The all-female anti-poaching unit saving the rhino | Unreported World

I've come to a secret location near Kruger National Park in South Africa hidden behind these locked gates and high walls are over 20 orphaned rhinos their mothers were all killed by poachers [Music] [Music] up closely similar most of their being hunted to the brink of extinction because their horns are being sold in Asia for hundreds of thousands of pounds last year twelve hundred and fifteen rhinos were killed in South Africa and that's a record high and this year the numbers are increasing in Asia rhino horn is sold as a cure for cancer and other illnesses in reality it's composed of keratin the same substance as fingernails or hair since almost wiping out the Asian la Souris smugglers have set their sights on Africa one Rhino is now being killed every 7 hours if that continues they could be wiped out in the wild in less than 10 years [Music] okay in 2006 and rhino poaching wasn't even a consideration it's suddenly we started finding Caucasus before we could wipe the sleep out of our eyes we've been caught with our pants down and we had 19 caucuses on the landscape within a few months former Marine Craig Spencer is head warden and pallulah a collection of privately owned game reserves that borders Kruger National Park we've experimented with a lot of different technologies so nothing has actually worked drones thermal optics satellite tracking real-life tracking of this that and the other the only thing that has actually shown any return for its investment is the black mambas the black mambas are a unit of twenty six women from villages around the park who've signed up to take on the poachers in the eleven months since they started they've received specialist training in tracking and bushcraft and spend long days policing the reserve unarmed you must follow me now okay but the battle against the poachers is becoming so dangerous some black members are about to receive weapons later Miki Bella is 22 as a team leader she'll be one of the first to get a gun watching her now with the weapons it's really quite scary because you realize this is a real war with the with the poachers and they're putting themselves in a lot of danger by taking these guys on I did three I think three look at that do you think guys don't do this even men don't do this really well trained someone explicit anything so if the alert will change toe be killed how would you feel about shooting another human I can feel God and not goatees in two ways if a person is attacking me I know that person want to kill me then if I don't kill him first he will come every day and night of the mambas patrol sections of Gillooly is 224 mile perimeter fence looking for signs of poachers we are looking for tracks for just sometimes when they come that side they cross the river okay so here and also that side I'll show you when I reach there so just walking around here you realize how harsh how hostile this environment is it's now 11:00 a.m. and the ladies have been out on foot patrol for about four hours and getting incredibly hot even the smallest hole under the fence needs to be investigated to see if it's an entry point for poachers I can't see what if it's work or why but they can see it in Emmaus tracks have been found showing that poachers have managed to enter the park later is called then to help with the search the race is on to find them before they kill a rhino you're on a live hunt really there's poachers in here do you ever get afraid later says she's proud to be a member because in South Africa black women have never been given a job like this before lots of the poachers are mean and I'm the woman fighting with them you get quite excited by the idea yeah so don't get up whole just cause my job is to find the poacher yeah okay they find this part of the reserve is littered with wire traps snares to catch wild animals including rhinos is it possible that the poachers are actually sitting in the bush watching you it may be we can pass don't wanted she yeah okay be with the team on high alert the members call in the reserves armed response unit protract right now it's critical that they find and guard for the vulnerable why notes straight through there you can see the runner today they're successful no Rhino is killed it's been afternoon before later ends her shift like all the members she works the reserve for three weeks at a time before spending ten days at home with her family and two-year-old son so now it's getting like early evening do you miss your family yeah what do you think about just thinking of my son sitting there with my mom and everybody watching TV just chilling eating but I'm not used to eat three million people live around Kruger National Park eighty-six percent of adults are unemployed very few of them make any money from Game Reserve tourism which many see as the preserve of rich white people poaching is a tempting option to make a lot of cash fast these guys are very likely to talk they're very suspicious worried about being arrested but he says he will meet us to tell us about how the poaching industry works from the moment you go into the wire you go in the fence to the moment you're back out so I'm saying from when they say let's go it won't even take twenty minutes is too much 20 minutes is too much I use the appropriate rifle with a silencer so that no one can hear the noise then you must take an aim then you need it once like many others this poacher has a military background he was a sniper in the Zimbabwean army if you come