They were both French and had served in the French military. They walked with us. Matt was taller, and spoke great English. He was a charmer, an easy talker and an easy smoker, in that casual way that belies any and all health risks printed on cigarette packages.
Kevin was quieter, and he never let go of his M-16, not even when we were in the Land Rover. He was intense and attractive, and every once in a while, he’d grin at something that was said—or say something himself in a thick French accent—and all of us girls would swoon.
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| From left to right. Renee, Kevin, Whitney, me, and Matt. |
I remember snatches of conversation, interesting things that were said. This is not word for word, and this is not all of it--I know it isn't. I didn’t ask all of these questions, and they are definitely not in order. But I am writing what I can remember down anyways, because I find myself thinking about it sometimes. I hope that I don't entirely misquote these two fellows.
I had asked, Why are you here? Why are you doing what you do?
And Matt said, Once you have been in the army, you miss the army. When I left, I knew I wanted to do security, but security jobs are hard to come by. I found this opportunity, and here, I get to do what I love. We use security tactics and high-tech equipment to take down poachers. Plus, I like animals. There was too much work to do here though, so I got Kevin to come down here and join me.
So that was how Kevin arrived on the scene. He’d actually arrived only two days before we had.
Do you ever miss Europe?
Matt had shaken his head. No. Europe is all the same. You can go to different countries, and people might speak different languages, but it is all the same. People have the same goals, the same desire to conform, the same measures of success. I lived in Holland for a while. They had rules on the size of your mailbox. There were rules on whether you could have a garden, what the dimensions of your garden could be, and the what the upkeep of your garden had to look like. They don’t have stupid rules like that in Africa. It is free here. You can do what you want. I have freedom here.
So out of all the places you’ve ever worked in the world, what’s been your favorite?
And Matt said, Afghanistan.
I said, I’ve never heard anybody say that before.
And he laughed. The army food was shit, but the country is beautiful. Breathtaking. You've got to see it someday.
Kevin said, It was the experience.
Matt agreed, The experience taught me a lot.
What did you do in the military?
Artillery.
Both Kevin and Matt were artillery.
So... how do you actually catch a poacher?
They looked at us a little incredulously, with that are-you-serious kind of look. They realized that we were, indeed, serious.
So Matt said, We ambush them. We have tactics and security equipment. Night-vision goggles, GPS, radios, guns, a microflight plane. We look for fires, movement. We swoop down on them. We are fighting a war here. It is a war. We fight locals from both Malawi and Zambia, various poaching organizations, the Asian Mafia. The Asian Mafia is the hardest. They are dangerous, and well-equipped as well.
So I asked, Do you ever get afraid?
And he said, No. I don’t get afraid.
Sounds like you’re on the right career path then.
He shrugged, I’ve always know it’s what I wanted to do.
Where do you get most of the support for your work? The Malawian government?
He just laughed at that. The Malawian government? No. We get support from various organizations.
What’s one of the biggest problems here?
Dealing with corruption. Everything is corrupt here. The more corrupt you are, the higher up you tend to go. The last head of this park was found poaching himself, and he simply got moved to another park. Also, the punishments aren’t harsh enough. For poaching, you get a measly two years in jail.
Do you see Malawi taking on the anti-poaching effort?
He laughed again. Independently? No. It’s too corrupt,and they don't care enough. I don’t see it happening. But we do what we can anyways.
We drove into the scout camp. What do these scouts do?
They go on patrols.
Are the patrols effective?
It is better than nothing, but the park is so large. Also, the system is flawed. The patrols should be unannounced. We should be able to just radio them and tell them, “Patrol this area right now.” These scouts, they have friends and families in both Zambia and Malawi who are most likely connected to poaching somehow. It is possible for them to communicate the times and locations of the patrols so that the poachers can work around them. We can make these suggestions, but we can do nothing to enforce them though. In fact, we lost two elephants last week. But at least we caught the poachers.
How much can you make from killing an elephant?
Millions, he said. Rhinos, too. There aren’t any more rhinos in this park though. They’ve all been poached already. That’s why the punishments are too lax.
How many poachers have you caught?
Since the beginning of this year? 40.
The anti-poaching effort is key to an entire ecosystem, which I hadn’t realized till after I had talked to Matt and Kevin and stayed at Lifupa Lodge. There used to be 2000 elephants in this park. Now people think there are less than 100. It affects the entire ecosystem. For example, elephants usually knock down trees. There aren’t enough trees getting knocked down now, so smaller plants and foliage isn’t growing in the forest, which affects the smaller animals in the park.
