By Joe Dreyer - April 24, 2022
https://farnorthbulletin.co.za/2022/04/ ... s-tourist/
A couple from Letsitele were traveling through the Kruger National Park from the Shingwedzi Rest Camp towards the Phalaborwa Gate when they spotted what appeared to be a group of men baiting a lioness next to the side of the road.
The husband dialled the anti-poaching number displayed on one of the boards along the side of the road, only to reach an engaged tone. His intent was to report the suspicious behaviour of the men to the Park’s authorities.
“On Monday afternoon we were leaving the park after a weekend at one of our favourite rest camps. At roughly 25 kilometres from the Phalaborwa Gate I saw something very suspicious. Three men in civilian clothing driving a Toyota Corolla appeared to have thrown something to a lioness which she ate. The animal appeared drowsy and was following the vehicle as they drove slowly ahead.”
The man who wishes to remain anonymous said that he was unable to stop and turn his vehicle around as he was towing a trailer and there was not enough space for him to do so, which is why he immediately attempted to report the matter to park authorities.
“After trying numerous times to reach the offices of the anti-poaching unit, I left the situation and continued driving. Once at home I continued to try and get hold of anyone who could help. Eventually I was given a cell number to call and the person on the other side of the line told me that they had issues with their reporting line because they had run out of data. To me, this is unacceptable as it would seem as though there are people poaching lions in the park in broad daylight without fear of prosecution. It doesn’t help that one cannot reach the emergency number to alert the anti-poaching units to at least investigate either.”
On Tuesday the man received a message instructing him to send a voicenote to a WhatsApp number detailing exactly what happened. The message read [verbatim] “Thanks, may you please write a short notes, routes name from where to where and attached the picture of the incident, vehicle details and GPS coordinates, or drop pin. Send to the same WhatsApp no!”
The man complied and sent a very detailed message explaining the event again. He included the make and colour of the vehicle, the exact location along Road H14 between Shikumbu and Nandzana and the time he attempted to call authorities.
At the time of going to print we had not been able to reach a representative of the Kruger National Park or SANParks for comment and the man said that he had not yet received any feedback on his information he provided. We will follow up on this developing story.
