These are some of the 46 men you support in conservation of not just game animals but fish, non game species and habatat of water, bush, ground and timber. And the bees.
These men are professionals working in very difficult crcumstances. Over 25,000 sq. km patroled.
Welcome to our home and get to know us.
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Andy Groenewald
Date of Birth :- 1949
Nationality :- South African. (Rhodesian by birth, South African by naturalisation.)
Widower
Joined the British South African Police in Rhodesia, (Zimbabwe,) in 1967. Served until 1981. Did 8 years on the Police Anti-Terrorist Unit, trained by Special Forces, ex British SAS and Vietnam. Purely bush warfare and combat. 2 years on secondment to Special Branch infiltrating urban supporters of terrorists and eliminating insurgents in the high density areas surrounding the major cities. 1 year on S.W.AT. 2 years running a combined Police, Army, Airforce and Dept., of National Parks and Wildlife anti-poaching unit covering the Wankie District from Pandamatenga to Binga and Victoria Falls to Lupane before resigning after independence. During this whole period of time actively involved in problem animal control from Elephant, Lion, Sable, Kudu, Eland through to Reedbuck.
Joined Natal Parks, Game and Fish Preservation Board in Kwa-Zulu Natal and served as a Ranger in Northern Kwa-Zulu protecting the coastal fauna and flora for 14 months before re-joining the Police in South West Africa. (Namibia today.) Assigned to the Criminal Investigation Branch investigating crimes of violence, poaching and stock-theft in the Windhoek District for one year.
Made an offer by Anglo-American Security on secondment to De Beers stationed at Oranjemund in Diamond Area No. 1. (The ‘Sperrgebiet’.) Investigations of illicit diamond buying country-wide and diamond theft from within the mining area. Patrols of the desert and access control for 5 years.
Returned to Zimbabwe in 1990 and went to work for a multi-national company, (Lonrho, Zimbabwe, Ltd.,) creating and running a 250 man anti-poaching unit covering 11 game and cattle ranches totaling 800,000 acres. (46,000 head of cattle and as many game animals.) Also did game-capture operations and was responsible for culling operations. (On average 2,000 animals per annum.) Started a training programme for game scouts, not only for Lonrho but for private game ranchers. In 15 years trained in excess of 3,000 game scouts and my unit, (Savanna Wildlife Anti-Poaching Unit,) arrested in excess of 7,000 perpetrators of various crimes but mostly related to wildlife offences.
After leaving Lonrho went to work in the Lowveld of Zimbabwe for a German owner of a 160,000 acre game ranch as manager for 4 years. Recruited and trained a 50 man anti-poaching team to operate on this property. Got involved with safari operations and operators, set quotas, continued with problem animal control and culling. Introduced 350 Foot and Mouth free Buffalo on to the property. (Malangani today is part of the Bubye River Conservancy, the biggest in Zimbabwe and possibly Africa.) Stuck it out for 3 years after the farm invasions until enforcement of the law became impossible due to political pressure and corruption.
Following Malangani became judicial manager of Tsankaruka Safaris in the Gwaai Valley at the request of a law firm resurrecting a game ranch in the Kana Block which belonged to an American, (Dr Raub, who was sadly murdered,) on behalf of his widow. Restored the property to operational status within a year before moving on to Zambia. (Continued with problem animal control and destruction of animals maimed by poaching activities, particularly Buffalo which were still plentiful in this Kana Block then.)
Currently contract security manager for the World’s biggest single copper mine with varied responsibilities including the protection and development of fauna and flora on the mine lease. Hence the creation of this anti-poaching unit.
Honorary Ranger with the Zambian Wildlife Authority.
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JOSEPH KAKOMA
Date of Birth :- 3rd., March 1983
Tribe :- Chokwe
Married with 2 children
Although he has only recently been trained and joined us as a ranger he has 6 arrests to his credit. One was for the armed poacher arrested in his camp and the other for the guys siphoning 6,000lts of diesel. The others involved illegal netting. A good start to a young career.
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OBED LUAPULA
Date of Birth :- 7th., June, 1983
Tribe :- Lunda
Single
He’s got a big heart – courageous ranger with 9 arrests to his credit. One was for the poacher armed with a shotgun who they arrested in his camp after ambushing it. (They only had batons and handcuffs and he was the hard-core poacher I previously mentioned.) Also 3 poachers with dogs, axes and spears. Young but full of promise.
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PETER MUTAKA
Date of Birth :- 12th., December, 1962
Tribe :- Lamba
Maried with 3 children.
Peter has achieved 14 arrests with the unit all related to contraventions of the ZAWA Act. He was part of the group who ambushed a poacher’s camp and, whilst unarmed, arrested a poacher armed with a shotgun and bush meat. He was also instrumental in the arrest of the persons cultivating marijuana. At one time whilst apprehending 3 poachers placing nets, the poachers fled into the water. Two suddenly realised they couldn’t swim when it was a little too late and started floundering and bobbing up and down in distress. Peter and Charles Kaonga looked on in amusement until they were going down for the third or fourth time to teach them a lesson then went in and rescued them ! You gotta have humour with this job !!
