We’re fresh back from a wonderful breakaway in the Kruger National Park, and of course have lots to share with you from our latest trip to the bush, so stay tuned!
Today also marks the fifth birthday of de Wets Wild – Thank you to everyone who has supported and encouraged us along the way!
Sunset at Satara
The winners of the 2016 South African Blog Awards have been announced, and we are very excited that, for the third year running, de Wets Wild has featured in the Top 3 of both categories we entered: Best Environmental Blog and Best Travel Blog.
Thank you very much to everyone who voted for us. Without your support and encouragement we would not even have been mentioned in the list of deserving winners. We hope you’ll continue to visit South Africa’s wonderful wild places and marvel at our magnificent wildlife along with us for many more years to come.
In closing, we’d want to offer our sincere congratulations to all the winners in every category, and our thanks as well to the organizers and judges of the 2016 SA Blog Awards.
The sun has set on our tenth wedding anniversary, and of course we’re going to spend such an auspicious day in one of South Africa’s wild places. We’re exploring the new Dinokeng Game Reserve for the weekend, and we will tell you all about it in upcoming editions of de Wets Wild!
If you enjoy de Wets Wild as much as we enjoy sharing our love for South Africa’s wild places and their denizens with you, please vote for us in the 2016 South African Blog Awards.
We’ve entered the categories for “Best Travel Blog” and “Best Environmental Blog”, and you are allowed to vote for us in both. Clicking on the badge below will bring you to the voting site. After voting, you’ll receive an e-mail requiring you to click on a link to confirm your votes.
Thank you very much for your support!
The 22nd of September is World Rhino Day, a day to reflect on the large-scale slaughter these enigmatic animals are facing due to human greed and superstitious culture.
For the first time in years there is a reason for cautious optimism, with the South African Ministry of Environmental Affairs announcing on the 11th of September that, despite an enormous increase in the number of poaching incursions into the Kruger National Park, there has been an almost 18% decline in the number of rhinos killed by poachers in the period January to August in South Africa’s flagship Park, rightly attributed to the never-ending efforts of dedicated rangers and other people in law enforcement. Still, the 458 carcasses found in Kruger so far this year (compared to 557 for the same 8 month period last year) is a terrifying number, and it is even worse when considering that in our country as a whole at least 702 rhinos have been killed this year, bringing the total lost since the scourge started escalating in 2007 within sight of the 6,000 mark.
Today is also another chance to express our deep gratitude to those brave men and women out in the bush, fighting a war against the decimation of our wildlife, putting their lives on the line so that black and white rhinos remain a feature of Africa’s natural heritage for generations to come.
A couple of de-horned White Rhinoceros in the Rietvlei Nature Reserve. De-horning is a drastic and costly measure to protect the animals, and sadly only a practical option in smaller populations.
And we are thrilled that de Wets Wild has been voted runners-up in both categories we entered – Best Environmental Blog and Best Travel Blog!
Thank you very much to every one of our friends here at de Wets Wild who voted for us and provided regular encouraging comments while we waited for the results to be announced. Your support means so much to us, and we hope you will continue to stick with us for years to come, as we hope to continue to share the beauty of South Africa’s wild places with you. THANK YOU!
Congratulations also to all the category winners and other runners-up. We are proud to be in your company.
Finally, a big word of thanks to the organizers and judges of the 2015 South African Blog Awards!
Wishing all our friends here at de Wets Wild a joyous, blessed Christmas!
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If you enjoy de Wets Wild as much as we enjoy sharing our love for South Africa’s wild places and their denizens with you, please vote for us in the 2015 South African Blog Awards.
We’ve entered the categories for “Best Travel Blog” and “Best Environmental Blog”, and you are allowed to vote for us in both. Clicking on the badge below will bring you to the voting site.
Thank you very much for your support!
If you enjoy de Wets Wild as much as we enjoy sharing our love for South Africa’s wild places and their denizens with you, please vote for us in the 2015 South African Blog Awards.
We’ve entered the categories for “Best Travel Blog” and “Best Environmental Blog”, and you are allowed to vote for us in both. Clicking on the badge below will bring you to the voting site.
Thank you very much for your support!
Seems the whole world is being treated to a show of celestial choreography today, with a Bloodmoon or Total Lunar Eclipse. This was taken a couple of minutes ago over Pretoria.
How long do we have left to appreciate our rhinos in their natural environment?
Will Joubert be able to take his children to a South African game reserve and show them what a real, live rhino looks like?
Would the citizens of the countries driving the slaughter of our rhinos to satisfy their fallacious beliefs even care about what they stole from Africa’s children?
World Rhino Day is upon us again, and as every year before for almost the last decade the future for these spectacular creatures seem even more bleak.
Figures published by South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs at the end of August 2015 indicated a minimum of 749 rhinos lost to poaching in South Africa for the year to date, 544 of which in the flagship Kruger National Park. A recent poaching incident in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park pushed the total lost in Kwazulu-Natal Province this year to 75. This follows on the loss of a staggering 3,900+ rhinos in this country alone to the end of 2014, since the poaching scourge started escalating in 2007 .
Still, there are many individuals and organisations investing enormous effort and resources into ensuring these charismatic animals are protected for future generations, and they deserve our respect and support. According to DEA at the time of their release, 138 poachers have been arrested in the Kruger Park this year, many of them heavily armed and only apprehended after exchanging fire with rangers and military personnel. The costly process of translocating rhinos out of high-danger zones to areas where they are thought to be more secure, is continuing. South African National Parks invested large sums donated by the Howard G Buffet Foundation, Peace Parks Foundation, and private donors into the purchasing of helicopters, all-terrain vehicles and other equipment to ensure that the Kruger Park’s rangers have the resources they need to face this onslaught on the wildlife in a Park bigger than many sovereign countries. Involving the communities living around reserves where rhino occur is pivotal to success, exemplified by SANParks’ liaison with Christian churches and iSimangaliso Wetland Park and their partners’ “Rhino Walk” taking place between 7 September and 2 October, during which they’ll visit 75 schools with thousands of learners. Fighting rhino poaching requires a multi-faceted approach, which is why iSimangaliso have also recently de-horned the entire rhino population on the Western Shores of Lake Saint Lucia, and publicised this widely.
Had it not been for these, and many more, dedicated people, and their tireless efforts, the situation undoubtedly would have been far worse still.
The war has not yet been lost.
DeWetsWild 