Rhino whisperer fights poaching with drone campaign
Justin Terblanche lives among rhinos and is raising funds for a thermal drone to protect them from poachers.
Justin Terblanche, the guardian of the crash of rhinos. Picture: Justin Terblanche
In the quiet rural stretch between Patensie and Humansdorp, where citrus orchards roll into game reserves, lives a young conservationist whose life has been shaped by the heartbeat of the wild.
Justin Terblanche, 27, affectionately known as the 'rhino whisperer,' has launched a crowdfunding campaign on BackaBuddy to raise R176 000 for a thermal drone that could be a crucial tool in the fight against rhino poaching.
His campaign, titled 'Eyes in the Sky for Our Last Rhinos,' has already raised over R47 000 through the support of 37 donors – but there's still a long way to go, and the urgency couldn't be greater.
'Rhino whisperer'
Terblanche's love for animals started long before he ever saw a rhino. Growing up in Patensie, he was the child who stopped to help injured birds or nursed stray animals back to health. That instinct only deepened with age.
'My early fascination with the natural world led me to a career in anti-poaching, where meeting my first rhino solidified my dedication to their survival.
'Now, as the co-founder of Rhino Whisperers NPC, I fight to ensure these majestic creatures can thrive in safety,' Terblanche said.
ALSO READ: 70 South African white rhinos to be relocated to Rwanda
'Our mission is to save the lives of these critically endangered creatures before they vanish forever. This isn't just about saving a species – it's about preserving a legacy. Rhinos play a vital role in their ecosystem and their extinction would leave a gaping hole in the wild, one that can never be filled. If we don't act now, future generations will never know the majesty of rhinos roaming free.'
When Terblanche joined the anti-poaching unit at Lombardini Game Farm in the Kouga region, it was home to 19 rhinos.
Years of relentless poaching and illness have reduced that number to just four: Amanda, the cautious matriarch; Brittany and Tiffany, inseparable best friends; and a young newcomer, Herbie.
Poaching and illness reduce number to just four
'I saw what these gentle giants go through just for existing,' Terblanche said.
'Poachers don't care about the suffering. They take what they want and leave death behind. That was it for me. I knew I had to give everything I had to keep them alive.'
But rhinos are wild and traumatised. They don't trust easily — especially after witnessing the loss of their companions. Protecting them meant more than just patrolling the fences. Terblanche needed to be close enough to intervene – but for that to happen, they had to accept him.
Justin Terblanche has learnt rhinos' rhythms, moods, and quirks. Picture: Justin Terblanche
ALSO READ: 'Relentless threat to wildlife': Here's how many rhinos were poached in SA in 2025 so far
So he stayed. He left his family and former life behind, moving into the bush to protect them.
'I started spending time out in the bush, far beyond my normal shifts – sometimes for days, sometimes weeks. I didn't talk. I didn't move too fast. I just stayed present,' he says.
It took a year and six months of patience, silence, and consistency before the turning point came. The rhinos began recognising him – not just visually, but by his scent, his voice, his energy.
Six months of patience, silence, and consistency
They stopped running. They started watching him with curiosity instead of fear.
'That's when I knew,' he says. 'I had been accepted into their crash. They had accepted me as one of their own.'
From that moment, Terblanche became their protector from within. He can now walk beside them, monitor their movements and respond immediately to any sign of danger.
ALSO READ: Inside South Africa's wildlife CSI school helping to catch poachers
He's learnt their rhythms, moods, and quirks – their behaviours and personalities – like Amanda's quiet watchfulness, Brittany's playful nature, Tiffany's loyalty and Herbie's youthful curiosity.
Rhinos are being slaughtered at an alarming rate, with poachers driving these giants towards extinction. In recent decades, their population has plummeted by more than 90% and every loss brings the species closer to disappearing forever.
'At Rhino Whisperers, we are the last line of defence,' says Terblanche. 'We risk everything to protect them, because if we don't, no-one will.'
'We risk everything to protect them'
Despite these deep bonds, the threat of poaching – especially at night – remains constant. The farm receives no government support.
