IMAGES: EMMA GREGG
“Around 20 years ago, bushmeat poachers were a menace around here”, says Derek Shenton, a third-generation Zambian conservationist and guide. “They’d sneak in on foot, setting bushfires, snaring antelopes and shooting hippos before braising the meat and smuggling it out. It took ages for us to get permission for a camp. But the positive impact has been immense.”
In Africa’s safari heartlands, poachers in all their guises — from villagers hunting for the table, to crime syndicates feeding overseas demand — are a menace. But to visitors, the problems are largely invisible. Tourism is a powerful deterrent.