Namibian poaching links

Elections take the shine off green hydrogen

Oxpeckers tracked 14 GH2 projects in Namibia, finding implementation has been slow and the only real growth has been in bureaucracy. John Grobler investigates...
11 October, 2024
Slow walk to deliver GH2 talk in Namibia

John Grobler takes stock of progress on Namibia’s ambitious green hydrogen programme...
10 September, 2024
‘Future-proofing’ green hydrogen investments

John Grobler takes an inside look at a green hydrogen project that has made the most visible progress of nine such projects currently under development in Namibia...
07 August, 2024
Green energy innovations in the desert

Green hydrogen features in Namibian projects aimed at producing carbon-free steel and ammonia fuel for shipping and rail transport. John Grobler reports...
05 July, 2024
Where’s the water for GH2 plan in Namib Desert?

John Grobler travels to the Daures Green Hydrogen Village pilot project in Namibia to find some answers...
23 January, 2024
How green is this hydrogen valley?

Puros is the northern-most of three ‘hydrogen valleys’ identified in the Namibian government’s GH2 masterplan. John Grobler visited to find out why...
18 January, 2024
Green concerns over green hydrogen

Namibia’s ambitious GH2 project poses threats to a sensitive biodiversity hotspot and local communities, critics say. John Grobler investigates...
17 November, 2023
Question marks over Namibia’s green hydrogen plans

Hyphen’s ambitious GH2 venture is flawed and opaque, according to local critics. John Grobler spoke to them...
16 November, 2023
Calls for a special wildlife crime court in Namibia

Namibia’s over-burdened criminal justice system is struggling to keep up with rhino-poaching court cases. Is a special wildlife crime court the answer? John Grobler investigates...
24 February, 2021
How Chinese Flying Money ‘finances’ illegal wildlife trade

Feiqian is the single biggest obstacle in investigating organised wildlife trafficking and related crimes, a year-long investigation by John Grobler established...
28 June, 2019
Exposing the abalone-rhino poaching links

John Grobler investigates the overlap between abalone and rhino horn smuggling syndicates operating between South Africa, Namibia and Hong Kong...
08 March, 2019
Namibia starts controversial hyena cull to save its wild horses

Shooting hyenas to save wild horses raises heated debate about interventions between endemic wildlife and ‘feral’ animals. Linda Baker investigates...
26 February, 2019
Christo Wiese’s Namibian rhino deal under scrutiny

How did 13 rhino bulls from the Kruger National Park end up on a hunting farm owned by a reclusive Russian billionaire in Namibia?...
21 February, 2018
Faces behind Namibia’s donkey abattoirs

Who are the people driving Namibia’s plans to open commercial abattoirs for donkey meat and skins for Asia? Oscar Nkala tracks them down...
01 December, 2017
Furore over Namibia’s donkey slaughter plans

Namibia has given the go-ahead to two donkey abattoirs that plan to export meat to Vietnam and skins to China. They have met stiff opposition from locals, reports Oscar Nkala...
28 August, 2017
State forest capture

Ancient hardwood trees in the Caprivi State Forest are being looted by a Chinese syndicate exploiting legal loopholes and de-bushing tenders for farming. John Grobler investigates...
09 August, 2017
How I helped Leila

Journalist John Grobler was on assignment in Angola when he came across a young chimpanzee in trouble. This is the story of his mission to take her to a place of safety...
23 May, 2017
Chinese ‘mafia boss’ turns to timber in Namibia

Xuecheng Hou, a wealthy Chinese businessman linked to wildlife trafficking, has emerged as a major player in the illegal trade in rare African timber. John Grobler investigates...
07 February, 2017
The horn scam at Windhoek’s airport

The Namibian authorities don’t seem to be in any hurry to shut down a rhino horn smuggling syndicate that has infiltrated security at Windhoek’s airport, writes John Grobler...
02 December, 2016
Namibia diaries: the good, the bad, the ugly

Depending on your views about legal trade in wildlife products, the past week was either a good week or a very good week for Namibian conservation, writes John Grobler...
04 October, 2016
A mysterious dead hand driving Namibia’s poaching

After a two-year investigation, John Grobler exposes the totem-based networks facilitating transnational rhino horn smuggling and defeating the pursuit of suspects...
15 September, 2016
‘Trojan horse’ of Namibia’s rhino poaching crisis?

A mysterious hunting lodge with a backdoor into the Etosha National Park provides a possible key to the decimation of Namibia’s critically endangered black rhinos...
11 August, 2016
The epicentre of Namibia’s rhino poaching

John Grobler visits Okahao, a sleepy settlement near Etosha that is at the centre of the poaching plague threatening the world’s last critically endangered black rhinos...
11 July, 2016
Bling king accused in Namibian rhino poaching

John Grobler reports on the sensational arrest of a young Windhoek businessman and his alleged role in the slaughter of critically endangered black rhinos...
27 June, 2016
Hands off our elephants, Namibia’s minister warns

Amid growing human-wildlife conflict, Namibia’s environment minister sends out a strong message to farmers illegally killing elephants and other wildlife...
31 May, 2016
Namibia’s secret ivory business

Oxpeckers Associate Shi Yi set out to investigate Chinese links in Namibia’s poaching crisis, and ended up in the middle of a sting operation that nabbed a former policeman...
14 March, 2016
Who are Namibia’s Chinese smugglers?

Chinese journalist Shi Yi followed the trial of four alleged rhino horn traffickers in Namibia, and then paid a visit to their home villages in China to investigate their backgroun...
25 November, 2015
Namibia needs China’s help to curb poaching

The two governments need to collaborate on environmental issues to combat wildlife crime, says chief of the Directorate of Parks and Wildlife Management...
16 November, 2015
Inner workings of a Chinese poaching syndicate

Court evidence reveals the typical methdology deployed by one of five organised crime syndicates believed to be active in Namibian wildlife trafficking, reports John Grobler...
23 October, 2015
Chinese rhino poaching suspects in court

Details about the origins of a rhino poaching syndicate and their modus operandi are emerging in a Namibian court case. By Oxpeckers Reporters in Windhoek...
21 September, 2015
Caught in the crossfire: how cattle and Chinese mining interests are killing off Namibia’s black rhinos

Behind Namibia's poaching crisis lies a deadly combination of corruption, drought, Chinese mining and construction ventures, and land-hungry communal cattle farmers...
17 July, 2015
Halt the hunt of desert wildlife, say Namibia’s experts

All hunting in the drought-stricken north-western regions of Namibia should be halted pending proper assessment of game stocks, say conservationists...
09 March, 2015
Namibia’s national soccer medic linked to rhino poaching and murder

Windhoek chiropractor Gerson Kandjii faces criminal charges related to the poaching of four black rhinos and the murder of retired German industrialist Reinhard Schmidt. John Grobl...
06 March, 2015
Strange death of a rhino protector

How did ‘Boxer’ die? Why are dead rhinos being found in the area his team patrolled? John Grobler digs up strange secrets surrounding the deaths of black rhinos in Kunene...
20 November, 2014
Spotlight on Zambezi’s poaching problem

The Zambezi border region where five Southern Africa countries intersect is a wildlife trafficking hotspot. Hongxiang Huang investigated the smugglers' links to China...
11 February, 2014