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Kimon de Greef

Kimon de Greef is a journalist from South Africa. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Guardian, Guernica, National Geographic and other publications. He coauthored a book about abalone poaching and has written widely on illicit trades. He has a conservation biology masters from the University of Cape Town and a journalism masters from New York University. He is currently at work on a book for Doubleday about psychedelic toads, due for publication in 2026.

Some recent stories involved a Syrian raccoon trapper in New York, the rise and fall of a charismatic toad-smoking evangelist, the dystopian underworld of illegal gold mining in South Africa, the rivalrous underworld of songbird smuggling (featured by NPR) and the harmful supply chain for white sage. He has also written about gang violence, corruption, food delivery work, racing pigeons, sea cucumbers and donkey rustling.

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