Last of the white rhino - going, going, gone

By Clare Byrne May 21, 2007, 18:38 GMT

Umhlanga, South Africa - Lot 182 drew appreciative whistles as it trotted around the pen on legs surprisingly squat for its two-tonne frame, the 20-inch horn jutting out of its snout adding to a general aura of beady-eyed, puckered-lip malevolence.

'Right gentlemen, talk to me,' the auctioneer, a balding Afrikaner with a trim moustache said, appealing to the group of mostly white male game farm owners gathered at Sibaya Casino complex near South Africa's third-largest city of Durban on the weekend.

Giraffes, zebras, hippos and a host of other game had already changed hands at the annual auction held by the wildlife authority of KwaZulu Natal (KZN) province but the best was kept for last: 'That's a great breeding bull,' an onlooker whispers, eyes riveted on the rhinoceros on the big screen.

When it comes to rhinos, it's all about horn size, so Lot 182's super-sized appendage promises a tense bidding war.

Bidding opened with a few takers at 250,000 rand (36,000 dollars), but by 300,000 the race has been whittled down to two contesters. One's curt nod of the head was answered by the other's tip of his buyer's card in the auctioneer's direction as the price climbs in torturous 5,000 rand increments.

'Right gentlemen, the hammer is up. No advance? Almal klaar? (everybody finished?),' the auctioneer wanted to know at 320,000 rand before bringing down his gavel to a smattering of applause for a flushed Kobus Wenter.

Wenter, manager of a 2,000-hectare game reserve in North-West Province, totted up his purchases on the calculator of his mobile phone. Eight rhinos had set him and his partners back by more than 1.5 million rand. Three kudu bulls cost another 300,000 rand. 'Some are for hunting, some for breeding,' he said.

Every year KNZ Wildlife auctions off surplus animals from around 90 provincial parks to private game farms, whose business revolves around organizing game drives and hunts for tourists. Businessmen from the United States particularly are said to pay handsomely for the dubious thrill of felling a big animal and bagging the trophy.

The 'carrying capacity' for each species of animal of each park is measured by researchers, Jeff Gaisford, KNZ Wildlife spokesperson explains.

The figure is then compared with real stock levels and the excess animals are put up for auction. Weather is a key factor in determining a park's capacity. In years of little rain both public and private owners sell off animals to ease the demand on water supplies.

On offer at the weekend auction, attended by 65 buyers, were close to 1,500 of some of Africa's most beloved creatures: white rhinos, hippos, zebra, giraffes, warthogs, dassies - plump guinea-pig-like animal the size of a rabbit - and six categories of antelope, including springbok and kudu.

Most of the animals were still roaming the parks having been sold from catalogue but 24 rhinos and 173 nyala were waiting in pens in Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve to be taken to their new owners.

Father and son Herman and Erras of Mkuze Ranch near Swaziland, who did not wish to give their surname, had come looking for waterbuck and maybe 'a parcel of three rhinos.'

The family switched from cattle to game farming in 2002 because it was 'something I always wanted to do,' says Erras, although, he says, 'it's a terrible move financially.'

'Poaching is a big problem,' says Herman, estimating at 52 the number of animals ('anything edible') they lose each year to the illegal bushmeat trade.

After being outbid on rhinos and waterbuck Herman was planning to haggle over some unsold nyala - small antelope with white stripes.

The proceeds of the auction totalled 8.8 million rand, up from around 8 million in 2006, a result KZN Wildlife chief executive Khulani Mkhize said he was 'more than pleased with.'

There was good news also for the poor Makasa community in northern Zululand, which gained 320,000 rand from the sale of two rhinos donated by KZN Wildlife to help it start a game farm. At least half of the money will go towards developing the reserve.