Tony Carnie

Durban

Environment Writer at Freelance

Environment journalist in Durban. Formerly at The Mercury/Independent, now freelance writer

Articles

SA clams up on its hunt for oil in world’s largest animal migration corridor

1 month ago | dailymaverick.co.za | Tony Carnie

SOUTH SUDAN EXPLORATION A small fraction of the millions of tiang antelope at the start of their yearly migration through the grasslands of South Sudan. (Photo: Marcus Westberg) The South African government petroleum agency has refused to provide details of its controversial oil and gas exploration project slap-bang in the middle of the world’s largest animal migration path. Millions of antelope migrate through the wetlands and grasslands of South Sudan every year in a global wildlife...
KZN conservation - saving at least two ‘birds’ with one stone

1 month ago | dailymaverick.co.za | Tony Carnie

The future looks brighter today for two critically endangered flying creatures in South Africa, thanks to the establishment of a new grassland reserve in the foothills of the Drakensberg mountains. A small but vital patch of high-altitude grassland has been officially set aside as a protected area near the town of Impendle, west of Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal, to conserve the living space of a small insect-eating bird and an equally rare butterfly species.
Nothing dull about indigenous gardens, say new South African ‘plant bible’ authors

2 months ago | dailymaverick.co.za | Tony Carnie

Three of the country’s top indigenous plant fundis have been collaborating for more than 10 years to produce the most ambitious guidebook to date on South African indigenous garden plants. In a world where city folk are glued to the hamster wheel of work and domestic chores, nurturing a small garden can provide a very welcome respite. And, it allows us to channel some of our creative juices into reshaping, redecorating or restoring our immediate living environment.
‘Belligerent’ magistrate again ordered to back off on Kruger Park wildlife crimes court shutdown

2 months ago | kruger2canyon.co.za | Tony Carnie

The Battle of Skukuza began as a simple legal disagreement about which court buildings can be used to try rhino killers in South Africa. It soon degenerated into a battle royale between two judicial “elephants”; the younger one characterised as belligerent and disrespectful, the elder as pleading, humble and patient.
Prison gates slam shut for 20 years on bail-jumping rhino poacher

2 months ago | dailymaverick.co.za | Tony Carnie

The proverbial long arm of the law has caught up with a poacher who helped to kill two rhinos in the Kruger National Park more than four years ago - and then jumped bail. Mozambican national Nelson Sandile Sambo has been jailed for 20 years for rhino poaching in the Kruger National Park. Sambo (43) was arrested by SA National Parks field rangers in December 2020 after he and an accomplice shot and then hacked off the horns of two rhinos in the Stolznek section of the park. Don't want to see this?
Council invokes ‘sovereign immunity’ in bid to dodge criminal sewage charges

2 months ago | dailymaverick.co.za | Tony Carnie

‘NOVEL’ ARGUMENT Former municipal manager Motlalekgomo Mmope (Photo: Lephalale Municipality) | Sewage pollution.
‘Belligerent’ magistrate ordered to back off on wildlife crimes court shutdown

2 months ago | dailymaverick.co.za | Tony Carnie

What lies behind the persistent attempts to shut down or curtail the operations of the Skukuza Regional Court, which has achieved remarkable success in bringing rhino poachers to justice? The Battle of Skukuza began as a simple legal disagreement about which court buildings can be used to try rhino killers in South Africa.
Fate of KZN’s 100-old Ndumo wetland park in doubt, despite treaty

Mar 16, 2025 | dailymaverick.co.za | Tony Carnie

SANCTUARY UNDER THREAT ‘The Ndumo Game Reserve experience serves as a warning to other similar reserves, that even well-established protected areas such as (Ndumo)... could be lost to conservation within the next decade if fundamental interventions are not implemented’ – Professor Francois Retief and colleagues writing in the latest special issue of the African Journal of Wildlife Research.
Coal hunters circle Africa’s first wilderness and rhino sanctuary

Mar 9, 2025 | dailymaverick.co.za | Tony Carnie

UNDER THREAT The mineral commodities market is tightening its noose around one of Africa’s oldest game reserves, with a renewed flurry of coal, gas and mineral prospecting applications on the park’s boundaries. The Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve is now almost completely encircled by fossil fuel hunters eyeing the region’s rich mineral pickings, primarily coal.
Dehorning bears fruit as rhino poaching deaths drop in 2024

Mar 6, 2025 | dailymaverick.co.za | Tony Carnie

SAVING PRIVATE RHINO The number of rhinos killed in South Africa has dropped from around 500 deaths in 2023, to 420 last year – largely because of a major dehorning programme in KwaZulu-Natal’s world-famous Hluhluwe-iMfolozi game reserve that led to an almost 70% drop in poaching during the last eight months of the year. More than a thousand rhinos were dehorned in this park last year to make them less desirable targets for poaching syndicates.