New SGF Canine Unit and Chem Chem Safari, Tanzania – Sept & Oct 2017

On September 11^th four very special rescue dogs – Tony, DJ, Radar and Popo – arrived at Singita Grumeti. Carefully selected and rigorously trained by Montana-based Working Dogs for Conservation (https://wd4c.org), the two Belgian Malinois and two chocolate Labrador mixes were painstakingly transformed from a ragtag bunch of mutts into a formidable quartet of highly-driven law enforcement canines.

After their lengthy travel ordeal from Virginia to Tanzania, the dogs quickly settled into their new African surroundings and state-of-the-art kennels. Through continuous training and regular field operations, the high-functioning dogs have formed inseparable bonds with their primary handlers, working happily and tirelessly to protect the Serengeti’s unparalleled wildlife.

The new Singita Grumeti Canine Unit is a great example of a successful collaboration between aligned conservation organisations and generous donors with a shared desire to safeguard the threatened wildlife resources of the western Serengeti ecosystem. Guided by the expertise and experience of Working Dogs for Conservation, the Singita Grumeti Fund (www.singitagrumetifund.org) created the new canine law enforcement unit to complement and enhance existing anti-poaching efforts and technologies.

The Singita Grumeti canine handlers and their relentlessly determined four-legged law enforcement recruits are a potent team that supports a network of game scout patrol camps, strategically-located observation posts, rapid reaction anti-poaching teams, reconnaissance drones and covert cameras.

The dogs have been taught to detect wildlife contraband – including ivory, rhino horn, pangolin scales, bushmeat, weapons and ammunition – as well as to track poachers. Further target scents, such as poison and even wire snares, will be added in due course. And it is expected that illegal incursions and poaching incidence within the protected area will drop as word spreads of the dogs’ detection skills and seemingly psychic tracking abilities, creating a powerful deterrent effect to would-be poachers.

For further info check out: https://wd4c.org/tanzaniaantipoaching.html

 

Conservation collaboration with Chem Chem

Building upon my mid-year visit to Chem Chem and an invitation from the owners, Katherine and I took our two boys with on a ‘working holiday’ long weekend to Little Chem Chem and Chem Chem Lodge (http://www.chemchemsafari.com) in late October.

The purpose of this visit was to engage with Fabia, Nicolas and the rest of the Chem Chem conservation team to share ideas, experiences and best practices in an effort to learn from each other and to support like-minded conservation organizations.

The Chem Chem team really pulled out all the stops to make us feel welcome and I believe our three days together laid a very solid foundation for greater collaboration and idea-sharing in the future. It was also reassuring to see how much of our conservation and community development thinking aligned – albeit on a slightly different scale – and I have no doubt that the relationship will continue to strengthen over time. We now look forward to hosting Nicolas, Fabia and Riccardo at Grumeti in early in 2018.