Rhino poaching

The week before I arrived, two rhinos were killed at Amakhala and their horns taken. The whole reserve - and anyone involved in the local safari industry - was devastated by this mindless action. Sadly, it is still a considerable problem in South Africa, where 270 rhinos have been poached during this year alone. The horns are all destined for China, which has a history of using them as an aphrodisiac that dates back for centuries.

In some cases, the poor animal is darted, its horn cut out and then it wakes up to find half its face missing and then slowly bleeds to death, in excruciating pain I imagine. If the poachers are so desperate to have the horns but still give some thought to conservation, they could dart the animal, cut the top of the horn and leave the animal alive. The horn does grow back, just like a nail.

Some reserves are starting to take extreme measures and inject poison into their rhinos' horns, so that whoever eventually ingests it will die. It doesn't seem so unreasonable given the thoughtless slaughter of such a unique but endangered animal. And having got to know Kapella for a brief few hours the other day, it would be heart-breaking to hear that he ended up suffering the same fate. The reserve has responded by introducing round the clock security to attempt to keep the poachers at bay.

During our drive around the reserve on Friday, we went to see the remains of one of the poached rhinos. A week and a half later, there is little left after the hyenas have done their work.