across the the wardens what happens then you see them you know that you should that person to Kira don't hesitate so this is really a war it's really really warm there's a lot of rhinos being killed do you not feel sad that them that the rhinos maybe could become extinct because of guys like you shooting them I know that those resources are getting exhausted but what do I get from there to be frank with you I have never thought any say from this I've never even put a single cent of that so once I get a chance to get it why should I give it but the shooting is gonna kill them off and then there'll be no me I mean if they I kill them all I won't get this year I know my city won't get anything I wanted anything my pants didn't get anything my ancestor I'd never caught anything so then you get the money so I caught you zombi poachers live in the same communities as the members today I've come to meet one of them superior tolling every Sunday the villagers hold a tribal dance competition and many of the young unemployed men come to gatherings like these giving Sapir a a chance to pick up intelligence [Music] they organized a plane when they if she hears anything suspicious she reports it back to her head warden but she says she's up against criminal gangs who ruthlessly protected they're poaching profits and then you are dangerous [Music] on the way home Sapir way points out an entire section of the village known as a poacher Haven so a guy with a hunting rifle just think there he's got a rifle yeah did you saw him yeah it can be one of them because they are using rifles so you will make a u-turn they're going back I we drive past quickly in case our camera is seen I think maybe they play better but even if she gets a solid lead it's a few a does not go to the police she says poachers have been known to bribe police to identify informers which can endanger their lives so PA says the members secret weapon against the poachers is being women because they're not seen as a threat they underestimate us like things that we mean they cannot do anything we can get we can go and poach because we are doing visual policy so I can feed the information back to my office for sappy way working with the black members is about changing the way her community views wildlife and that change starts with their own daughters 13 year old / 4 and 11 year old grazioli jelly I want my kids to see whatever that I have seen I don't want them to hear like there was a rhino I want to experience it to feel the nature they love of nature but her commitment requires a big sacrifice how do you feel about your mum working at the Reserve the problem is you've been foul sadly for the girls it's time for their mom to return to work for another three weeks back at the reserve Sapir way and a team get ready for another Patrol [Music] they like poachers use the cover of darkness to breach the electric fence and into the park night Patrol has only just started and already there's a problem lost a bit of power and the electrified fence which could obviously allow a weak spot for a poacher to get in and I think at night time the the difference is that you really don't know what's going on around you it's very hard to see into the darkness where the poachers are moving around or even wild animals for that matter would they test the fence the poachers yes they do because they will use branches like green branches and put it on the electric fence yeah so defense electricity tool obviously go down we are spotlighting and a big trees because sometimes they can hide under the trees maybe if they hear that we are here you're looking for poachers oak trees when they come to the center of the reserve and they've set up an Opie and observation post where they're just going to stop and listen for half an hour maybe an hour listening out for gunshots or voices or anything suspicious that could indicate poachers are in the area I remember first time when we came in do with this night Patrol I was so terrified I was so scared because it's dark here you can't see anything and then wow just only using a spotlight but I must be brave enough to face the challenge the electric fence cannot be fixed until morning the mambas presents constantly patrolling the park is proving the greatest deterrent against poachers since the mambas started 23 rhinos were killed in a neighboring reserve but none were lost in ballooning until the week before I arrived and one of them was pregnant is this way and then you can see them fun to the face wavers sawn-off as well the poachers killed three rhinos in one night their corpses are still being examined for clues and yeah chuckling the eyes were slashed she's a very professional poachers in Vincents so we've got two horns out of that they've got four because there's a front door in the back wall you'll be going to small horns okay that animals been shot got up and run Vincent heads below Lee's armed response unit corkage found her yeah the crime scene leads him to an unsettling conclusion so what can you tell from looking at this scene about without these poachers in this instance I moved from that fence line directly to this area so here they started looking which tells me immediately they knew these animals were here the tip-off yeah which tells you immediately at someone that works here that's somebody that found in the animals position that means these people either know this area or they were given a GPS coordinate to come here I'm gonna [ __ ] up uncha Garcia that are connected really well to the inside of this