I WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE FOLLOWING for their help in turning The Poacher’s Moon from a story that I wanted to write into a reality:
Anne Albert; Lawrence Anthony (author of The Last Rhinos); Johan Botma, Denis Pothas, Deon and Chantelle from Fairy Glen; Eugene Braun for the original front cover illustration, now appearing on page 3; Wilfred Chivell and Brenda du Toit for help and advice on legal issues; Rudi Coertzen and Gerard Scholtz for their excellent camera work; Trevor Carnaby (author of Beat About The Bush); Tim Davison who edited the original manuscript; Searl Derman, Mandi Jarman and the staff at the Aquila Game Reserve; Denise Headon and Madelein Marais who made up for my keyboard ineptitude; Damien Vergnaud, Wilna Paxton and the staff at the Inverdoorn Game Reserve; Esmond Bradley Martin, Gerard Scholtz, Dr Gerhard Steenkamp; Clive and Anton Walker (authors of The Rhino Keepers).
Special thanks must go to Pieter de Jager, the owner of the Fairy Glen Reserve, who gave unstintingly of his time to help me, and Dr Jana Pretorius who was kind enough to read the book, even though I know it upset her, to give me a factual check.
Chapter 9 draws heavily on Killing for Profit, which is an excellent work by Julian Rademeyer. The Poacher’s Moon is the story of two animals that survived attacks in the Western Cape, and others who didn’t. For the serious student of rhino poaching I unreservedly recommend Rademeyer’s book.
Finally a huge thank you to my wife Jacqui who took lots of the photographs and worked with me on many aspects of the book.