To close the surveillance gap and protect the rhinos during their most vulnerable hours, Terblanche is raising funds for a thermal drone.
'This drone will let us see what we can't hear. It gives us eyes in the dark – and eyes in the sky,' he said.
NOW READ: Mozambican man sentenced to 30 years imprisonment for rhino poaching in SA
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Maverick
9 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
Coal mining fear sparks unexpected conservation boom in Mpumalanga
The ecologically rich grasslands in Mpumalanga's highveld have become a front line in the struggle between biodiversity and coal mining. Fearful of open-cast mining's devastating impacts, a growing number of South African landowners are turning to an unconventional shield: biodiversity protection. While their motives may not be entirely green, the outcome has been, in the words of Brian Morris, 'a blessing in disguise' for conservation and South Africa's biodiversity conservation goals. Morris heads the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency's biodiversity stewardship programme, which allows for the declaration of 'protected areas on land owned by private individuals, by communities, by companies and trusts'. Unconventional shield These landowners commit to 'long-term commitments to essentially manage these areas as private protected areas.' Crucially, when formal protected areas are declared, they are legally protected from mining developments. This makes them an effective defence against open-cast coal mining, which 'is steadily eating away vast tracts of conservation-worthy grasslands', said Morris. Notably, these grasslands hold high biodiversity value, but also happen to be where 'most of the mineral reserves, the coal, and so on' are located, said Morris. He said this 'inevitable conflict' was a microcosm of a larger national struggle. Conservation, he said, had often been 'cast as an elitist luxury, something that gets in the way of jobs and housing and food production and other needs'. In this context, the Mpumalanga Parks' initiative — even with its mixed motivations — offers a practical path toward a 'more inclusive and more holistic vision and implementation' of conservation, one that recognises that 'land holds multiple values — ecological, economic, spiritual — and that these values can coexist', said Morris. Morris was talking at the latest Tipping Points webinar, titled Conservation beyond Borders. Hosted by Oppenheimer Generations Research and Conservation (OGRC), the webinar tackled a pressing global question: How can countries such as South Africa protect biodiversity without sidelining development and human rights? Joining Morris on the panel were environmental historian and conservation biographer, Simon Pooley, and Natasha Wilson, the South African National Park's expansion manager. The discussions were facilitated by Kina Murphy, the chief scientist and Africa director for the Campaign for Nature, which focuses on protecting 30% of the planet by 2030 — a goal set as a key conservation benchmark at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 2022 in Montreal, Canada. Murphy highlighted the urgency of the task. With up to two million species at risk of extinction this decade, she stressed that new, inclusive models of conservation were essential. South Africa, which helped shape the goal during the negotiations, has committed to protect 1.4 million hectares through formal reserves and another 10 million via so-called OECMs (Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures). These include community and privately managed lands that support biodiversity, even if not primarily for that purpose. There was consensus among the panellists that while these goals were laudable, turning that vision into reality was anything but simple. The obstacles are many: complex land ownership and community governance issues; conflicting government plans; few real incentives for landowners — and conservation agencies stretched thin. On-the-ground realities Then comes the issue of managing protected areas amid thorny on-the-ground realities. Setting the scene, Pooley brought a hard edge to the conversation through a sobering historical lens. 'I'm slightly Mr Bad News today,' he quipped, as he recounted the layered, unresolved struggles at Ndumo Game Reserve in northern KwaZulu-Natal — one of South Africa's oldest protected areas, now under siege, 101 years after its proclamation in 1924. Pooley grew up in Ndumo, describing it as 'a little pocket of extraordinary biodiversity nestled in the confluence of the Usuthu and the Pongola rivers … teeming with water, birds, fishes, harumphing hippopotamus and crocodiles basking on the grazing lawns'. Like many others, Pooley's childhood, immersed in this natural world, led to him becoming a conservationist. But this was not the case for many of his childhood playmates, whose parents had once lived inside the reserve. 'Many South Africans were evicted from this fenced reserve. This was to maintain a refuge on the country's most biodiverse floodplain for animals which are difficult to live with, like crocodiles, hippos, rhinos,' said Pooley. This gave rise to deep, unresolved tensions. 