Dedicated rangers crisscross Kruger via Land Rovers, bicycle, helicopter, and on foot to make sure that doesn't happen. Yet when tourism, conservation, and commerce all tug on the wildlife fabric, the edges start to unravel. As the adage goes, fences make good neighbors. This doesn't always happen. Kruger borders Zimbabwe to the north and Mozambique to the east.
Conservation quickly becomes complex in such a geographical bind.
Since 1992, Mozambique has struggled with the transition to peace after two decades of revolution and civil war. The turmoil in Mozambique, the world's poorest nation, has produced a steady flow of illegal immigrants into South Africa, the continent's richest. The eastern border offers a perfect entry spot for those seeking to disappear into the bush. How many illegals are killed is anyone's guess. Rangers report human footprints in the veld vanishing into nowhere and cite scraps of torn clothing as evidence of immigrants being killed by wild animals.