A substantial grant from the German Government through KfW has taken the Southern African Wildlife College (SAWC), one of Africa’s premier conservation skills and training facilities, to the next level. “Conservation in southern Africa is facing enormous challenges. We are proud of the role the College is playing in developing the human and social capacity...Read More
Latest forecasts from the South African Weather Service (SAWS) indicate that over the next few months, sea surface temperatures over the equatorial Pacific Ocean will become warmer than normal. This means the area is going into an El Nino phase which will peak toward the end of this year. Forecasts indicate a 70% probability of...Read More
(Source – Koedoe Vol 59, no 1 2017) Are there too many elephants? What is the solution? These are questions we get asked regularly. South African National Parks (SANParks) manage landscapes rather than numbers of elephants (Loxodonta africana) to mitigate the effects that elephants may have on biodiversity, tourism and stakeholder conservation values associated with...Read More
(Source – News24) The Hawks have announced a significant breakthrough in a two-year long operation that led to the arrest of two men suspected of being kingpins in a rhino poaching syndicate operating in Gauteng. The Hawks’ Colonel Johan Jooste said that the directorate, in cooperation with SANParks, had managed to disrupt the supply chain...Read More
(Source – defenceWeb – Africa’s leading defence news portal) Six SADC states, namely the close-knit countries of Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe have undertaken to co-operate in order to deal with the poaching scourge, particularly that of rhinos and elephants. The countries met last month in Mpumalanga for the fourth multilateral meeting...Read More
At the time of writing, no reliable statistics could be sourced on the number of rhino poached to date. Unofficial statistics estimate the figure to be around 300 rhino to date, as of end July 2018. Poacher arrests have however increased exponentially due to the new pack-hound initiative. These dogs have at least an 80%...Read More
The Alibaba Foundation and The Paradise Foundation, a Chinese not-for-profit environmental conservation organisation, held the first annual African Ranger Awards ceremony in Cape Town, South Africa on 7 August,2018. The Awards recognize 50 wildlife rangers working in 17 African countries, and aim to raise global awareness about the need to conserve Africa’s wildlife and the...Read More
It is with great sadness that we learnt of the passing of Respect Mathebule who succumbed to a poacher’s bullet in the line of duty. Trained by Ruben de Kock who has over two decades of experience in field ranger training, Respect is the first of Ruben’s students to have been killed in the line...Read More
This article gives an insight into the challenges faced by people trained in law enforcement but, who like in any other job, are expected to complete a myriad of administrative tasks as well. The stakes in this case are just that much higher… The time supposed to be spent in the field as a Ranger...Read More
The College’s, African Field Ranger Training Services Division had training interventions running throughout July. These training interventions comprised the following groups: A Basic Field Ranger course was completed on 13 July with 10 students attending. Students hailed from Mpumalanga Parks and Tourism Agency, Richtersveld National Park, Thanda Private Game reserve, Olifants Private Game Reserve and...Read More
