E-bikes a plus for anti-poaching teams

Audrey Galawu

Transportation in the African bush requires specific features, especially for park rangers responsible for catching animal poachers.

The award-winning Save Valley Conservancy anti-poaching team is embracing renewable energy with electric bikes that were received from Germany through professional cyclist Claudio Caluori.

The electric bikes have resulted in a major transformation for the conservancy as they are now able to trace poachers closely without making noise.

Save Valley Conservancy Head of Anti-poaching Bryce Clemence said the bikes were suitable for the terrain and have made daily patrols much easier.

In the past, the anti-poaching team used motor bikes which were not very subtle for their kind of work since poachers could easily hear their approach.

“Being silent now gives us an incredible edge for really big distances and get into areas undetected.

“The last 10 years have been challenging, rhinos were being lost on a weekly basis because there were a number of gangs hitting the Conservancy but now, we have notable growth rate in our rhinos.

“We are able to track poacher activities in the Save River and we are now able to ride quietly in bushes, something we were not able to do before," he said.

SVC Lead K-9 handler and Anti-poaching Specialist Ackmos Bishau said it is now easy to track in the field without making noise, especially for elusive animals like the pangolin.

In July 2021, Clemence won the Best Game Ranger in Africa award while the K9 team received the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Commission Protected Areas Award in July 2022.

Meanwhile, the SVC hired local women to be fence guardians who inform them on poachers in the area, a development which has created employment for community women.