The Black Mambas are an all-female anti-poaching unit who operate without weapons in Balule Nature Reserve, near Kruger National Park, in north-eastern South Africa.  Trained in anti-poaching and survival skills, the Mambas are taught how to identify and track humans and animals, how to blend in with their surroundings and how to avoid confrontations.  Their training is crucial, as the animals they track are wild, and poachers shoot to kill.

Their anti-poaching strategy includes ‘visual policing’ through daily foot patrols along the park’s boundaries at dawn and by vehicle at dusk, manning observation and listening posts stationed in critical areas such as known entry and exit points, and monitoring popular waterholes for signs of poisoning.  The Black Mambas also live in a series of compounds inside the reserve, giving them a constant presence in the park.

The Black Mambas have received the UN’s top environmental award, ‘Champions of the Earth’.  They act as role models in their own communities, where many of the poachers live.  As women and mothers, they command a kind of respect rarely given to the heavily armed, mostly male, anti-poaching units.