Black Mamba Anti-Poaching Unit

The Black Mamba APU was founded by Transfrontier Africa and was create to protect Olifants West Nature Reserve in Balule starting off with a team of 6, now one year later the Black Mamba APU has grown to cover the entire Balule area. The Black Mambas is the first of its kind, being that the majority of our teams are women. We operate in an open system and our directly connected to the Kruger National Park. We are therefore custodians of the wild animals that roam freely throughout Balule Private Nature Reserve. The Western Region has been registered with the National and Provincial governments as a component of the national protected areas network. We maintain and protect the western boundary fence of the Greater Kruger National Park, a significant barrier between human-wildlife conflict and poachers entering the protected areas network.

Anti-Poaching is a major need in the area. We are constantly plagued by rhino poachers and bush-meat poachers. Apart from Antelopes other endangered species such as wild dogs and cheetah are also often the victims to snaring. Our dedicated teams are constantly deployed and managed. The Black Mamba APU search and destroy poacher’s camps, wire-snares and bush-meat kitchens every day. Aerial support, specialist dogs, early detection and rapid response is all that stands between the wildlife and poachers.