The Mexican Horse Thief: Sunrise Sunset Series

The Mexican Horse Thief: Sunrise Sunset Series: Rynoster Kop. Mapumalanga, South Africa. Photo taken by The Mexican Horse Thief I stayed in this place for a few months, and just abou...

BierPens: Photography101

BierPens: Photography101: Photography 101 SA Education Club   Photo by: Wayne Bisset Photo by: Wayne Bisset Photography 101 SA is an educational ...

Sunrise - Sunset Series

As I was doing permanent night Ops in a Rhino Anti Poaching Unit I saw a LOT of sunrise and sunsets. Some were spectacular and I took too many photographs for just one post. So, I thought I would share them "one a day" with you.

The place: Mabula Game Lodge. Bela Bela, South Africa.

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I am also a writer, but have yet to write The Chronicles of this chapter of my life. You can however find my very first written Chronicles here, they took place, in another lifetime, many years ago.

The Chronicles of the Mexican Horse Thief I – Angola.

Rhino Wars -How to end the Rhino Poaching

This is why I believe the animals are doomed.
The biggest problem by far is the general public and their naïve view and gullibility.  The next problem is the organizations that are supposedly doing something about it. Not all but it would seem a fair amount. The third would be corrupt officials.
The general public’s Rah Rahing about a few scraggly poaches been shot and killed is pathetic and damaging. It leads to the misconception that something is actually been achieved. Kak! There are hundreds of poor men, that can track and fire an AK47 to replace the dead ones. Furthermore I do believe that these dead poaches are the sacrificial offerings for the public. Same as a percentage drug mules are snitched by the very people that hire them. Diversion tactics, and Joe Public gets all happy.
The worst is that the very people that are suppose to be protecting the animals, and raising HUGE sums of money for this, have been exposed as some of the bloody ring leaders of Rhino poaching! It has come to not only mine, but a well known Kenyan conservationist as well, that the anti poaching organizations seem to NOT be taking the volunteers that can do the job. I wonder why?
I will not say anything about the third lot. Read about corruption in South Africa for yourself.
What should be done.
Set up a highly specialized unit, not volunteers, men who work for money, no hidden agendas, just for the money and the hunt. Then used them in the following way:

1. Put a ring of protection around the animals. Capture, not damn kill the poaches, hand them over to the Intelligence Team.
2. With the intel gathered find the people like those veterinarians and game capture people – that walked away scott free –
3. Send out a small team. Destroy all the ring leaders assets. Blow up their offices, helicopters and vehicles. Catch one or two and give to the Intelligence Team.
4. With info received from the Intelligence Team, send a small team to wherever the buyers is, China, Hong Kong, anywhere. Eliminate one or two of the buyers in a rather messy way. Leave the mess in a public place with a message attached.

“Poach animals in my country and we will hunt you down.”
That is how to save the Rhinos.
But of course we live in a democratic society and the above suggestions would fall under something like “gross violation of human rights” or some such shit”
“I penned this post on 2011/02/10, just over a year ago. Since then we lose on average a Rhino a day. And little has been done to end the slaughter..”
I am still in contact with these men:
“Executive Outcomes may be disbanded but is far from forgotten.
Executive Outcomes did the impossible, to free Sierra Leone from the RUF in less than 3 weeks.
It took the UN years to achieve nothing at all but more unnecessary casualties.”
We could do the same for the Rhino… just saying.

2016/10/17
Update.
Since this was written I have posted many more articles of the subject, walked many a mile through the African Bush on Anti Poaching Patrol, trained some Game Rangers to become soldiers…. and finally walked away from this business. The reason was two fold, the corruption was so bad I did not know who to fight for or with anymore and, considering I did it mostly with out pay I am stone cold broke.
I went on to publish a few ebooks about different subjects and will, one day, write a story about my war for the rhino.
If I can raise enough funds through my books, I will go back and fight again… on MY terms.
Wayne Bisset.
A compilation of my Strange Classrooms is soon to be released, please “Like” and  keep an eye on this page.
THE MEXICAN HORSE THIEF
Here is a story of developing and breaking an addiction, while dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome at the same time.
THE CHRONICLES OF THE MEXICAN HORSE THIEF II

The Mexican Horse Thief: Rhino Wars – The Internal Enemy

The Mexican Horse Thief: Rhino Wars – The Internal Enemy: Today, beyond a shadow of a doubt, Selomie proved, to me at least, who she really is. An Internal Enemy of note.  At about 3:30pm I was wa...

Short Story -Rhino Wars.. Shots fired, shots fired!

Early Saturday morning, Jan and I are on the spoor of our Rhino, we are making sure they are alive and well plus checking for foreign spoor, poachers spoor. Suddenly both Jan and I pull up short. We both heard a sound  that no anti-poaching guy wishes to hear. The only worse sound would be a zip/buzz thump and then the bang. The shot sounded like it came from about a kilometre in the opposite direction from the path we were walking. Shit, shit. What to do?

