A lot of tourists to South Africa think that the only places to go to see wildlife and especially the Big5 are the private game reserves such as Sabi Sands.

We have got the advantage of living next door to the largest game reserve in South Africa, THE Kruger National Park. From Abangane Guest Lodge you reach the Phabeni gate within a 15 minutes drive. The video shows as selection of animals we saw in just ONE day in Kruger Park.

Now tell me you MUST go into a private reserve to see the animals!

We normally do not cater for weddings at Abangane Guest Lodge. Nevertheless, for our friends we made and exception this week and have found out that our Gazebo is the ideal set up and that small intimate weddings of up to 10 people could actually be considered. We fell in love with the set up ourselves.

Three rhino poachers were sentenced to 25 years each by the Phalaborwa Regional Court on Tuesday, said an SA National Parks (SANParks) spokesman.

The three, all Mozambicans, were found guilty of illegally hunting rhino in the Kruger National Park in July 2010. SANParks CEO David Mabunda said the sentence was harsher than it had been in other similar cases. “This is an indication that, as a country, we are taking more stringent measures in the fight against rhino poaching,” he said. Aselmo Baloyi, Jawaki Nkuna and Ismael Baloy were also found guilty of possessing an illegal firearm (an automatic rifle), possession of a firearm (a hunting rifle) and possession of ammunition.

They were caught with two freshly chopped rhino horns, an assault rifle, a hunting rifle and an axe.

Mabunda said that last year 232 suspected poachers were arrested, including 26 who died in fights with the authorities.

Times Live, 01.02.2012