According to Kuseni Dlamini, chairperson of the SANParks board, they received an initial grant funding of R254.8m in 2014 to support anti-poaching operations in the Kruger National Park (KNP). This incorporated the establishment of air mobility capacity and included the purchase of the first helicopter in September 2014.
He said subsequent to the initial grant funding, the HGBF granted SANParks an additional R37.7m to purchase a second Airbus AS350 B3e helicopter, with similar specifications of night flying capability, to further increase the capacity of SANParks' rhino anti-poaching flight operations in the KNP.
"In addition to increasing our current flight crew capability of flying at night, the helicopter is expected to improve our response time in dealing with contacts and other incidents in the Park. We have just taken delivery of this second helicopter to go into action in the fight against rhino poaching.
"In accordance with the much needed aerial support to the anti-poaching teams around the clock, this helicopter will further assist in quick tactical response particularly at night where we have been lacking due to limited resources, therefore it is only proper to thank HGBF for bringing this much needed resource in our fight to curb poaching," Dlamini said.
As an integral part of the current strategy to combat rhino poaching in the KNP, SANParks is in a process of applying and evaluating various technologies which include unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's). "This aims at investigating the effectiveness of various UAV technologies as instruments in rhino protection efforts under a range of operational conditions," Dlamini concluded.
