He was up there somewhere, at the top of the hill, the man Karl Ammann had come to see.

The government would ensure that “reinstatement of hunting is done in an orderly and ethical manner” and in accordance with the law and regulations, the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism said in emailed statement.

Recent research has revealed that lion populations in southern Africa show a significant loss of genetic diversity, and the negative trend has been traced to when European colonial settlers arrived in the area, and to the outbreak of rinderpest in the region.

The national park at the southern end of Africa’s Great Rift Valley was once considered a wildlife paradise. Hippopotamuses lolled in the lush waters of Mozambique’s Lake Urema, and thousands of antelope bounded across the park’s savannas and floodplains. Elephant herds and prides of lions drew international tourists.

Trophy hunting in Africa is no different to the harvesting of surplus wild animals by farmers in countries like Sweden to keep populations at sustainable levels. And it is largely because of hunting that South Africa and Namibia have been responsible for the world’s biggest-ever rewilding of former agricultural land. 

It was the overpowering stench and the thick swarm of flies that told Reinet Meyer she had stumbled upon something truly horrific.