Wednesday, June 1, 2011

On Track - Introduction

Every twenty minutes the world adds 3500 human lives but looses one or more entire species of animal or plant life. That equates to at least 27 000 species each year! Where there were once over 100 000 black rhinos on the plains of Southern Africa, there are now only 2707 on the entire continent.
The staggering decimation of the rhino population is due to poaching, to satisfy the demand for the rhinos horn in Eastern traditional medicines and as dagger handles.

Prices of $40 000 have been recorded for the much prized rhino horn- That's five times the price of gold!!!

So I have decided to do something about this, and play my part in the conservation of these rhinos, this will be something new and exciting, something away from the hustle ad bustle of city life.

I am on my way to Hoedspruit where I will be trained on how to become an anti-poacher, it will be full of adventure, danger and physical challenges! I am going to be writing and posting as many pictures as possible, giving you a preview into the workings and behind the scenes action of training to become an anti-poacher.

For the first 28 days I will be receiving training from a company called Protrack. On this course I will have to complete a basic survival course, complete a weapon competency course, a snake handling course as well as a first aid level two.

I will also learn how to set up proper camps, build bashers, find water, cook basic ration packs over an open fire, track animals, as well as some of the big 5 with experienced instructors. We will also be classifying birds, trees and insects.
We will learn to successfully track and ambush poachers, find snares, work with dogs, and locate intrusions into reserves.


I am not sure if I will be able to update my blog for the first 28 days, as I believe there will be no contact with the outside world until the training is complete.

So simply put your email address in the box on the right hand side, and when I add posts/pics it will let you know. Simples : )
Mat

1 comment:

  1. Good Luck! this is quite a drastic decision. Think it's great! and inspiring.

    Look forward to reading some posts!

    ReplyDelete