The Kruger Fence Conundrum
The dropping of the fences between the Kruger National Park (KNP) and Mozambique was a noble idea, but conservationists are in agreement that the strategy is not working and exacerbates problems associated with rhino poaching.
In 2007, approximately 50 kilometres of fencing at various locations along KNP’s eastern side was dropped in a move to merge the 2 million hectare KNP with game reserves in Mozambique. This created a massive 35 000 km2 wilderness area known as the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park (GLTP). The KNP shares a 356km border with Mozambique.
“The biggest threat to animals is loss of habitat, so the idea was to create a bigger area for these animals to roam in and follow natural migratory patterns, but this noble idea has not been working,” said Andrew Desmet, section ranger in the Shilowa region of the KNP (where the majority of the dropped fences are found) on Wednesday, 10 April.
Desmet said that, contrary to what many believe, the dropped fences are not the cause of recent increased infiltrations by poachers from Mozambique.
Mozambican nationals make up an estimated 90% of all poachers in the KNP.
“The poachers can enter the park even through fences,” said Desmet, “the biggest problem associated with the lack of fences is the migration of rhinos into Mozambique. Here, once spotted by poachers, they are almost guaranteed to get shot.”
KNP head of conservation, Dr Freek Venter, said that Mozambican authorities have different laws regarding rhino poaching and that the stiff sentences given to South African poachers are not applicable in Mozambique. Venter added that the GLTP treaty signed by the Mozambican and South African governments in 2002 was an agreement that was not working well.
“The Mozambican authorities are not coming to the party. They don’t take the issue as seriously as us and they do not have nearly enough resources to do anything about it,” he said.
According to Desmet, poachers often camp out just a few hundred metres from the South African border, as there is little chance of persecution while they are in Mozambique.
“From here, they can conduct shallow hit and run strikes into the park, but this happens in both fenced and unfenced areas,” said Desmet.
Desmet added that he did not know the number of rhinos killed in Mozambique this year.
“The Mozambican government has not released such figures in a long time, but I suspect it is a high number,” he said.
Mbongeni Tukela, KNP Ranger Corps support co-ordinator, was of the opinion that the presence of fences made it easier to monitor the intrusion of poachers.
“With fences up, we can detect where the poachers are entering and without them we cannot, so in this respect I believe that fences are of benefit,” Tukela explained.
A ministerial GLTP meeting is currently being held in Mozambique, where representatives of the South African and Mozambican governments are discussing issues relating to the future of the trans frontier park. – The Write News Agency