That was a riveting story. Having never been shot and having had a few very close calls, gotta say, dude, you got some balls. Too bad the war of attrition didn't save any of the Rhino's.

Wow! What a read!! Ganyana has cajones!!

Fascinating reading - looking forward to more. Thanks Nick for posting it.

And you thought hunting the Big 5 is dangerous. A very lucky guy I'd say.

Dangerous game indeed. Ganyana, glad you're still amongst us. Great read.

The real man that night and many others was Zakias Mlangu, the station Senior scout (WO). He served as senior Scout on that station from 1969 till he retired last year. He served under by brother in the 1970's

The poacher fired at least 15 rounds at me, and connected with one - at a range of 3 paces. Spray and pray has never worked

Sorry, I missed the read. Can someone post the link?

quote:

The poacher fired at least 15 rounds at me, and connected with one - at a range of 3 paces. Spray and pray has never worked

Most times not, but there are exceptions. Just ask Amadou Diallo's family. At least you had something more than a wallet to shoot back with!

Bwanna. Go to the next forum done the page "Nickudu files".
Well I am disappointed! I was really hoping for a description of a human being eaten alive by heynas!Instead some silly arse decides to be a hero! Me? My pulse would have been about 200 and I would have been shitting in my pants!What is a .41 revolver? Great read. Was the LMG the Bren? How effective are they? I always wondered. Used a lot in WWII but I thought they suffered a lot from overheating.
Peter.

Hi peter

Revolver is a S&W M58 in .41 Mag. That night I was carrying the HB version of the F.N. FAL. The canadians used to use it as the standard squad LMG. It only works as an LMG if you are prone and can use the shoulder plate to stop it climbing. Very poor LMG compared to a BREN but 9lbs lighter.

I bought the BREN when it was finally decomissioned. A 1943 Inglis made bren, rechambered to .308 in the 1960's. For competition, the Bren will beat any other LMG- turn to gass setting 1 and you have 350rpm- And can keep all rounds comfortably in the bull. In the Bush? That mag runs out vwery quick unless you have a team mate to do the loading for you - I never did.

Never had one over heat, even though we never carried a spare barrel.

Fantastic story. I almost never spend any time on the internet reading long stories like that. This was a great read. Ganyana, glad you came through that one ok. That is quite a story.

Great story, Ganyana. I hope you were able to make a full recovery from that nasty wound. If only more African nations would mount that kind of anti-poaching effort - or more than that - nowadays . . . .

I have to ask you though, if you ever found out what happened to that poor bastard beseiged by the hyenas? Not that my sympathy is overflowing . . . .

Reads like one of Wilbur Smith's novels.

Excellent, i have read this before and its super, waiting for your book, and the sale of the movierights...

reading what you have written makes the gooseskin pop up. If it hadnt been for the Rangers and National Parks no animals would have been left in Zim at all.

Mrlexima

He was amongst the dead. Since my men advanced no further than they had to to recover me, I recon the Hyaena's got him anyway.

The only thing more dangerous than a leutenant with a map is an ecologist with a rifle!

Sucks being shot at eh! (worse getting hit).

Excellent AAR...Glad you are still in the game!

JW

Excellent read glad you made to tell it.

Ganyana,

Was your collarbone wound inflicted by a 7.62 x 39mm round? Were most of the anti poaching patrols out numbered as well as out gunned? It appears that ambushes were the preffered method of contact..Did you have access to command detonated mines? A couple of claymores would have been good poacher medicine. Did the poaching incursions end with the eradication of the rhino in your district?

Layoutman

Yes, 7.62x39. Russian made ammo.

The professional kill temas prefered to work at night, locate poachers with NVG's and shoot them before they woke up. For the rest, it was mainly a case of patrolling and we usually homed in onto where shots had been heared. Initially this worked reasonably well. For the most part, the old school NCO's armed with F.N. rifles were much better shots than the poachers who were mostly armed with AK47's and SKS rifles. As the poacher gamgs increaed in size and particularly the size and strength of their escorts our 3-4 man patrolls began to feel the pressure. Also we were forced to accept many ex communist Gurrila's into our ranks to balance out all the ex-Selous scouts who transfered to us when that unit was disbanded just before independence. Some of the Ex-gooks were good men, but most were not. Immediately we had serviceability problems with our issue F.N.'s, G3's and BREN guns and a cry for AK's and RPD machine guns. This bought about a rapid decline in the number of poachers killed in daylight contacts. A brief incident in my last week at sengwa illistrates why.

Gunfire was heard at some springs near the kandariazi (for those who have hunted Chirisa) and I lead a patrol consisting of the station Seargent Major (Mlangu) and 4 ex gook game scouts to try and deal with them. Mlangu and I had F.N.'s and the scouts AK's. Being unsure of exactly where the gunfire was from I spread the men out at 100m intervals on either flank whilst Mlangu and I walked together in the middle. Orders were that whoever saw the poachers first was to go prone and open fire, and the rest of us would close in and support. The ground was very broken but the grass short so visibility generally good and for the most part all six of us had all the rest in view. The game scout 100m to my right saw the poachers, fired a burst and fled, sticking his AK over his shoulder and firing bursts as he ran. Mlangu, two game scouts and I ran towards where the return fire from the poachers could be heard. The sixth game scout melted away.

I made about 50m when an AK bullet from my own fleeing scout hit me in the thigh. A neat hole all the way through that bled very little but did rather take the wind out of my sails. Mlangu (who is 30 years older than me -at least) was some distance behind, and simply jogged past saying he would come back. The poachers -who were air force men collecting lion fat and claws for medicine escaped the sceen (but one dropped his ID, and Mlangu called off the persuit once he had it knowing we would get them later on the balistic's evidence from the fired cases). I had picked myself up by the time he got back and was walking back to the land rover. The wound was not serious and I was not hospitalised, and Mlangu made the scouts life hell until he quit, but it was indicitive of the standard comming in.

Towards the end of the Rhino wars gangs of up to 30 were common, against which we could seldom field more than five or six men. Game scouts and poachers alike disliked operating at night. Elephants and lions usually caused a halt to proceedings unless the men were pushed or the poachers led by an experienced poacher- usually a Shangaan or from one of the congo tribes. On our side it usually took a White officer to force the men into a night patrol or ambush- and we paid the penalty of "friendly fire" mistakes which were bound to happen given the shortage of NVG's and training.

For a period of six years we had Brit, New Zealand SAS and US Delta teams come out and "assist" us on anti-poaching. Effectively life fire training for them. They helped and only lost one man- killed by an elephant at night, but it was not enough.

Poaching continues...

quote:

Originally posted by Wendell Reich:
Fantastic story. I almost never spend any time on the internet reading long stories like that. This was a great read. Ganyana, glad you came through that one ok. That is quite a story.

Even though the story reads rather well, it is much better when told in person in front of a fire while partaking in a drop or two of Irish Holy Water and the end of a day hunting elephants.

Brian

Ganyana, my understanding is that the "gooks" in Afganistan and Iraq are made of sterner stuff!
Peter.

This story ,only made me to feel more admiration,and reverence for the work you did during the bush war and now in the antipoaching efforts.During my service i gave a class about the Selous Scouts at my unit an Scout unit in the argentinian army amd we conluded that you were the one finest bush warriors ,due to numerous causes one of them the use of hunters .The book about your ex officer David Scott Donelan tactical tracking teached me a lot of things and i pass it to the local forces.Thank you for sharing with us your dangerous work.Juan