Death on an African afternoon

On the day a Vietnamese delegation intent on stopping the massacre of rhino arrived in South Africa a poacher set his sights on one of the animals on the banks of the Nksikazi River and fired.

By the time the Vietnamese got to the carcass at the southern tip of Kruger National Park it had lain in the sun for three days.

Vietnamese environmental activist Quyen Vu broke down and cried at the sight of the bloated animal.

She is here to stop this slaughter but the number of dead rhino just keeps rising.

Back in her country, rhino horn has become a status symbol for the nouveau riche but Quyen was here with a trump card - a Vietnamese singer called Hong Nhung.

If Nhung can get the message out to her fan base perhaps she can do what Jackie Chan did for the mass slaughter of sharks.

After Chan took up the cause, shark fin soup consumption dropped in China by 80%.

This is the second year that a Vietnamese delegation has been hosted by the Rhinose Foundation.

Since the last visit by the Vietnamese a lot of progress has been made in trying to stop the use of rhino horn in Vietnam.

"I believe we are getting there. We are improving legislation, and working with the Vietnamese government and judges to improve the prosecution of kingpins and increase sentences," Quyen said.

Her organisation, Education for Nature Vietnam, has used social media, and radio and television to get the message out.

Kobus de Wet, the chief environmental officer for criminal investigations at SANParks, declared the rhino shot dead at the Nksikazi River a crime scene.

Nhung got rhino blood on her shoes as a Vietnamese television crew interviewed her next to the rhino's carcass.

She told the TV interviewer that she hoped the sight of blood would make those in her country who had the money to buy rhino horn, now more expensive than platinum, would realise that they were causing a bloodbath thousands of kilometres away.