We talked for a while more, and later that night, I realized I envied them a little—living with the taste of freedom continually on their tongue, fighting a fight with quantifiable progress. Part of me vaguely admires the way that they buck society, disdain an easy life, seek that continual adrenaline rush. They carry around M-16s, plan ambushes, outsmart poachers. They’re tough and not afraid, and they love what they do.
I also envy the fact that their enemy is so visible, so obviously bad. They’ve caught 40 poachers since January. They’re good at what they do.
How does one attack Vitamin A deficiency? Take down food insecurity? Obliterate illiteracy? Restore never-realized dreams? Is it possible to ambush underdevelopment, to shoot it? Nobody knows how to accomplish this, and so we all just try to do our best, with the vague hope that we are doing something good and sustainable and that it’ll all come together in the end.
I’ve romanticized their life. I realize that, but I couldn’t help it, and it wasn’t on purpose. It was a fascinating glimpse into a lifestyle that I could never live, but admire. It’s a harsher life, a harder life—but in a way, a less complicated life. They shoot and get shot at, but they don't have to worry about their mailboxes and gardens. It’s one they actively choose to live, and I respect that.
So... how do you actually catch a poacher?
They looked at us a little incredulously, with that are-you-serious kind of look. They realized that we were, indeed, serious.
So Matt said, We ambush them. We have tactics and security equipment. Night-vision goggles, GPS, radios, guns, a microflight plane. We look for fires, movement. We swoop down on them. We are fighting a war here. It is a war. We fight locals from both Malawi and Zambia, various poaching organizations, the Asian Mafia. The Asian Mafia is the hardest. They are dangerous, and well-equipped as well.
So I asked, Do you ever get afraid?
And he said, No. I don’t get afraid.
Sounds like you’re on the right career path then.
He shrugged, I’ve always know it’s what I wanted to do.
Where do you get most of the support for your work? The Malawian government?
He just laughed at that. The Malawian government? No. We get support from various organizations.
What’s one of the biggest problems here?
Dealing with corruption. Everything is corrupt here. The more corrupt you are, the higher up you tend to go. The last head of this park was found poaching himself, and he simply got moved to another park. Also, the punishments aren’t harsh enough. For poaching, you get a measly two years in jail.
Do you see Malawi taking on the anti-poaching effort?
He laughed again. Independently? No. It’s too corrupt,and they don't care enough. I don’t see it happening. But we do what we can anyways.
We drove into the scout camp. What do these scouts do?
They go on patrols.
Are the patrols effective?
It is better than nothing, but the park is so large. Also, the system is flawed. The patrols should be unannounced. We should be able to just radio them and tell them, “Patrol this area right now.” These scouts, they have friends and families in both Zambia and Malawi who are most likely connected to poaching somehow. It is possible for them to communicate the times and locations of the patrols so that the poachers can work around them. We can make these suggestions, but we can do nothing to enforce them though. In fact, we lost two elephants last week. But at least we caught the poachers.
How much can you make from killing an elephant?
Millions, he said. Rhinos, too. There aren’t any more rhinos in this park though. They’ve all been poached already. That’s why the punishments are too lax.
How many poachers have you caught?
Since the beginning of this year? 40.
The anti-poaching effort is key to an entire ecosystem, which I hadn’t realized till after I had talked to Matt and Kevin and stayed at Lifupa Lodge. There used to be 2000 elephants in this park. Now people think there are less than 100. It affects the entire ecosystem. For example, elephants usually knock down trees. There aren’t enough trees getting knocked down now, so smaller plants and foliage isn’t growing in the forest, which affects the smaller animals in the park.
We talked for a while more, and later that night, I realized I envied them a little—living with the taste of freedom continually on their tongue, fighting a fight with quantifiable progress. Part of me vaguely admires the way that they buck society, disdain an easy life, seek that continual adrenaline rush. They carry around M-16s, plan ambushes, outsmart poachers. They’re tough and not afraid, and they love what they do.
I also envy the fact that their enemy is so visible, so obviously bad. They’ve caught 40 poachers since January. They’re good at what they do.
How does one attack Vitamin A deficiency? Take down food insecurity? Obliterate illiteracy? Restore never-realized dreams? Is it possible to ambush underdevelopment, to shoot it? Nobody knows how to accomplish this, and so we all just try to do our best, with the vague hope that we are doing something good and sustainable and that it’ll all come together in the end.
I’ve romanticized their life. I realize that, but I couldn’t help it, and it wasn’t on purpose. It was a fascinating glimpse into a lifestyle that I could never live, but admire. It’s a harsher life, a harder life—but in a way, a less complicated life. They shoot and get shot at, but they don't have to worry about their mailboxes and gardens. It’s one they actively choose to live, and I respect that.
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