'Locals had been living alongside the wildlife from the proclamation of the reserve in 1924 up until 1966,' Pooley noted. But during apartheid, animal conservation was prioritised over people's rights. When remittances failed to arrive back from the mines, 'mothers and children entered the reserve to catch animals for food. What had been subsistence use was now classified as poaching,' said Pooley. Rangers, he added, were caught between enforcing the law and sympathising with the hunger and hardship around them. In recent years, the reserve was handed to a new provincial authority, and a land claim was settled in 2008. Although 'co-management with communities commenced' and 'the era of fortress conservation was over,' Pooley said the practical management plans for the reserve were never clearly defined, and the terms of the land claim were disputed — and still are. Politicians' promises Then, 'during fierce political campaigning in national elections, politicians made rash promises to give locals land in the reserve,' said Pooley. These pledges to return land crossed the bounds of legality and were later abandoned. All of this, combined with high unemployment and the lack of much promised development, fuelled anger among the local population, leading to fence cutting and illegal occupation. The Ndumo Game Reserve — the most prominent local symbol of provincial authority — became 'a lightning rod for frustration', said Pooley. Today, despite the dedicated work of generations of conservationists, Ndumo is under serious threat. Its eastern region is under occupation by farmers, fishermen and cattle herders. It has suffered the loss of all its rhinos and a 'shocking decline' in crocodile and hippo numbers. Now, mineral prospecting applications are in progress. In conclusion, Pooley acknowledged that while it was important to find new land to conserve to achieve the 30×30 targets, a lot more could be done to better manage and preserve existing protected areas. 'Let's not forget to protect the land we've already got,' said Pooley. Morris agreed. 'We're kind of neglecting what we already have, and I see this as a serious challenge.' Morris acknowledged, too, that the process of declaring a protected area was 'by no means easy'. 'It takes time,' he said, 'anything from 12 months to two years.' He said over the past 15 years, Mpumalanga had added 162,859 hectares to its protected area estate, but at this rate, it would take 'another 68 years to reach the 30% target. ' He said while progress was being made in encouraging landowners to conserve their land, better incentives could be offered to counter the 'indiscriminate granting of mining rights even within some of our protected areas.' And unfortunately, 'areas of high biodiversity value virtually always lose out' in strategic land use planning debates. He cited as an example the massive expansion of wind energy facilities in the grassy biomes of Mpumalanga, driven by the country's weak grid capacity. This, he said, posed significant threats to birds and bats, potentially impacting on biodiversity in the region. Looking to the future, Natasha Wilson said South Africa's 'remarkable biodiversity' demands a rethink of how conservation is done — and who it's for. Historically, SANParks has worked 'very much within our fences and within our boundaries,' but the organisation is now undergoing a 'radical departure' from this model. The future, she said, lay outside the fences, in partnerships that recognised the need to balance people and nature. New approaches A good example, said Wilson, was a new national park being declared in the grasslands near Maclear in the north-eastern Eastern Cape. 'Here, we are working with a range of landowners who are willingly contributing their land to conservation,' she said. 'And we've taken quite a different stance — we're looking at livestock as a driver in the ecosystem, as part of the park.' The initiative reflects a broader SANParks strategy rooted in the idea of 'mega living landscapes' — places where conservation supports, and is supported by, the people who live there. Wilson acknowledged this was 'very difficult work' and often a process of 'learning as you're doing', but said there was growing momentum, with 'just over 10,000 hectares' in the pipeline for declaration later this year. Essential to the success of this inclusive, landscape-level approach was building social legitimacy through power-sharing and respect for people's rights and dignity, said Wilson. And this involved collaborating with diverse landholders, from communal farmers to private landowners, and using legislative tools such as biodiversity stewardship to scale up conservation beyond protected areas. Beyond monetary value As the discussion wrapped up, it moved to the very essence of why conservation was pursued, moving beyond purely economic justifications. Pooley argued that if conservation was forced to 'pay its way' and measured only by 'rand value', it would 'lose every single time that the mining, or whatever the latest scheme to grow cotton, comes along'. He also said many conservationists often forgot that there was 'homegrown local, indigenous interest in conservation'. Therefore, it shouldn't be seen as 'a sort of battle to convert people to something entirely new'. Murphy agreed, stressing that modern conservation efforts should support and empower existing, long-standing practices of land stewardship deeply embedded within indigenous cultures. 'The land is invaluable, priceless actually, we cannot put a price tag on it,' said Murphy. And for indigenous people, 'it's not a new thing to conserve their land'. According to the World Bank, about 476 million indigenous people, including those in Africa, hold tenure rights to about a quarter of the world's surface area, accounting for a significant portion of the world's biodiversity. DM Fred Kockott is the director of the environmental journalism training agency, Roving Reporters. This article was produced with assistance from Jive Media Africa, science communication partner of Oppenheimer Generations Research and Conservation.
