During the few days that I was in Limpopo province in South Africa to cover this story I felt that I had barely scratched the surface. I was with Protrack, the oldest anti-poaching unit in South Africa, to try and understand what was happening on the ground.
I was in small town at the edge of the Kruger National Park. It felt like an outpost town. The centre of town was a crossroad, and there was a railway line running though it. While we were chatting in the Protrack office a new batch of volunteers arrived. All fresh faced and young. First order of business? Get their heads shaved. First day of school!
During our chat I learned that on the black markets of Southeast Asia, rhino horn is worth more than gold, cocaine, and heroin. I learned that the horn is so valuable that merciless poachers and criminal gangs will stop at nothing to obtain the horn, and that violence and gun fights with poachers are an almost daily occurrence out here. First day of school indeed!
I came to learn that the anti-poaching units are often out-gunned and out-manned in the bush. The Protrack anti-poaching teams rely on extensive bush tradecraft, teamwork, training, and a deep intelligence network for support.
Over the next few days I would meet “Vincent”, not his real name. He reminded of Vincent Hanna, Al Pacino’s character in the film Heat. Always busy and alert, always looking around asking questions, investigating, snooping around, and working 5 cell phones, seemingly all of them at once. A walking intelligence network. Through Vincent I understood the importance of that intelligence network. He got results! His leads lead to arrests!
The bush is unforgiving. Everything there wants to kill you. A paradox of sorts. Rangers protecting the very wildlife that wants to kill them. Poor dusty towns on the edge of the park are a universe away from the luxury resort style game reserves dotted around the park. Its these dusty towns that the poachers call home, the same dusty towns that many of the Rangers call home. A paradox of sorts.
To Zain, Shaene, Crowy, Mark, Tumi, and “Vincent”. Thank you. Thank you for taking me to the bush, sharing your stories and experiences, and thank you for teaching this Engelsman about spoor and mootoo.
“What a few days that was hey!.”