Our rangers are usually tracking poachers and other perpetrators of wildlife crime. But this day, they turned their skills to a different kind of lifesaving task: finding a lost child.
The situation was urgent: A 12-year-old boy from a Tsavo community had been missing for three days. He had disappeared in the vast, northern reaches of the landscape — and time was running out.
After receiving the report from KWS, we deployed our SWT/KWS Umbi Anti-Poaching Team and fixed-wing airplane to support the community’s search-and-rescue. The vegetation in the area was thick, which made visibility difficult. Our pilot helped guide the ground teams, directing them along potential herders’ paths and toward areas of interest.
Ground teams later identified a fresh footprint, which they followed northwards. Applying the same skills they use to finding poachers — almost imperceptible disturbances in the ground, a bent branch, the smallest scuff of dirt — our rangers tracked the trail, metre by metre. An astonishing 22 kilometres later, they finally found the boy. He was dehydrated and exhausted from his ordeal, but otherwise unhurt.
The child was successfully reunited with his family, concluding a harrowing three-day saga.
Assets deployed for this operation:
- SWT Aerial Unit: 4.6 hours flown, 602.63 km covered
- SWT/KWS Umbi Anti-Poaching Team: 208 km driven, 15.4 km walked
- Total operation: 16 hours, 28 minutes; 826.03 km covered
The primary role of our Anti-Poaching Teams is to secure the landscape, but their work extends far beyond anti-poaching patrols. From orphan rescues to firefighting to veterinary treatments, they support all manner of operations — including the most important: saving lives.