New poaching threat rears head during lockdown

Under the golden, late afternoon South African sun, an elephant emerges from around the curve in a dusty path.

Disturbed, the imposing animal raises its trunk to sniff out the four-wheeled intruder.

“If he passes along the vehicle, just relax, nothing will happen,” whispers guide Gert Kruger.

The pachyderm calmly approaches, feels the body of the car, briefly glances inside, before realising there’s nothing to worry about.

With a slow, disdainful U-turn, it walks back to its snack, majestically showing off its wrinkly, muddied backside.

“It’s absolutely beautiful to see,” says a smiling Kruger, the 49-year-old owner of Kruger Bush Lodge in Balule Game Reserve, about 500km northeast of Johannesburg.

“By far we are in the best place to be locked down.”

For five weeks, South Africa has been in coronavirus lockdown.

For the 17 years Kruger has taken clients through the thick bushes of Balule private reserve, bordering the Kruger Park, he has never grown tired of the charm of such encounters.

Stories of roaring lions and grunting rhinos spill from the pockets of his khaki shorts.

And until a few week ago, he planned to add a few more, just to burst the seams.

But then the global pandemic torpedoed his plans.

No sooner had President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the closure of international borders in mid-March than foreign tourists deserted the camp’s tents.

The confinement order that followed two weeks later left Kruger distraught, with no one to show around.

Clients “had to evacuate in a couple of days”, he said.

“The coronavirus gave us all a big shock ... in the tourism business, it’s all our bread and butter,” he said.

Last year, Kruger and his six employees hosted 700 safari enthusiasts.

But he is now counting his losses ahead of the 2021 season following “a lot of cancellations”.

Only patrol vehicles still crisscross the trails of the 55 000-hectare Balule reserve.

The patrols have even been intensified now as animal protection remains an absolute priority despite the lockdown.

“We cannot afford to scale down anything when it comes to security,” said the reserve’s general manager Ian Nowak.

Police in neighbouring Mpumalanga yesterday reported the arrest of three people found in possession of six horns.

The lockdown has produced another threat too.

Beyond the gangs killing to feed an insatiable appetite on the traditional Asian market for rhino horn, the virus confinement has spawned survival poaching.

“What I call bushmeat poaching is quite different,” Nowak said.

People “are not working anymore with the lockdown, they are hungry, they hunt for raw food. They don’t care about conservation, they just want to survive.” – AFP