The surface of a pool near the Imfolozi river ripples as a white rhino, its young calf close by, lowers its mouth to drink. Rhinos have roamed the Earth in such a way for 40 million years. Humans, by comparison, are new kids on the block.
Yet it is modern man that threatens to drive these stately creatures to extinction. Figures released last week show that 558 rhinos have been slaughtered in South Africa so far in 2014, putting it on course to be the deadliest year of poaching since records began.
Well-armed gangs continue to run riot, shooting the animals with impunity and hacking off their horns, said to be more than worth their weight in gold on the black market. Now conservationists warn of a new threat – voracious mining – that could drive the endangered animals to the brink.
The Hluhluwe-Imfolozi park in KwaZulu-Natal province, a natural oasis abundant in elephants, leopards, lions and more than 300 bird species, is arguably the world’s greatest rhino sanctuary and ground zero in the battle to save them. Once the exclusive hunting ground of Zulu king Shaka, it is the oldest protected wilderness in Africa, proclaimed in 1895, and the scene of one of the most inspiring conservation success stories of the 20th century.
By Jeffrey Barbee and David Smith, text special for the Guardian Newspaper. The film below produced by Jeffrey Barbee and assistant producer Nicholas Raphael.
Scroll down for our television feature on this story, shown on Public Television in 2015.
Check out the slide show of unpublished images.
A White Rhino drinking at a water hole with her small calf in Imfolozi National Park. In South Africa the rhino was brought back from the brink of extinction in the latter half of the 20th century through the efforts of Dr. Ian Players and many others working at Hluhlui/Imfolozi National Park.
“Big enough to stop and elephant, or a poacher”, explains Game Ranger Sicelo Mbatha as he loads the gun before a foot patrol into the wilderness area of Imfolozi/Hluhlue National Park.
Park Ranger Cicelo Mbatha on patrol in the wilderness area of /Hluhlue/Imfolozi Park, steps past large Rhino tracks in the deep mud. “If the mine goes ahead, it will be a disaster for the park” he says. In South Africa the rhino was brought back from the brink of extinction in the latter half of the 20th century through the efforts of Dr. Ian Players and many others working at Hluhlui/Imfolozi National Park.
Face to face with an elephant while walking in the wilderness trails of the park. Personal wildlife experiences are what has made the park so popular with intrepid tourists willing to get out of their cars and experience nature first hand.
Sicelo Mbacha, 35, is a game guard and park ranger in Imfolozi/Hluhlue National Park. “Wilderness is in your heart,” he says, after showing a recent Rhino track. “Here we nourish people’s souls when they walk with me in the wilderness” The place the mine is supposed to go is right where the famous walking trails of the park are.
Sicelo Mbacha, 35, is a game guard and park ranger in Imfolozi/Hluhlue National Park. “The Rhino has an important place in the ecosystem, providing fodder and homes for many different animals.”
Conservationists and park employees pour over the map of the proposed Fuleni Mine.
Sub chief Bhekukwenzelwa Ndimande is totally oppposed to the proposed Fuleni Mine. Many of this community will have to move if it goes ahead. “We are already feeling the impact of the Somkhele mine, 10km away, this new mine will be a catastrophe” he says.
Already there is one mine near the border of the Imfolozi/Hluhlue Mantional Park and affected communities say they are losing livestock due to groundwater contamination. This is the the Somkhele Mine.
Bhekukwenzelwa Ndimande and brother, Cheif Ndimande, says the community will oppose the mine any way they can. Kwambonambi, the community nearest to where the mine is proposed, is totally against the mine.
At the site of the proposed Fuleni Coal Mine next to the park, cows drink from the Imfolozi River. The community here believe pollution from an existing coal mine 10 km away is killing their livestock and are vehemently opposed to the new mine plan.
The site of the proposed Fuleni Mine, in the lower left of the image, on the left of the Unfolozi river. On the right of the river is the national park.
Kwambonambi Village in rural KwaZulu Natal where Ibutho Coal wants to dig a new high-grade coal mine. The mine will sit by the river in the whole length of this picture.
South Africa’s insaitable demand for electricity is driving a new coal mining bonanza to drive dirty power stations like this one near Bethel.
Already there is one mine near the border of the Imfolozi/Hluhlue Mantional Park and affected communities say they are losing livestock due to groundwater contamination. This is the the Somkhlel Mine, pictured here. Many of the proposed mine’s oppponents point here when they say how bad a mine will be for the communities and the wliderness which they depend upon for survival.
A female Impala on alert in the Park. Operation Antelope followed Operation Rhino. These large scale relocation of animals from Hluhlue/Imfolozi to other parks around southern Africa allowed many species to develop new toeholds in places where they had been wiped out.
A small-spotted Genet at Hluhlue/Imfolozi National Park. The diverse ecosystem supports a web of life that i sbecoming theaterned, according to scientists like Dr. Ian Player.
Northern Hluhlue/Imfolozi National Park.
Here a breeding herd of elephants makes its way through the high grasslands.
A breeding herd of elephants makes its way through the high grasslands in Imfolozi Park.
The southern White rhino, at home in Imfolozi, where the species was saved from extinction.
Imfolozi Park is a feeder park that helps populate animals into many other parks, so it’s ecosystem is particularly important. All animals could be affected by the mine. Buffaloes like these help supply many parks with new genetic stock, so any harm to their ecosystem could harm the long term resilience of the buffalo population in the region.
A White Rhino drinking at a water hole with her small calf in Imfolozi National Park. Now the rhino is disappearing once again due to a huge upsurge in poaching, but the threats also come from the energy sector, which is planning a large new coal mine on the park’s boundary that many conservationists feel could be a serious blow to the ongoing efforts to conserve this disappearing species.
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Jeff Barbee
Jeffrey Barbee is a photojournalist and award-winning film producer and director. He works for Global Post, presents the US national TV show Earth Focus for LinkTV and writes and photographs for the Guardian UK. His work also appears in the New York Times, the BBC, NOS Tv Holland, Smithsonian Magazine, RTL News, PBS, CBS, Al Jazeera, Time Magazine, Newsweek, Vanity Fair and others.
His 2012 film Creating a Climate For Change won best environmental film at the film festival of Colorado.
He is the Director of The High Cost Of Cheap Gas, a current feature film exposing the global gas industry.
He is the Director of Alliance Earth, a worldwide not-for-profit environmental and scientific reporting initiative and is a board member of the Mezimbite Forest Centre.
2 thoughts on “Coal Mining Threatens World’s Greatest Rhino Sanctuary”
Pete Froom says:
So sad. What chance do the local people and animals have?
I think that there must be more that can be done to save these animals…so many animals are facing extinction and most are because of greedy selfish men….our grandchildren won’t have the chance to see these animals at all..what will be left? I wonder what goes through one’s mind when the brutally kill these beautiful innocent animals!
So sad. What chance do the local people and animals have?
I think that there must be more that can be done to save these animals…so many animals are facing extinction and most are because of greedy selfish men….our grandchildren won’t have the chance to see these animals at all..what will be left? I wonder what goes through one’s mind when the brutally kill these beautiful innocent animals!