Bryan Christy

National Geographic correspondent Bryan Christy and photographer Brent Stirton investigate the rhino trade and two key players who want to end the South African and international bans on trading and selling rhino horn.

“I can get anything here from anywhere,” he boasted to an American undercover agent in March 1997. “Nothing can be done to me. I could sell a panda — and, nothing. As long as I’m here [in Malaysia], I’m safe.” The key, he explained, was paying off government officials in the customs bureau and, importantly, in the wildlife department, the agency responsible for animals’ paperwork.