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PETER PHIRI
Date of Birth :- 17th., October, 1969
Tribe :- Chewa/Tumbuka
Married with 6 children
11 arrests to date for contraventions of the ZAWA Act. He was instrumental in making an arrest where we recovered the highest number of nets in one single operation to date – 18, plus 5 rather vicious knives. A quiet, steady character with a wicked sense of humour. Also a water-baby and part of the regular team netting fish for patrols.
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ROYD K. LEMBA
Date of Birth :- 16th., January, 1978
Tribe :- Luvale
Single
A relatively new member of the team with a few arrests, all for contraventions of the ZAWA Act. Was part of a team who ambushed a poachers camp, unarmed, and captured a really hard-core poacher armed with a shotgun and in possession of a quantity of ‘bush-meat’ that he had shot. A regular Otter – swims like a fish and has no hesitation in diving into the water after fleeing poachers and wrestling them to shore. Leads the team who nets fresh fish for patrol rations for rangers as we try and be self-sufficent. Very popular with the ladies – got to watch him like a hawk !!
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ROSTON BESA
Date of Birth :- 1st., January 1968
Tribe :- Lunda
Married with 5 children.
Roston has made a total of 14 arrests for contraventions of the ZAWA Act. His speciality is poachers netting and he is quite willing to go into the water after them if they try to swim away and wrestle them back to shore. He was also instrumental in the arrest of the 3 persons siphoning 6,000lts of diesel illegally. He’s also another Honey Badger when it comes to bee-hives ! His powers of observation are excellent and he has pulled out snares and captured snare poachers where others failed to detect the well concealed snares.
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MIKE KILEMA
Date of Birth :- 1st., March, 1982
Tribe :- Kaonde
Married with 3 children
Coming from the local tribe, who are hunters by profession, Mike has a good knowledge of the bush and the local animals. He has made 10 arrests for contraventions of the ZAWA Act including snare poachers, net (fish) poachers and poachers hunting with dogs. He has the nose of a Honey Badger and can sniff out a bee-hive from a mile away ! Consequently we have managed to destroy a number of inactive hives and translocated active hives for our own use near the barracks.
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NEWTON KALUSA
Date of Birth :- 16th., November, 1982
Tribe :- Kaonde/Lunda
Married with 5 children
Newton is undoubtedly a controversial character ! Prior to joining us his profession was poaching. I figured – set a thief to catch a thief and took him on. He had a problem with marijuana and I chased him away for a while back to poverty. He eventually came back begging for his job – and cured of his habit. He has only been back a short while and has made a couple of arrests of fish poachers, Illegal tree felling and – ironically enough, 2 persons cultivating a field of cannabis ! (We had information about this field but couldn’t find it so I put him on to this. He has a nose like a bloodhound and had discovered it within 48 hours, ambushed it and caught the two ‘farmers’ in the act of harvesting.) If you want any animal captured, or knowledge of it’s whereabouts and habits – he’s your man. He’s also responsible for a garden I have created specifically for the rangers so they have greens to take into the field. Shy, reclusive guy, but useful if you have anything devious you want done !
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CHARLES KAONGA
Date of Birth :- 13th., February, 1960
Tribe :- Nyika
Married with 8 children
Charles is the most senior of the rangers and undoubtedly the most hard-working and courageous. He has made numerous arrests for contraventions of the ZAWA Act but, most importantly, has been responsible for the recovery of 3 firearms from poachers whilst being unarmed himself. In one incident he and a partner, (who is no longer with us,) tackled two poachers armed with shotguns whilst they themselves were only carrying one Tongfa PR24 baton stick. He was also instrumental in the arrest of the 3 persons who had siphoned out 6,000lts of diesel. He has received two awards for bravery and has been nominated as our Employee Of The Year for the May Day celebrations. He is what I would consider to be a ‘Mean Machine’ and is ruthless with absolutely no sympathy for poachers. And he’s a big guy !!
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FANWELL MALANGA
Date of Birth :- 7th., March 1972.
Married with 3 children.
Tribe : Lunda/Chokwe
Fanwell is one of my senior Operations Controllers and supervises and patrols with the scouts. To date he has made 13 arrests, most of which have been for contravening sections of the Zambian Wildlife Authority Act pertaining to the natural resources. He was also instrumental in apprehending 3 people siphoning 6,000lts of diesel from Mine vehicles whilst on patrol. This resulted in the identification of a huge syndicate. Losses from their criminal activities are still being quantified.
This theft is one of the reasons why we started this unit. Not only is it intended to stop the rape of our natural resources but also to protect property belonging to the mine which is being carried out through bush paths, or activities such as this which take place under thick cover in the bush.
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