https://www.news24.com/news24/...e-at-guests-20230112



Jozini Dam cruise turns into nightmare excursion as poachers fire at guests


Nonkululeko Lekoma

WARNING: This articles contains images that might upset sensitive readers.


Up to 20 alleged poachers shot at people on a houseboat on the eastern shore of the Jozini Dam on Wednesday morning.
About 20 elephants have been killed in the area recently.
A case of attempted murder has been opened by Pongola police.
A boat cruise on the eastern shores of the Jozini Dam in KwaZulu-Natal turned into a nightmare for guests as they were shot at by alleged poachers on Wednesday morning.

The guests were cruising in a houseboat on the dam when the alleged poachers, reported to have been hunting elephants in the area, opened fire.


KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said: "Police in Pongola are investigating cases of attempted murder following an incident in which a group of people were allegedly shot at on 11 January 2023 at Jozini Dam.

"Reports indicate that a group of people, including tourists, were on a wildlife sightseeing [tour] on a boat when unknown suspects started shooting at the animals," he added.


"It is also reported that after realising that they were being watched, the suspects allegedly shot randomly at the people on the boat. No one was reported injured and police investigations continue," said Netshiunda.

Pongola Game Reserve Wildlife monitor Suzette Boshoff, who was on the boat at the time of the attack, said it was by sheer luck they were able to escape the heavily armed men who shot at them.



"Around 10:30 I noted two men approaching the boat. However, the boat we were on was a double decker with three guests on the top who saw more than what we saw at the bottom. They saw at least 20 men in the bush, heavily armed and pointing guns at the boat," said Boshoff.

"Two shots were fired on the boat, and whilst we were moving away two more shots were fired."



The group, consisting of Boshoff, the skipper, seven international guests from Germany and America as well as two local guests, narrowly escaped the shots by ducking inside the boat, avoiding any ricocheting bullets.

According to Boshoff, at around 17:00, the poachers went back and shot more elephants in that specific area. Boshoff said there was a lack of police visibility in the area and a crime scene had yet to be declared.

"These men were highly armed in broad daylight. The minute an elephant gets killed we need to get DNA samples of the elephant to be able to match the tusks to the crime scene. It's important for a crime scene to be declared by police before the poachers can go back and remove the tusks. Today no [police officer] had been deployed in that area."
Boshoff said poachers in the area had become so arrogant that they even called local communities to collect elephant meat after their kill.

Little was known about how many elephants were killed in Wednesday's attack as conservationists could not go to the scene without protection agencies.

According to Boshoff, a total of 20 elephants had been lost in the area recently with one being killed in front of guests on 1 January.



"Getting police and Hawks in the area to be visible is taking time which we don’t have as each moment counts. We need more boots on the ground with guns. The poachers also know how to get rid of the carcass quickly so we need to react within the 24-hour window, which is crucial for wildlife investigation," Boshoff lamented.

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife spokesperson Musa Mntambo said there was little information available about the incident at the time of speaking to News24.

"I currently don’t have full information but what I know is that a group of nine people were seen hunting for elephants in that area. The information we have right now is that the shooting that took place was aimed at the elephants and not at the tourists," said Mntambo.

"The tourists might have been in the vicinity and witnessed the shooting,"' he added.

Obviously the fix was in with the local police. Welcome to the new South Africa…

I was hunting in the KZN area a few years back hunting Nyala and the area we were hunting was a remote area. The PH that has a contract with the local tribe employees 3 of the village men for poacher control.


We were walking a few area and we were finding new laid snares that were not there the week before. The second day we went out and place the 3 scouts at look out points to see what we could find. We drove further in the area and i noticed a person standing on the side of a hill. Easy to spot with his blue jacket. We watched him for a bit and starting noticing hand signal with his jacket. Then we noticed individual moving around the hill side. Then the dogs started to appear. I was told to stay in the vehicle as my PH moved away from the vehicle and talking on his 2 way to the other scouts. We heard some shooting and then i watched as about 30 individuals and 20+ dogs started moving to the man with the blue jacket. A truck arrived and they all loaded up in the truck and drove off. I observed that they had 3 female Nyala and 1 bull Nyala as they were loading up. The PH was able with the description of the few we had able to contact the local police and they found the group of men from a nearby village and some were arrested and charged with poaching and selling game meat.

This is the second time that i have run across poachers while hunting in Africa. The other time the land owner wanted me to shoot all the dogs that we came across. And we did take out a few of the dog pack that were running an herd of impala, one dog slipped away. We never spotted the crew that was running with the dogs.

I have no issue shooting dogs that are running in a pack chasing game animals or live stock. Growing up, my uncle lost over 300 head of sheep to a dog pack, we were able to take dogs out when we found them with our cattle.

Shame you can’t shoot the poachers

quote:

Originally posted by drongo:
Shame you can’t shoot the poachers

Used to be able at least back in the 70's. I hosted a German Professor here in NZ many years ago taking him out to obtain chamois and tahr specimens, the glands from their heads which the Professor wanted to study on his return to Germany.
He had previously spent 10 years in Kenya studying the ruminant animals to see why they had adapted so well to the meagre nutritional food they ate in that country.

On looking at my Oberndorf Mauser 404 he recalled an incident when he was accompanying game rangers one day when they came across a band of poachers. He himself was not armed but stuck closely to a ranger who was armed with a 404 rifle. In the ensuing firefight one of the poachers was returning fire while sheltering behind a rather large tree through which the ranger planted a 404 solid.
The Professor said he always vividly remembers the look of astonishment on the poachers face as he reeled back from behind the tree with a 404 slug through his chest. It goes without saying the poacher expired quickly as did all the rest of the poachers that were shot on sight by the rangers, no quarter given back then.