PMCI - January 2018

The stories were always filled with the wonderful wildlife, and as
I grew older I was able to visit and see these wonders for myself.
You might say that Africa has left a lasting impression on
me, and the fact that others might not be able to experience this
richness of nature in the future due to economic reasons fills me
with dread. It was therefore a joy a couple of years back when I
was introduced to Wes G, and I’ve been hounding him for his story
of life on the ground with the anti-poaching teams ever since. I
am therefore massively pleased and somewhat humbled to bring
you the story of a former soldier’s odyssey in his own words, and
my sincere thanks go out to Wes for his time.
MOTIVATION AND INVOLVEMENT
“I was born and brought up in Africa, (born in South Africa)
and spent a significant part of my childhood in Malawi. I spent
a lot of time in the bush and developed a passion for wildlife
and conservation. I have always been keen to get involved in
conservation but anti-poaching in particular.
During my ten year career in the British Infantry (Royal Scots,
which was part of the merger of Scottish Regiments in 2006
to become 1 Scots) between 2001 and 2011 I felt that I had
something to offer using my military experience but poor funding
usually meant that anti-poaching work was generally poorly paid.
Africa has been hemorrhaging wildlife in recent years, an
example of this is a 30% (144,000 animals) decline in Savanna
Elephants between 2007 and 2014, 8% per year!* Tanzania, where
we are, together with Mozambique, has seen the biggest decline
in these majestic animals. The world is watching this happen very
publicly and it only appears to be getting worse.
This has always inspired me to get involved. After doing Anti-
Piracy and then some work on the circuit in Kabul over a four
year period I was approached and asked if I would be interested
in getting involved in anti-poaching in the Serengeti in Tanzania.
Initially I was very skeptical due to the reputation that AP jobs have
when it comes to pay. However, after doing the sums it became
apparent that this job could pay the bills (not nearly to the same
extent as the circuit), and my family could live comfortably and
that enabled me to get involved in the fight against poaching,
which is exactly where I want to be. I also got to tick a massive
bucket list item off, visiting the famous Serengeti! This is certainly
the closest to the Garden of Eden that I’ll ever get!”
JUST ANOTHER DAY AT THE OFFICE!
“When I arrived here I was put in possibly the best position I could
have been put in. My mandate was to make this unit, consisting of
just over 100 game scouts into a more “military” force in order to
better protect our natural resources, especially elephants, against
the onslaught that is happening. We work very closely with our
Government counterparts, something that is absolutely critical. I
have essentially had to build this unit up from the ground, which
has meant implementing systems and procedures in order to
maintain control of the operation and all the assets involved.
So we’re in a two phase operation, phase one being the
development of systems and procedures and phase two getting
FEATURE: ANTI-POACHING
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