Elephants and Oranges - The fight against poaching in Southern Africa

Elephants and Oranges

This sounds quite humorous, but sadly its not. This happened deep in the Mozambique bush during the spring of 2008.

After getting some good intelligence from one of my sources, I quickly assembled by anti-poaching team and set out to the area where I had been told that some fresh human tracks had been found. It was on one of the most beautiful areas of the reserve, a deep open gully running between some high Rhyolite cliffs, about 600 metres at its widest and 100 at it narrowest. It was a well used exit and entrance for both species of rhino coming from the Kruger National Park as well as breeding elephant bulls and their Askari's (attendant young male bulls); it was quiet, with good water and excellent fodder, elephant heaven.

An anti-poaching unit with little resources and big hearts.

Along and in this gully were marshes and a seasonal river, and water holds here in deep donga's (pools) for several months. It was thriving with wildlife; small Klipspringer antelope, perched high on cliffs, as sentries over looking their territories; elusive bush pig families, becoming more diurnal, that nocturnal; Waterbuck; Impala; buffalo; lion and leopard could all be seen here if one was patient.

While driving to this area, I prayed that what we would find was a meat hunter that probably wanted some fish, as these pools had catfish. It was a Saturday, hot, at 41 degrees Celsius and about 80% humidity. The rain had yet not arrived and the animals would be congregating around these deep pools for water. This always meant that they were in danger of being caught by predators, which, during the dry period, hunt around these areas as well as man made water points.

Unfortunately, criminals who kill animals for financial gain quickly learn animal behaviour and are told the whereabouts of large animals by contacts who work for National Parks and wildlife reserves. They know the routes that animals use, as well as the wallows and water points. Large animals are animals of habit and while they are in a specific area for either water or food sources, they will use the same water points or wallows, often at specific times. Sunrise and sunset are good times to find the animals quenching their thirst, while there is nothing better than to cool off with some cold clay in a mud-bath in the middle of the day, before going and lying down or resting under a tree and dozing off.

I had just had a successful spell of arrests, and my anti-poaching team was bringing in excellent information on illegal fire-arms. This meant that these pieces of equipment were no longer in the wrong hands, so animals were being saved. My policy was that if a family was hungry, meat would always be supplied. I had a very good relationship with the community chiefs, and my wife Barbara, being a nurse, assisted where ever she could with the local community of more than 20,000 people. She would help with births, especially, as the women still give birth in the open, with all and sundry watching, and bite off or cut the umbilical cord with a dirty rusted knife. We had built two clinics in the area but were unable to furnish them, and we wanted the local authorities to do that, but to no avail. I also drilled boreholes and installed water hand pumps for people to have a basic need-water.

Why am I telling you this? It crossed my mind when I got out of my vehicle, strapping 2 full AK 47 magazines to my belt, checking the weapon in my hand, and making sure it was cocked and ready. Why would the local community disregard our efforts? Was there an out side influence on these people, money, drugs, alcohol, what ever it was, that was putting the people that lived around the reserve at risk. We employed almost 90 people from the area, thus contributing to the community; the kids are able to get schooling; jobs-security for our staff; surplus meat after culling; and even health and pensions.  

Family time-fresh rations delivered by us.

Anti-poaching operations
I indicated to my APU (anti-poaching unit) leader that we would break up in to two groups, one would slowly walk in the actual gully along the river course, while the other moved up on the one high cliff area and scan the area ahead and to the sides, giving us enough time to seek cover in the event there was any sign of anyone. We used hand signals, this was quieter than a crackling radio, and we were very good at it. Somehow it seemed too quite...Having spent almost 20 years in the African Bush, my gut feeling is rarely wrong, and the birds and insects also have something to do with human movement, in the event they go silent. Two birds are very nosey when human movement is observed, the Grey Lorie and the Oxpeckers, which become very vocal.

Temik laced orange set to kill elephant and rhino!

Poison trap
Along the well used elephant and rhino path ahead of me, I noticed something completely out of the ordinary, a bright yellow colour about 30 metres ahead of me, off the ground, and another 20 metres behind. I slowly approached and as I got closer, I saw that it was an orange. Quietly warning my team, in a whisper, as the oranges could be booby trapped, that here was our problem.

I bent down and quickly realized that these oranges were full of death in the way of Temik. Temik is a deadly agricultural chemical that had been pushed inside of these oranges. Even the ants and flies that had landed on the exposed Temik had died! Who in the world would have access to this poison? When I approached the water I found a catfish laying on the bank of the pool, and thought that we had disturbed a Fish Eagle from its meal.

We collected all the oranges that were hidden in that area and further patrolled the area, returning to the vehicle. We may have been watched, so I decided to do another patrol, returning after an hour. The teams broke up again and we moved through the area. There were no new tracks, but to my horror a mature fish eagle lay dead at the pool where I had left the catfish....it also had been poisoned and it dawned on me that these scumbags wanted to kill, kill everything they could.

After some time we left the area, and returned to base with the fish, the fish eagle and all the oranges. The investigation had already started as I had sent some of my trustworthy men out to the communities for a night to mingle and mix, and hopefully return with some news. Having this level of poison out there was a nightmare. Had any of the large animals taken an orange? Elephants can not leave oranges alone. What would the next week bring. Death is slow when it comes to large pachyderms, at least a day or two.

When we found the elephant carcass it was about 1 week old, close to the area we had found the oranges. The young bull was laying close to the river that flows through the gully.

New tactics
Poachers have changed tactics, no guns, poison, no one hears any shots, all they have to do is wait and look for vultures when the animal eventually falls over and dies. The groups of vultures coming in to feed will normally indicate the size of the animal. It's a slow process and normally they would have to feed from the anus, until hyenas are able to open the carcass further. When we found the elephant carcass it was about 1 week old, close to the area we had found the oranges. The young bull was laying close to the river that flows through the gully, and still had his tusks in tact; at least we had found the treasure before they could. He must have died a terrible, painful death; something I can not even start to describe...

I bent down and quickly realized that these oranges were full of death in the way of Temik, a deadly agricultural chemical.

We had to move quickly to find the poison and then the supplier. After a few days we had word that oranges were sold from a small shop not far from my northern area. I knew the lady that owned the shop and she only had this item as they were going cheap at the market in Maputo. While all this was going on I decided to send out a patrol overnight just north of where the Orange's were found. What would transpire was mindboggling, with many new developments, but I will continue with that in my next article...."The twists and Turns of Life..."