The reserve where Royal Malewane is located has an Anti-Poaching Dog Unit, also known as Tango K9, which is at the forefront of curbing the detrimental effects of poaching in the Greater Kruger National Park. The remarkable capabilities of Tango K9, which consists of a team of passionate Rangers, Multi-Purpose dog’s and dedicated Trailing dog’s, far exceed what technology can yet deliver when it comes to the detection, apprehension, and tracking of poachers on the ground.

The dedicated Trailing dog’s are experts in trailing human scent and have the ability to “back track” allowing the Ranger’s to confirm suspects activities on the reserve once apprehended. The Multi-purpose dog’s are perfect all-rounders who specialise in handler protection, suspect apprehension and the detection of various forms of contraband in hard-to-find places. Tango K9’s counter poaching operations also include anti-poaching patrols, snare sweeps, preventative maintenance of the reserve boundaries and community education.

Justice is an energetic Belgian Malinois who joined the unit as a fully trained attack dog. He was generously sponsored by Wildlife Protection Solutions.

Justice is also trained to search vehicles, buildings & humans for firearms, animal products like ivory & rhino horn, and has skills in handler protection should the scenario require.

True to his nickname, The Tornado, when the crate door pops open dynamic Justice emerges and is enthusiastically ready to start and finish the job at hand.

Spots is a Belgian Malinois who joined the K9 Unit as a young pup. Since then he has grown to love personal protection work and has formed a deep connection with all his handlers.

His intelligence, agility and high level of dedication makes Spots the perfect anti-poaching soldier in the field.

Duke, also known as Ntwadumela, meaning ‘he who greets with fire’ is a Dutch Shepherd who joined the K9 Unit as an 8 week old recruit. He was trained in-house by his dedicated handler.

Duke is a true Multi-Purpose K9 with skills in tracking, apprehension as well as detecting contraband.

Storm is a female Blue Tick Coonhound who will be trained as a cold scent trailing dog. Blue Tick’s are masters at using their natural instincts when it comes to tracking and can follow older tracks under the most challenging of circumstances.

Royal Malewane is a founder member of the Greater Kruger Environmental Protection Foundation (“GKEPF”) which is a unique conservation initiative. GKEPF’s objective is to protect all wildlife in the central Kruger and private game reserves. GKEPF adopts a holistic approach to a problem that cannot be solved by individual reserves or lodges acting independently. They also play an active role in combating the illegal international trade in wildlife. While good work is already being done in this regard by the South African Police, Interpol and the FBI, GKEPF ensures greater resources are allocated to this effort.