greatest single step toward reducing the brutal poaching which kills on average 100 elephants every day in Africa. Until recently South Africa had escaped ivory poachers trying to cash-in...Read More
Climate predictability has become more difficult to assess over recent years due to continued climate change on a large scale. Rainfall data visualisations show that 2017 was one of the driest years recorded in the history of the Lowveld, as well as some of the hottest temperatures ever recorded in decades. The recent drought in...Read More