We are reasonably sure the Rhino are in front of us, but not 100% sure, do we back track and find the source of the gunshot or hasten to where we think our Rhino are? I decide to go find out about the shot. The terrain is thick bush, gullies and rocks so it takes time to get to the point where we believe the sound originated. We have cell phone comms and I call Neil to see if he fired a weapon as the shot came from the direction of the farmhouse, or so we believed. Neil is on his way to town, he calls his foreman, Lucas, and gets all the workers mobilised to find the Rhino.

Brave lot these little Pedis, they dash off into the bush unarmed, not even a panga or knopkerrie. Meanwhile Jan and I reach the area we think the sound came from. Nothing. Then two more bangs! This time it sounds like from behind the farmhouse. I scan the hill, nothing. Jan and I decided to go back to the place we last saw the Rhino tracks. Again about a kilometre or so, on the way we pick up two of the farm workers, we set routes and split up. Half a kilometre later we find Lucas and the signs of where our Rhino slept last night. Finally the two workers find our Rhino, all safe, just stressed out about all the noise the workers have been making. Neil and I have had some cell phone comms and he is already back at the farm.

Because of the hills and the wind, Jan and I heard the sound echo and were in the wrong place, Lucas, closer to the sounds pin pointed it correctly but could not tell Jan and I in time as we were in a dead zone, no cell reception for some time. The farm behind us is not a game farm, perhaps they shot some pigs….
Point of this story? Any one that has worked with me in the bush before will verify that I am quite capable of doing this job, BUT, I am severely handicapped in my efficiency by lack of equipment and manpower. This was made glaringly apparent today.

The Mexican Horse Thief: Brown House Snake – Photos

The Mexican Horse Thief: Brown House Snake – Photos: Brown House Snake – Photos In the past couple of years I have not come across a large House Snake only baby ones. You can see by the way ...

St Lucia Estuary - No Ocean Breach yet

St Lucia Estuary
iSiMangaliso Wetlands Park

Despite promising high sea with the built up to Equinox the ocean did not create a lasting breach into the Estuary. Water levels is high, but the sediment build up in front of the Estuary's mouth is high.

We are moving towards a Spring Tide, but it will tall short of 20 October. Without a Cyclone pushing down the Mozambique channel there's very little hope of a natural breach before December 2016.

Another year out planet has to function without one of its most important life support systems.

However conditions looks great for Grunter Season. The little interaction between ocean and estuary will spawn all the critters to restock and also calls the Grunter to their Natural spawning grounds.

Get your rods ready and your trip planned to the coast. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

By
Bierpens Viviers

Dragonfly – Photos

A dragonfly is an insect belonging to the order Odonata, suborder Anisoptera (from Greek ἄνισος anisos “uneven” and πτερόν pteron, “wing”, because the hindwing is broader than the forewing). Adult dragonflies are characterized by large multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong transparent wings, sometimes with coloured patches and an elongated body. Dragonflies can be mistaken for the related group, damselflies (Zygoptera), which are similar in structure, though usually lighter in build; however, the wings of most dragonflies are held flat and away from the body, while damselflies hold the wings folded at rest, along or above the abdomen. Dragonflies are agile fliers, while damselflies have a weaker, fluttery flight. Many dragonflies have brilliant iridescent or metallic colours produced by structural coloration, making them conspicuous in flight. An adult dragonfly eye has nearly 24,000 ommatidia.
From Wikipedia

Reading that, I do believe one or two here are  Damselfly!

I have not got a Short Story with a Dragonfly in it!

THE MEXICAN HORSE THIEF

BierPens: Rhino Wars – The X Factor

BierPens: Rhino Wars – The X Factor: There is one important factor in the effort to save the rhino that is NEVER mentioned, never mind discussed. The fact that the majority ...

The Mexican Horse Thief: Lion – Photos

The Mexican Horse Thief: Lion – Photos: Lion – Photos Canned hunting is a fast-growing business in South Africa, where thousands of lions are being bred on farms to be shot by w...

Here is a collection of my Rhino photos, good and bad shots. Sorry, all are not competition quality, but just for the record.

"The white rhinoceros is the second largest land mammal in the world, after the elephant. White rhinos can weigh over 2,000 kilograms (2 tons) and stand as tall as 1.8 meters (6 feet). There were once over 30 species of rhino, but today there are only five and all are endangered. White rhinoceros are calmer and more sociable than other species of rhino, and they often live in small, territorial groups. Females and juveniles are rarely alone. Rhinos communicate using a wide variety of sounds, including grunts, growls, snorts, squeaks and bellows. Because of their hump, white rhinos cannot swim."
From Switch Zoo