Protecting Wildlife – All in a Day’s Work

In conversation with Tango K9 Anti-Poaching Unit

Some people take the scenic route to find their life’s calling, as is the case for Darrel. He heads up the Anti-Poaching K9 Unit in Thornybush Reserve (where Royal Malewane is situated), and while it took some time to align his passion for wildlife with his regular day job, he wouldn’t want it any other way.

For Darrel, running the canine unit with fellow rangers is a dream come true, but his career journey didn’t always lead him to his True North.

From Big City to Big Sky Country

He grew up on the outskirts of Johannesburg. As a child, he’d never gone on safari or visited the Kruger National Park. But, as a teenager, his family moved to a farm between Vryburg and Kimberley, where Darrel fell in love with the simple pleasures of outdoor life.

Studying to be a field guide was a natural choice, although he admits his knowledge was initially somewhat limited, despite having completed his course.

“When I arrived for my first job interview, I was asked to identify an impala. I had to admit that, in all honesty, I’d never seen one before and had no idea what it was!”

A quick learner, he progressed to guiding in the smaller reserves and the Cradle of Humankind. Later, he spent time working in Madikwe, but after an elephant incident, he headed to Ndumo Game Reserve (next to the well-known Tembe Elephant Park), where he did his FGASA Level Three Guide, which is now known as the FGASA Professional Field Guide qualification. The run-in with the elephant stayed with Darrel, making him question his choices – and so he took the unlikely decision to head back to the bright lights of Johannesburg to play a role in his Dad’s business.

Nature’s Nudge

After several years, the shiny edges of city life were outweighed by a longing for life in the bush. When he was alerted to an opportunity to become a guide at Royal Malewane, he watched a video featuring Juan Pinto (Royal Malewane’s Director of Conservation) talking about the guiding team, and it struck a chord.

“They’re passionate, driven, and always pushing to do better. So I told myself, that’s the kind of place I want to work.”

He applied for the job and got it. Darrel thoroughly enjoyed his time as a ranger and being part of a highly qualified team dedicated to conservation and the preservation of both wildlife and the environment. But things took a different turn during the pandemic.

When Juan asked the guides of Royal Malewane to assist with the Counter-Poaching Unit during COVID-19, a clear pathway to the next steps in Darrel’s career opened up.

The reserve management decided to keep the K9 Unit operational despite all the restrictions, and that’s when the penny dropped. He put together a proposal to head up the K9 Unit and assist reserve management in the operations for reserve landowners. It was all systems go, and that was four years ago.

“In every role I’ve had, I have been passionate about protecting wildlife. I was always the first one to put my hand up and get involved in any anti-poaching activity, and I’ve always wanted to work with the dogs,” says Darrel, “I don’t think there’s anything better in the world than working with your best friend.”

Meeting the Challenge

The reserve is 14,500 hectares and is open to the Greater Kruger on the northern and eastern boundaries, so there is a lot of land to cover. For Darrel and his team, taking a multi-pronged approach to poaching in the region was very important, but having the latest technology and tools meant sourcing additional funding.

One of the big successes has been donor funding. To facilitate this, demonstrations for guests from the different lodges were used to raise funds for the K9 Unit, giving an understanding of how special these trained K9s are and the huge benefit of having them around.

Darrel says that collaborating with the field guides and trackers has been very beneficial.

“Bringing guests to see the dogs and participate in the demonstrations has been instrumental in enabling us to raise funding,” says Darrel. “But, more importantly, the guiding teams are a massive force multiplier.”

Multiple vehicles are out on every game drive across the reserve daily, which means greater surveillance of the region.

“All vehicles have a tracker and a guide – and because we have such good relationships, if they pick up anything suspicious, they jump onto the radios, and we follow up immediately. So that’s been a massive win for us. They are also always keen to get involved from a backup point of view.”

Rhino poaching increased in 2019, but when the lockdown happened in 2020, things slowed down.

Looking Ahead

His vision for the future is simple, to support the K9 unit to the fullest and ensure it has the best possible tools to keep poachers out of the reserve and to continue collaborating with the teams and partners on the ground.

“Ideally, we try to prevent them from coming onto the reserve, and we can’t do that alone,” he says. “World Ranger Day (31 July) is a fantastic opportunity to show gratitude to the guides and trackers on the ground. They don’t get enough recognition for their help – a lot of it is behind the scenes. We can’t thank them enough.”

Please click here if you’d like to donate to the Tango K9 Unit.