reserve to find out who these insiders might be I tracked down a member of one of the criminal gangs poaching rhino he tells me they rely on a corrupt game warden over McCoy at least he's a game driver for the tourists and what's his job for the syndicate Moya balcony accommodation barabara Sonali trees like by Senate Banking driver like Pacheco Cruz they need to be a little some game wardens are bribed by the gangs as they can lead them straight to the Rhinos do these men ever have problems with the police this lady my boys are Jana Bertinelli mob of copper bodies Babangida Falls special transport has got them like the Pachanga tea is very immediately modeling machine to indicate a sudden everything south african police tell us they have good cooperation from the communities and that they will investigate any allegation of criminal involvement by police with some of the poaching involving insiders no one is beyond suspicion in Ballou Lee wardens are constantly vetted and as it was super wise team that found the three dead rhinos they were also thoroughly screened every time we've heard of a specific case there seems to be inside information that has told the poacher where the rhinos are do you suspect any of the people you know you that you work with do you think that there are in informers in their languages do you think if somebody came to you and said hey I'll give you a lots of money if you tell me where the rhinos are you'll never be tempted No why should I do that I'm you to predict it all the members were cleared of any involvement in the killing of the three rhinos but with such vast sums on offer it's a constant battle against park staff being bribed I want to find out more about how the horns are trafficked an international smuggler agrees to tell me how he gets rhino horn from South Africa to Asia he gives you the rhino horn I get it from the boss I believe that he has the contacts all over because no one will ask me questions about my language even if I'm carrying up to true thriller cases where had he flown before which countries who first we went to Pakistan and then I've been going to China Kwanza and Chandra he says he's traveled five times with suitcases containing only rhino horn his boss makes over a hundred thousand pounds for each horn on the Asian market when you arrive in China you get your bag two people or three people coming to you and the immigration boat to move the stuff to get two passports then nobody was ever certainly that Joker sorry we need to check your bags sounds like your boss somehow has connections to immigration in customs and customs South Africa you I mean you live and in China when you arrive there's a lot of money involved here and a lot of high-profile people this is not a small boys game it's a serious metric what David is describing to us is if they're able to basically make sure that a bag full of rhino horns can get through customs and screening and scanning both ends then that means some senior people are being paid off to prevent shocking scenes like these South African customs tell me they will act against any customs officer caught helping smugglers and they've taken steps to combat rhino horn smuggling including the deployment of sniffer dogs Chinese customs did not respond to the allegations [Music] after 10 days leave later is getting ready to head back to the reserve at home she's been planning her future and discussing marriage with her boyfriend so let's say you get married is he going to try and stop you going working he once told me he said when I'm waking up any like it for me to wake I also like it too my future plan is to be what Craig is I want to be seeing or wanting also want to do it for myself ladies ambitions mean long hours and giving up precious family time she leaves her two-year-old son Clayton with her mother while she takes on coaches [Music] that night Craig has called the members together to congratulate them on finding the three Rhino carcasses it wasn't for the quick work and being in the right place at the right time eyes and ears we would have got nothing and to keep them motivated he started a new Achievement Award I want to present this trophy to the Fricke team please from humble beginnings yeah remember the beginning here maybe standing now I'm so proud [Music] the black members started as an experiment to stop the poaching but the stakes are high the protection of the Rhino depends on new initiatives like the members convincing communities that keeping wildlife is more valuable than the money offered by international criminal networks the survival of Africa's last wild rhinos is partly in the hands of these women thanks for watching this classic unreported world episode click the logo to subscribe for more award-winning documentaries from the unreported world team we upload videos every Wednesday and Sunday keeping you up to date with content from all over the world [Music]

Channel: Unreported World

Views: 91,291

Rating: 4.934648 out of 5

Keywords: black mambas south africa, black mambas, all-female patrol, all-female, anti-poaching unit, women anti-poaching, rhino conservation, rhino poachers, anti-rhino poaching, saving rhinos, south africa, unreported world black mambas, unreported world rhino poachers, black mamba, female anti-poaching, unreported world, channel 4 unreported world, channel 4, evan williams, evan williams documentary, wildlife conservation, wildlife reserves south africa

Id: DGmVe7noHNg

Length: 23min 56sec (1436 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 17 2017