Thousands of rhinos, 500 poachers; grim toll in the hunt for prized horns

Hundreds of illegal hunters of the rhinoceros in South Africa's Kruger national park have been shot dead by rangers in the past five years, but the temptation of a rich reward to end an impoverished life in Mozambique keeps them coming

The well-heeled tourists filing through the modest airport at Hoedspruit - Afrikaans for Hat Creek - look carefree and expectant. Guides are standing by to transport them to luxurious bush lodges offering spa treatments, campfire dinners and dawn and dusk game drives offering a potential glimpse of Africa's "big five".

But something is different from the safaris enjoyed by the privileged generations of the past. At the 36,000-acre Moditlo private game reserve near Kruger national park, for example, the rhinos do not have horns - they have been removed for their own safety. And during night safaris on dirt tracks under the majesty of a star-studded sky visitors are warned not to use torches, lest they be confused with poachers. When guests - usually affluent and white - gaze from air-conditioned bedrooms into the perfect darkness of the bush, few are likely to consider the murderous chase taking place there between poacher, ranger and rhino. For the poachers - usually poor and black - the risks are immense, but so are the rewards.

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