We left Swadini for a three hour drive to Kruger. It was founded by Paul Kruger in the 1900's. Here rhino poaching is the largest issue for conservation as there are less than 400 black rhino in the park. This year alone there have been 104 rhino poachings, whereas last year there was only 50. There is an established anti-poaching team made up of police men, conservation officers, and investigators to try and stop this problem. We had the privilege of learning about this from Bruce Leslie, who works in the special operations department for poaching. We also learned from him that abalone poaching in the Cape and lion bone poaching for SE Asia is becoming an issue.
After this lecture we had a talk on wildlife diseases from a local veterinarian. It was interesting to hear that most of the park's animals are diseased, specifically Anthrax and Bovine TB.
We will finish up tomorrow! we are kicked off the internet now!
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