South Africa is the home of amazing wildlife, our pride being the majestic Big 5; the lion, rhino, elephant, buffalo and leopards. Tourists from all over the world visit our continent just to experience the wildlife we have to offer. When they think of Africa the first thing that comes to mind is the wildlife. To some people when they think of Africa, they imagine lions roaming our streets and us lazing around with leopards in the near distance. That is not entirely true as our infrastructure has been developed and heavily urbanised, it is not conducive to let them roam. Most of our wildlife is accommodated properly in wildlife and nature parks where they can roam freely without running the risk of being attacked.

As we are trying to conserve our African pride and protect endangered animals there are people who leave their countries just to poach our animals. Some of them are exploiting these animals for their tusks and other body parts so that they can use them for medicinal purposes. These are often based on theories that may not necessarily be proven scientifically.

These endangered animals are already at the risk of being extinct, and what people may not realise is that when they are poaching our animals, they are not only killing them now but they are depriving our future generations from their heritage. There is variety of campaigns advocating animal rights. Do your part as an African this Africa month and stand up for the future generations who are not here to speak up for themselves.