The South African
a day ago
- The South African
Outpouring of grief following death of Cape Town school's headmaster
There has been an outpouring of grief, sympathy and condolences following the death of popular Fairmont High School headmaster, Leon Erasmus. He was 59. Several of Erasmus's previous schools where he taught, as well as schools in the area, also paid tribute. In a Facebook post, Fairmont High School in Durbanville in Cape Town wrote: Dear Fairmont High School Community, It is with profound sadness that we share the news of the passing of our beloved Headmaster, Mr. Leon Erasmus. Mr. Erasmus was a man of immense strength, integrity, and honour. He led our school with unwavering dedication and a deep sense of purpose, showing us – his family, our staff, students, and the wider community – what it truly means to fight. Fight for others. Fight for good. Fight for progress. And above all, fight to live. Today, we mourn the loss of a remarkable leader and human being. But more than that, we celebrate a life that left a lasting mark on each of us. His legacy of courage, compassion, and excellence will continue to inspire Fairmont for years to come. While our hearts are saddened, we are deeply grateful to have had Mr. Erasmus lead us all. He was not only at the helm of our school; he was at the heart of it. His legacy will live on in the values he upheld and the lives he touched, his guidance, vision, and spirit will forever remain part of our fabric. We extend our heartfelt condolences to his wife, daughters, son-in-law, grandson, mother and all loved ones during this incredibly difficult time. We will share details of the celebration of his life, in due course. With respect and remembrance, Fairmont High School Post your condolences below, by … Leaving a comment below, or sending a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
The Citizen
2 days ago
- The Citizen
Rescue puppies bring pawsitive energy to yoga event
People gathered at K9 Classroom on Saturday to take part in a Puppy Yoga event that was organised by two animal lovers, Bonine Cronje and Barbara Roux in collaboration with Place a Pup, a non-profit organisation that rescues, rehabilitates and rehomes puppies. The event was serene and emotionally uplifting as participants rolled out their yoga mats in preparation. They were given wireless headphones through which they listened to the yoga instructor's directions and calming background music. The puppies ran around in excitement, stealing hearts and getting pats, pets, and hugs from the participants throughout the day. People were left feeling more relaxed, emotionally lighter, and deeply connected – not just to the animals, but to themselves and the community around them. To ensure the puppies' safety, volunteers from both Place a Pup and K9 Classroom monitored the pups throughout the session to ensure they were comfortable and free to explore at their own pace. According to Barbara, the feedback from participants was amazing. Many described the experience as soothing, unique, and joyful. Other guests even expressed interest in adopting a puppy, which is one of the event's most meaningful outcomes. 'Place a Pup was recently given a notice to vacate the premises they rent,' Barbara says. 'Our next goal is to help them raise funds for a permanent home through their BackaBuddy campaign.' For more information on how to support Place a Pup and their future events, contact Barbara on 066 245 2971 or Bonine on 071 528 0310. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
