Africa Cruel Africa -3 Poachers in the Drakensberg Mountains - by @mambaman
Poachers in the Drakensberg Mountains.
When I first started hiking in the Mont-Aux-Sources area of the Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa in the early 2000s there was an abundance of wild life seen in this harsh mountain terrain. In about 2010 the management of this Nature Reserve area was handed to the local municipality of Phuthaditjhaba, a town at the foot of the entrance to this area of the Drakensberg Mountains.
Almost immediately, under the disguise of "Traditional Hunters" and "African Custom" poachers came into this Reserve area and in a most cruel way, hunted out almost all of the wildlife. The dogs hunt down the poor animal and the poacher clubs it to death with a hardened stick.
Eland, Grey Rhebuck, Mountain Reedbuck, Common Duiker, Klipspringer - have all disappeared from this beautiful Reserve Area. This practice was condoned by the Reserve custodians, we found them themselves participating in this practice with "bush meat" being sold outside the entrance gate.
It is still a beautiful place to go - but it was so much nicer when you walked with these antelope - now locally extinct .
Such a shame, why can’t they just leave the poor animals alone, so sad to hear about this, makes me so angry.
so local control didn't work out? it was better when it was federally managed?
It was manned and run by the Free State Provincial Nature Conservation. - and it does seem local administration didn't work. The only thing to have gone up is the entrance fee.
that's a shame, do they allow permitted hunting or is it exclusively for poachers?
It looks like exclusively for poachers. 😊
It's such a shame, about a 100 years ago here in my state the wild turkey was on the brink of extinction, so we instituted hunting permits and seasons and such, now there are turkeys everywhere and every year we buy more land to conserve for hunting.
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Que chevere, eso si es emocionante...
This is a very sad story. From some South African friends I heard about that beautiful place. Unfortunately it is too far away to visit.