KZN game reserves invites guests to join their anti-poaching team

The luxurious Thanda private game reserve is giving guests the chance to do their bit to protect rhinos from poaching syndicates.

For a nominal fee of R1 500 per person - most of which is ploughed into Thanda’s anti-poaching initiative - the five-star‚ northern KwaZulu-Natal resort is allowing visitors to join its rhino monitoring team to locate and record data daily on its black and white rhinos.

In 2016‚ 1054 rhino were poached in South Africa‚ compared to 1 175 in 2015. The 10.3% decline has not stopped anti-poaching initiatives like Thanda’s.

“It takes a lot to protect these magnificent creatures that are threatened with extinction as a result of poaching by international criminal syndicates‚” the game reserve said.

Thanda said on its website that visitors can “actively contribute to conserving the rhinos on Thanda Safari by joining our dedicated rhino monitoring team".

“Keeping a close watch on them is an essential part of protecting our rhinos and at the same time it is an opportunity to gather ecological data that helps us to continuously improve the management of our rhinos and reserve habitat‚" it continued.

Participants would be led by a specialist rhino monitor in a game-viewing vehicle before sunrise to find rhino tracks.

“Once the tracks are located‚ the guide will lead you‚ on foot into the bush to find the rhinos.

“You will learn all about them‚ including how to read their tracks‚ observing wind direction‚ their behaviour‚ feeding patterns and the threats they face as a species.”

Guests would spend three to four hours learning how to identify individual rhinos from ear notches and helping to record their condition. R1000 will go towards the anti-poaching units salaries‚ cameras‚ vet bills and fencing.

- TMG Digital/The Times